Diet soda

ma2007pmc
ma2007pmc Posts: 58 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Is it really as bad as the health reports say? I get my water in but I also have a "healthy" coke zero addiction.
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Replies

  • jen_bush
    jen_bush Posts: 679 Member
    Everything is okay in moderation, in my opinion.
  • Heartlight441
    Heartlight441 Posts: 278 Member
    I know it's not good, however it's one of my remaining guilty pleasures I allow myself and guilt free too. I have a little most evenings. I will cut it out one day, but not yet.
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,984 Member
    It's fine. Lots of "unhealthy" or "it'll make you gain weight" articles use correlation as proof. Especially when they site "chemicals" in it, but not letting people really know that the chemicals are in every day foods that people eat regularly.
    Personally I've been drinking it for 25+ years and haven't suffered from any of the ailments that many "health" sites advocate will happen if you do drink it daily and on a regular basis.

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  • beemerphile1
    beemerphile1 Posts: 1,710 Member
    My personal experience drinking two cans of diet Pepsi per day at lunch; I started have slurred speech on occasion in the afternoon for no known reason. I stopped drinking diet Pepsi and the slurred speech has not returned after over five years.

    Cause and effect in my case and your situation may be different. I believe there is enough evidence of health risk to merit caution and further research.

    I now only drink coffee and water. I also refuse to discuss the subject, I am not a scientist but I know without doubt it had a detrimental affect on me.
  • ma2007pmc
    ma2007pmc Posts: 58 Member
    Ok....so personal choice....Thanks all.
  • MindPump1
    MindPump1 Posts: 77 Member
    JanetYellen wrote: »
    It causes cancer --- just wanted to turn this into a 200 page thread.

    I think you probably did. I got into a debate/argument with people over how unhealthy diet soda is in another thread, and the people are ruthless. I was having this same conversation with a buddy of mine who happens to be a nurse, and he agrees, the Aspartame is what we should be worried about. That is what causes cancer. I'm sure I'll get people that will bark at me and demand I show studies, or websites to back up my view, but I'm just saying what we talked about. Also, do you actually think doctors, will actually say that person A's death was caused by soda? There is to much money in the food industry for death to be linked to soda, or diseases to be directly to soda. So, MFP, have at it.
  • ma2007pmc
    ma2007pmc Posts: 58 Member
    Lol... I also use Splenda in my coffee in the morning
  • MindPump1
    MindPump1 Posts: 77 Member
    And here come all the experts in the health industry. Please inform me how soda is healthy for me! You guys are my inspiration!!!
  • ReaderGirl3
    ReaderGirl3 Posts: 868 Member
    alexzenk86 wrote: »
    And here come all the experts in the health industry. Please inform me how soda is healthy for me! You guys are my inspiration!!!

    I don't even drink soda anymore and I recognize that your post was flat out wrong. But, yeah really no point :p
  • positivepowers
    positivepowers Posts: 902 Member
    edited May 2016
    psulemon wrote: »
    Here is what you will expect to hear in this thread:

    1. It causes cravings
    2. It cause headaches
    3. Aspartame spikes insulin
    4. It's worse than regular soda


    And the answers are:

    1. Most people don't experience this but only a small subset
    2. Same as above
    3. Not even remotely true
    4. Same as above


    If you like the taste and helps keep you on track, like it has for me, then go for it. Still drink plenty of water and things like tea.

    If you want to know the science behind aspertame, then read : http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1308408/why-aspartame-isnt-scary/p1 . Aaron has a PhD and molecular biology and has documented a lot of good information.

    I actually tried this. I'm a T2D so blood sugar spikes are important to me. About a year ago, I decided to test the "artificial sweeteners causes blood sugar spikes" rumor. I fasted for a four hours, then drank a 20 oz Diet Pepsi. For the next two hours I took my blood sugars every 15 minutes. They ranged from 97-109, with 109 being the beginning number. These numbers are well within normal variable levels. I'm not phenylkentonuric, I don't have headaches and my teeth are fine. I won't be giving up my diet soda anytime soon!

    ETA: I am also cancer free, heart disease free and I use Splenda to sweeten just about everything!
  • queenliz99
    queenliz99 Posts: 15,317 Member
    alexzenk86 wrote: »
    And here come all the experts in the health industry. Please inform me how soda is healthy for me! You guys are my inspiration!!!

    You go first, we need the studies that prove diet soda is bad.
  • MindPump1
    MindPump1 Posts: 77 Member
    ReaderGirl3 wrote: »
    alexzenk86 wrote: »
    And here come all the experts in the health industry. Please inform me how soda is healthy for me! You guys are my inspiration!!!

    I don't even drink soda anymore and I recognize that your post was flat out wrong. But, yeah really no point :p

    Flat out wrong? Talking to a nurse, who just went to medical school, informs me that the Aspartame is what causes cancer? Yep I'm wrong. Go ahead and believe what you want. I don't drink soda any more. I used to. I loved it, I would drink it every day. But I realized that that along with the food I was consuming was killing me. So I changed my life. I drink water, tea and coffee and stick to a lot healthier foods. But again, the opinions of the people here mean nothing to me.
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,427 MFP Moderator
    alexzenk86 wrote: »
    JanetYellen wrote: »
    It causes cancer --- just wanted to turn this into a 200 page thread.

    I think you probably did. I got into a debate/argument with people over how unhealthy diet soda is in another thread, and the people are ruthless. I was having this same conversation with a buddy of mine who happens to be a nurse, and he agrees, the Aspartame is what we should be worried about. That is what causes cancer. I'm sure I'll get people that will bark at me and demand I show studies, or websites to back up my view, but I'm just saying what we talked about. Also, do you actually think doctors, will actually say that person A's death was caused by soda? There is to much money in the food industry for death to be linked to soda, or diseases to be directly to soda. So, MFP, have at it.

    If you want to take your information from people with no formal training in nutrition (nurses, doctors) vice tons of studies that prove otherwise, that is your prerogative.
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,427 MFP Moderator
    alexzenk86 wrote: »
    ReaderGirl3 wrote: »
    alexzenk86 wrote: »
    And here come all the experts in the health industry. Please inform me how soda is healthy for me! You guys are my inspiration!!!

    I don't even drink soda anymore and I recognize that your post was flat out wrong. But, yeah really no point :p

    Flat out wrong? Talking to a nurse, who just went to medical school, informs me that the Aspartame is what causes cancer? Yep I'm wrong. Go ahead and believe what you want. I don't drink soda any more. I used to. I loved it, I would drink it every day. But I realized that that along with the food I was consuming was killing me. So I changed my life. I drink water, tea and coffee and stick to a lot healthier foods. But again, the opinions of the people here mean nothing to me.

    Nurses have zero training in nutrition. One of my best friends is a University of Penn trained doctor and she has 0 courses in nutrition. All of my wife's doctors, to include cardiologist, eletrophysiologist (specialty cardiologist), endocrinologist, OBYGN and gastroenterologist, all disagree with you and your nurse friend.
  • aub6689
    aub6689 Posts: 351 Member
    oh boy the token 'it's linked to cancer response'

    Artificial sweeteners have only been linked to cancer in rat models and thus far the biological mechanisms or dosages they use are not plausible to extrapolate to humans.

    Things like cancer are multifactorial so if there was any increased risk associated with diet soda (whatever mechanism you propose), it would be a very small risk increase and only occur at the highest ingestion levels when compared to the lowest. Cancer requires many factors acting in tandem to initiate the mutation and allow for cell proliferation. If there was a large risk increase, the studies would pick it up, as of now, we have results going back and forth (negative association, no association, positive association) which means either no association or a very small one. Aspartame has not been claimed to be carcinogenic and if doctors (by this you should mean researchers) found it was, they could publish on it, because the soda industry would just use another sweetener and market how they've removed aspartame (like the food industry did when they removed trans fats).

    It's fine to stay informed and keep reading the new studies on artificial sweeteners or diet soda, but the media hype that the one study that finds an association receives doesn't counter all the studies that find the opposite.
  • butterfli7o
    butterfli7o Posts: 1,319 Member
    I enjoy a Coke Zero or Cherry Coke Zero daily. On the weekends I sometimes add rum. :)
  • ReaderGirl3
    ReaderGirl3 Posts: 868 Member
    alexzenk86 wrote: »
    ReaderGirl3 wrote: »
    alexzenk86 wrote: »
    And here come all the experts in the health industry. Please inform me how soda is healthy for me! You guys are my inspiration!!!

    I don't even drink soda anymore and I recognize that your post was flat out wrong. But, yeah really no point :p

    Flat out wrong? Talking to a nurse, who just went to medical school, informs me that the Aspartame is what causes cancer? Yep I'm wrong. Go ahead and believe what you want. I don't drink soda any more. I used to. I loved it, I would drink it every day. But I realized that that along with the food I was consuming was killing me. So I changed my life. I drink water, tea and coffee and stick to a lot healthier foods. But again, the opinions of the people here mean nothing to me.

    My MD doctor, who told me it doesn't and it's fine to drink in moderation, trumps your nurse. So there :D But seriously, my doctor and I have actually discussed diet soda (caffeine consumption is on the questionnaire you have to fill out every time, and then my doctor goes over all of it with me). And she really did tell me that it was fine in moderation. She has all my health markers/paperwork and I'm in excellent health. Now dentist is another story, and she's going to be pretty geeked when I tell her next time that I've cut out the soda. But again, that's where moderation (and a straw) comes into play, and I didn't follow that. I've also cut out things like oranges, which also have a high citric acid content.

    And as a sidenote-my sister, who's a nurse, drinks diet soda. Go figure.
  • ForecasterJason
    ForecasterJason Posts: 2,577 Member
    Regarding doctors' advice on controversial matters, I know someone who has had cancer and the nutritional advice given was basically that he didn't need to have any regard whatsoever for his diet.
    I'm just saying, just because a doctor thinks drinking diet soda is fine in moderation doesn't say much…
  • ReaderGirl3
    ReaderGirl3 Posts: 868 Member
    edited May 2016
    ForecasterJason wrote: »
    Regarding doctors' advice on controversial matters, I know someone who has had cancer and the nutritional advice given was basically that he didn't need to have any regard whatsoever for his diet.
    I'm just saying, just because a doctor thinks drinking diet soda is fine in moderation doesn't say much…

    But a nurse who says it causes cancer is legitimate. Makes sense.

    These threads always go round and round and no one ever changes anyone elses minds. OP, I hope you figure out what works best for you :)
  • MindPump1
    MindPump1 Posts: 77 Member
    edited May 2016
    ForecasterJason wrote: »
    Regarding doctors' advice on controversial matters, I know someone who has had cancer and the nutritional advice given was basically that he didn't need to have any regard whatsoever for his diet.
    I'm just saying, just because a doctor thinks drinking diet soda is fine in moderation doesn't say much…

    I think this says a lot. We sit here and throw punches at each other based off what a doctor may say, or what some studies online say. But I think it comes down to people who are focused on a healthy lifestyle, eating right, drinking right they could care less about soda and what may or may not do to someone.
  • SkinnyGirlCarrie
    SkinnyGirlCarrie Posts: 259 Member
    butterfli7o wrote: »
    I enjoy a Coke Zero or Cherry Coke Zero daily. On the weekends I sometimes add rum. :)

    yup. I also enjoy a Sprite Zero with vodka sometimes on the weekend. :D
  • gothomson
    gothomson Posts: 215 Member
    You think that's bad. In Scotland we have Irn-Bru :-) Seriously I drink coke very occasionally - usually with Havana Rum - once in a while I guess its ok.

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