A study from the University of Texas Health Science Center found that the more diet soda a person drank, the greater their risk of becoming obese. Consuming two or more cans per day increases waist circumference by 500% compared to those who do not consume diet soda. Diet sodas contain mold inhibitors. They are called sodium benzoate or potassium benzoate and are used in almost all diet sodas. “These chemicals have the ability to cause severe damage to the DNA in the mitochondria, to the point where they completely inactivate it – they completely eliminate it,” Peter Piper, professor of molecular biology and biotechnology at the University of Sheffield in the United Kingdom, told a British newspaper. The preservative has also been linked to hives, asthma and other allergic conditions, according to the Center for Science in the Public.