Diet soda is no healthier than regular soda

[Keebler Elf]

At the risk of the diet drink haters jumping on me and beating me with cans of diet drinks, I feel I should offer a bit of a defence of diet drinks here. I did do some reading awhile back about aspartame, mostly out of curiosity since I used to drink diet coke and had heard all these rumours about it being bad for you. I wasn't able to find anything from a credible source (or at least, a source that I deemed credible) that said it was dangerous to your health, and also nothing that claimed it was worse than regular soda. The worst thing I've read about it that has been coming up in studies seems to be that people who feel they've been "healthy" by avoiding calories with diet drinks can tend towards making those calories up and more in other foods. Maybe a bit like "oh, I stopped drinking regular coke so it should be fine for me to eat these two big macs instead!" (ok that's probably a gross exaggeration, but you get the point). There may be some other more subtle biological things going on but I really do think they're subtle, and not nearly the risk some people make it out to be.

Well said.

A lot of the people who slam diet soda do so not because they don't really know what they're talking about but rather they want to reinforce their own life decisions, including not to drink diet soda. Think about it... if you choose to deny yourself diet soda because you think it's bad for you, do you really want to find out years later that it's actually not? All that denial for nothing. It's the same concept as applies to conspiracy theorists who really don't want to find out the truth because all their beliefs would be proven false.

The credible doctors I've heard or read from say that diet soda may not be "good" for you, but it's also not "bad" in and of itself. If you're drinking gallons of it or if you're using it as an excuse to eat other unhealthy foods then yeah it's a problem. But taken in moderation there's nothing wrong with it.

 

[SchlongConery]

Well said.

A lot of the people who slam diet soda do so not because they don't really know what they're talking about but rather they want to reinforce their own life decisions, including not to drink diet soda. Think about it... if you choose to deny yourself diet soda because you think it's bad for you, do you really want to find out years later that it's actually not? All that denial for nothing. It's the same concept as applies to conspiracy theorists who really don't want to find out the truth because all their beliefs would be proven false.

The credible doctors I've heard or read from say that diet soda may not be "good" for you, but it's also not "bad" in and of itself. If you're drinking gallons of it or if you're using it as an excuse to eat other unhealthy foods then yeah it's a problem. But taken in moderation there's nothing wrong with it.

Very well said also.

Sugar is likely the leading cause of obesity and type 2 diabetes in North America. It is a proven cause of multiple major mortal health problems.

Aspartame is NOT. Period.

The derivative health problems of continuing a sweet tooth diet on diet soda in the belief that the diet soda evens things out a bit is indeed a huge factor in the relatively poorer health of those who drink pop as a food staple. Kidney's need WATER to stay healthy and keep your other organs health. Not soda, not juice, not milk, not soy milk, not all natural organic ANYTHING except WATER.

But the science is simply not there to support the anecdotal dangers of aspartame etc.

It IS there to support the dangers of all forms of sugar.

 

[great bear]

Very well said also.

Sugar is likely the leading cause of obesity and type 2 diabetes in North America. It is a proven cause of multiple major mortal health problems.

Aspartame is NOT. Period.

derivative health problems of continuing a sweet tooth diet on diet soda in the belief that the diet soda evens things out a bit is indeed a huge factor in the relatively poorer health of those who drink pop as a food staple. Kidney's need WATER to stay healthy and keep your other organs health. Not soda, not juice, not milk, not soy milk, not all natural organic ANYTHING except WATER.

But the science is simply not there to support the anecdotal dangers of aspartame etc.

It IS there to support the dangers of all forms of sugar.

Water you trying to say?

 

[spraggamuffin]

I'm glad I weaned myself off pop and juices.

I gradually started using a little and diluting with water just to flavour the water.

Now I'm fully on water.

Used to think those frozen minute maid juices were healthier but theres lots o sugar there too.

Crazy thing is I often diluted it more than directed but often it would become too tangy/sour and I'd have to add sugar.

Now to work on cutting the sugar from chocolates and desserts. Much harder.

Already cut out ice cream which was easy because they taste yuck and full of chemicals.

Some are not even ice cream but frozen desert.

High Fructose Corn Syrup(HFCS) is the danger substitute to sugar in most sweet stuff these days.

Then of course there is aspartame Acesulfame K etc.

Used to drink Aloe drinks knowing aloe is healthy. Usually said no sugar on some.

Then I noticed the deadly HFC which stays in the blood stream longer than sugar and has negative effects beyond sugar.

Coke with real sugar and in glass bottles imported from places like Mexico can be found in some places bu very expensive.

Then there are those half cans for you to consume less but twice the price of ordinary sized cans. Backward logic.

 

[blackrock13]

Some Shoppers Drug Marts carry it but stevia is expensive.

I made the switch to Stevia about three months ago and when bought in powder form, not in individual packets, or bought in liquid form, its not expensive. I use it in my coffees, my biggest source of added sugar, and a bottle of liquid Stevia, $10 is about 1/3 gone. In the same period I would have gone through 48oz of sugar. I have not used the powder form in cooking like crepes, but soon. The cost for me is quite in line.Also don't go for the cheap/in house brands stuff, as it appears cheap for a reason, read the labels and see why.

 

[Celticman]

Some are not even ice cream but frozen desert.

Some national brands used to be Ice cream but now have to be classified as frozen desert because they are a combination of butterfat and HEALTHY vegetable oil, thereby being a healthier consumption of fats than 100% butterfat. Keep in mind that the dairy industry has a strong self interest on pushing for the retention of Ice cream being all dairy, and this agenda is pushed through the govt agency CFIA. Go figure.

 

[tar503]

Kidney's need WATER to stay healthy and keep your other organs health. Not soda, not juice, not milk, not soy milk, not all natural organic ANYTHING except WATER.

Let me start off by saying I agree completely with your larger point, but I will nitpick this small one just because it's something people often forget or fail to realize. All of these drinks are probably between 80% and 99.9% water. So when you drink 350 ml of diet coke you're in essence drinking 350 ml of water + a little bit of aspartame, colouring, whatever else they put into it. Or with regular drinks, a bunch of water with some sugar, and some other stuff.

That said, as your larger point suggests, if you drank the recommended daily amount of water by consuming it in the form of these other drinks, that would be extreme and unhealthy (highly unhealthy if those drinks are high in sugar).

 

[tar503]

Me too.

There's no shortage of articles that stretch or strain the facts to come up with scary link-baiting content. IMO that is one of them.

The formula seems to be to gather up a bunch of tenuous or subtly suggestive evidence and package it in nice soundbite form in such a way that it portrays an absolute truth. Their main weapon here is studies that discover "links". Telling someone that two thinks are "linked" is usually interpreted by the general public to mean that one thing causes the other. To scientists though, this is not the case. The studies in question suggest links, and not much more that I can tell. Proving causation is much more complicated, as there can be a lot of different factors at play. So I still stand by the fact that there is a fairly bullet-proof scientific consensus against a heavily sugar / HFCS based diet, and fairly tenuous proof against artificial sweeteners.

That said, I have no argument against someone choosing to drink neither diet nor normal sodas. Your tasty alternative looks a hell of a lot better than a soda of any kind to me!

 

[larry]

Very well said also.

Sugar is likely the leading cause of obesity and type 2 diabetes in North America. It is a proven cause of multiple major mortal health problems.
..

that's a position that some people take. however, i doubt if sugar causes anything. an excess of calories/lack of exercise and other poor habits combine to lead to obesity and in some, type 2 diabetes. having 150 calories of sugar during a race is absolutely normal. most likely not anywhere near enough. blame the fatso for having no control or interest in their health, not what they eat.

 

[SchlongConery]

Water you trying to say?

Urine trouble if you don't piss off ...ten.

 

[SchlongConery]

that's a position that some people take. however, i doubt if sugar causes anything. an excess of calories/lack of exercise and other poor habits combine to lead to obesity and in some, type 2 diabetes. having 150 calories of sugar during a race is absolutely normal. most likely not anywhere near enough. blame the fatso for having no control or interest in their health, not what they eat.

There is an obesity epidemic that causes hundreds of thousands of premature deaths every year. Sugar soda is a HUGE factor in that.

Can anyone point me to a single death directly, and scientifically, attributable to artificial sweeteners?

 

[larry]

the thought posed in this thread is that somehow the sugar in soda is more responsible for obesity than the sugar in bread or potatoes. simply saying it doesn't make it so. fat people are fat because they eat too many calories. a simple experiment will prove this every time. take one week and measure your calories. the next week eat 1000 less every day and keep your activity level the same. you'll lose a little weight. do that for 6 months. you'll lose a lot. do the inverse. you'll gain. bodybuilders around the world do this every year for competition. people that were in concentration camps lost weight even tho their activity level was very low.

the case against artificial sweeteners is separate from the weight issue.

 

[SchlongConery]

the thought posed in this thread is that somehow the sugar in soda is more responsible for obesity than the sugar in bread or potatoes. simply saying it doesn't make it so.

the case against artificial sweeteners is separate from the weight issue.

You are drawing that inference re sources of sugar.

I am saying that the consumption of excess sugar is a known health risk with tons of science behind it. Artificial sweeteners are not.

 

[MadonnaLove]

http://healthyliving.msn.com/health-wellness/7-side-effects-of-drinking-diet-soda




7 side effects of drinking diet soda



Kidney Problems

Here's something you didn't know about your diet soda: It might be bad for your kidneys. In an 11-year-long Harvard Medical School study of more than 3,000 women, researchers found that diet cola is associated with a two-fold increased risk for kidney decline. Kidney function started declining when women drank more than two sodas a day. Even more interesting: Since kidney decline was not associated with sugar-sweetened sodas, researchers suspect that the diet sweeteners are responsible.

Messed-Up Metabolism

According to a 2008 University of Minnesota study of almost 10,000 adults, even just one diet soda a day is linked to a 34% higher risk of metabolic syndrome, the group of symptoms including belly fat and high cholesterol that puts you at risk for heart disease. Whether that link is attributed to an ingredient in diet soda or the drinkers' eating habits is unclear. But is that one can really worth it?



Obesity

You read that right: Diet soda doesn't help you lose weight after all. A University of Texas Health Science Center study found that the more diet sodas a person drank, the greater their risk of becoming overweight. Downing just two or more cans a day increased waistlines by 500%. Why? Artificial sweeteners can disrupt the body's natural ability to regulate calorie intake based on the sweetness of foods, suggested an animal study from Purdue University. That means people who consume diet foods might be more likely to overeat, because your body is being tricked into thinking it's eating sugar, and you crave more.

A Terrible hang over

Your first bad decision was ordering that Vodka Diet--and you may make the next one sooner than you thought. Cocktails made with diet soda get you drunker, faster, according to a study out of the Royal Adelaide Hospital in Australia. That's because sugar-free mixers allow liquor to enter your bloodstream much quicker than those with sugar, leaving you with a bigger buzz.


Cell Damage

Diet sodas contain something many regular sodas don't: mold inhibitors. They go by the names sodium benzoate or potassium benzoate, and they're in nearly all diet sodas. But many regular sodas, such as Coke and Pepsi, don't contain this preservative.

That's bad news for diet drinkers. "These chemicals have the ability to cause severe damage to DNA in the mitochondria to the point that they totally inactivate it--they knock it out altogether," Peter Piper, a professor of molecular biology and biotechnology at the University of Sheffield in the U.K., told a British newspaper in 1999. The preservative has also been linked to hives, asthma, and other allergic conditions, according to the Center for Science in the Public Interest.

Since then, some companies have phased out sodium benzoate. Diet Coke and Diet Pepsi have replaced it with another preservative, potassium benzoate. Both sodium and potassium benzoate were classified by the Food Commission in the UK as mild irritants to the skin, eyes, and mucous membranes.

Reverse the Damage--10 Foods to Eat for Perfect Skin

Rotting Teeth

With a pH of 3.2, diet soda is very acidic. (As a point of reference, the pH of battery acid is 1. Water is 7.) The acid is what readily dissolves enamel, and just because a soda is diet doesn't make it acid-light. Adults who drink three or more sodas a day have worse dental health, says a University of Michigan analysis of dental checkup data. Soda drinkers had far greater decay, more missing teeth, and more fillings.

Dangerous Drink and Drug Combinations

Reproductive Issues

Sometimes, the vessel for your beverage is just as harmful. Diet or not, soft drink cans are coated with the endocrine disruptor bisphenol A (BPA), which has been linked to everything from heart disease to obesity to reproductive problems. That's a lot of risktaking for one can of pop.

 

[hamermill]

Tell this to the fat/ obese Canadians and Americans. Chase down the extra large fries 2 lb burger with a super sized coke.

 

[Petzel]

Let me start off by saying I agree completely with your larger point, but I will nitpick this small one just because it's something people often forget or fail to realize. All of these drinks are probably between 80% and 99.9% water. So when you drink 350 ml of diet coke you're in essence drinking 350 ml of water + a little bit of aspartame, colouring, whatever else they put into it. Or with regular drinks, a bunch of water with some sugar, and some other stuff.

That said, as your larger point suggests, if you drank the recommended daily amount of water by consuming it in the form of these other drinks, that would be extreme and unhealthy (highly unhealthy if those drinks are high in sugar).

Sodas are not considered as water. According to the Canadian Diabetes Association the only other drink that is considered the same as water is Crystal Light drink crystals. Coffee, tea, lemonade etc. are not considered water even though they are made with water and have water in it.

 

[Petzel]

the thought posed in this thread is that somehow the sugar in soda is more responsible for obesity than the sugar in bread or potatoes. simply saying it doesn't make it so. fat people are fat because they eat too many calories. a simple experiment will prove this every time. take one week and measure your calories. the next week eat 1000 less every day and keep your activity level the same. you'll lose a little weight. do that for 6 months. you'll lose a lot. do the inverse. you'll gain. bodybuilders around the world do this every year for competition. people that were in concentration camps lost weight even tho their activity level was very low.

the case against artificial sweeteners is separate from the weight issue.

Technically speaking, there is no sugar in bread or potatoes. They are carbohydrates which our bodies turn into sugar once digested. Did you know that even though milk doesn't have carbohydrates, the body also converts milk into sugar!

 

[shack]

fat people are fat because they eat too many calories..

And for people who have a preference for sweet things, they get a lot of those extra calories from sugar.

 

[sabu69]

Surprise, surprise!

 

[tar503]

Sodas are not considered as water. According to the Canadian Diabetes Association the only other drink that is considered the same as water is Crystal Light drink crystals. Coffee, tea, lemonade etc. are not considered water even though they are made with water and have water in it.

Right, it makes sense that you can't technically call those drinks water if they contain other substances. My only point was that if you do drink those things, you are in reality consuming some amount of water in addition to whatever else is contained in them.