Opinions on diet soda

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Replies

  • Dalceridae
    Dalceridae Posts: 81 Member
    As stated in the above link you didn't look at from the University of California, we don't understand how artificial sweeteners affect the colonies of gut bacteria responsible for digestion:
    These results are consistent with a growing body of research in both humans and animals, showing that frequent consumption of diet soda or artificial sweeteners is associated with greater body mass index (BMI), obesity and metabolic syndrome.

    Why, precisely, that is happening is still unclear. Previous research had indicated that artificial sweeteners could be a major cause of both obesity and diabetes by changing the balance of bacteria in our guts, favoring the microbes that induce glucose intolerance

    These are university research studies and have nothing to do with scaremongering about "toxins" or carcinogens", which your link addresses.

    If you want to drink diet soda, that's fine, but people should at least be mindful of what studies done over nearly a decade are showing about increased waist circumference and incidence of metabolic syndrome.
  • riffraff2112
    riffraff2112 Posts: 1,756 Member
    I actually do not mind diet pop from a fountain, but for not big on it when its bottled or in cans.
    Not afraid of the artificial sweetener as like many things, one study will tell you its evil, another will say its fine.
    It has been around for at least 30 yrs and i haven't really heard a report stating that conclusively it is bad for you.
  • zyxst
    zyxst Posts: 9,148 Member
    I mix Diet Pepsi with whiskey while staying beneath my calorie goal. The scale is still moving in the correct direction for me. Myth: BUSTED

    The whiskey is saving you from diet soda death. Remember, be Julian and save your life.
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  • crzycatlady1
    crzycatlady1 Posts: 1,930 Member
    edited December 2016
    Dalceridae wrote: »
    What is in it is not necessarily the most important concern, especially for people with weight issues. The effect diet soda has on people's weight is more important than arguing over chemicals, and that research is more worrying.

    The University of Texas has done a number of studies on people who drink diet soda over a course of years. One of the more troubling results is that people who drink a lot of diet soda show a greater increase in waist circumference than non-diet drinkers over time. Granted, correlation isn't causation, but in people who drink a glass or more a day, the increase in waist circumference is over 4 times that of non-diet soda drinks, and it isn't something that can be explained purely by calories.

    We can't really explain these results yet because we aren't exactly sure how our bodies process artificial sweeteners yet or the effect it has on gut bacteria (or even fully understand what role gut bacteria perform regulating our digestion, insulin production, etc as we are just now starting to discover new avenues of study here). So it's not really as simple as saying "aspartame is perfectly safe" or "aspartame is evil". It's not even necessarily about whether or not artificial sweeteners are safe in a vacuum as what's more telling is the overall health of the population over time.

    https://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/news/diet-soda-and-belly-fat-growing-concern

    http://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-aging-soda-belly-idUSKBN0ME2MH20150318

    https://www.healthyhorns.utexas.edu/n_dietsoda.html

    <--- drinks several cans of diet soda every day. I have a bmi of 21 and a waist circumference of 25 (measured a few weeks ago by a medical professional). Feel free to take a peek at my profile-I have my recent health screening/bloodwork panel listed, as well as before/after pictures. Interestingly-I only started drinking diet soda when I started my weight loss phase. Before that I drank regular soda. From my pictures you can see what my stomach looked like before vs now.

    Out of curiosity, what's your waist circumference?
  • AnvilHead
    AnvilHead Posts: 18,343 Member
    Honestly, the best part about these diet soda threads (which pop up at least weekly) is to see how much derp and how many myths persist about diet soda.
  • bagge72
    bagge72 Posts: 1,377 Member
    bagge72 wrote: »
    fitlife07 wrote: »
    Diet sodas are twice as horrible as the regular ones. Full of synthetic stuff. I'd stay away from them.

    What's twice as horrible of not horrible?

    2 x 0 = 0

    Geez that is elementary school level.

    Thank you for the clarification hahaha!

  • crzycatlady1
    crzycatlady1 Posts: 1,930 Member
    edited December 2016
    AnvilHead wrote: »
    Honestly, the best part about these diet soda threads (which pop up at least weekly) is to see how much derp and how many myths persist about diet soda.

    Every time I swear I'm not going to get sucked into yet another diet soda thread and every dang time I end up jumping in :p The misinformation about diet soda seriously drives me nuts though, probably one of my biggest diet myth pet peeves!
  • bagge72
    bagge72 Posts: 1,377 Member
    AngieEz29 wrote: »
    I just wonder if it you stop drinking Diet Soda if you will lose more weight? That is my question.

    Why don't you try it for yourself and find out? I've gone through periods where I don't drink it. I've never seen a change to my weight loss when I stop or start back up again, personally.

    That's just asking for problems! You know that they will change their diet someway else and blame it on the diet soda! No way they keep their diet exactly the same, and just drop the drink.
  • bagge72
    bagge72 Posts: 1,377 Member
    duckgems wrote: »
    I would stay away from all sodas, in general. Of course, have one from time to time but not on a daily basis. The high-test versions are loaded with sugar and calories and the low-test have other issues associated with them.

    So you would stay away, but you don't... got it.
  • Alyssa_Is_LosingIt
    Alyssa_Is_LosingIt Posts: 4,696 Member
    AnvilHead wrote: »
    Honestly, the best part about these diet soda threads (which pop up at least weekly) is to see how much derp and how many myths persist about diet soda.

    Every time I swear I'm not going to get sucked into yet another diet soda thread and every dang time I end up jumping in :p The misinformation about diet soda seriously drives me nuts though, probably one of my biggest diet myth pet peeves!

    Same here. The Chicken Little claims just drive me bonkers.
  • rileysowner
    rileysowner Posts: 8,316 Member
    grmckenzie wrote: »
    MsAmandaNJ wrote: »
    tlflag1620 wrote: »
    Diet soda tastes like death and sadness.

    But it's not harmful and if you can get past the awful, awful taste, it can be a great replacement for higher calorie beverages.

    It seriously depends on personal taste as well as which ones you've tried.

    Diet Coke tastes like crap, yet Coke Zero tastes almost identical to the real thing. Diet Canada Dry Ginger Ale was tops until they changed the formula, I find the generic stuff to be delicious. Diet Barq's Root Beer is superb.

    Not all diet sodas have that "diet taste".

    Funnily, my opinion is exactly the opposite. I despise Coke Zero, and I won't touch it even if there isn't any Coke Light, I'll just go without. I feel the same way about Diet Pepsi, too. Only Coke Light for me!

    And I can't tell the difference between Diet Coke and Coke Zero. Did a quick blind taste test and they tasted the same to me. I don't like either, but drink either as a mixer.

    The only diet drink that doesn't taste diet to me is diet tonic when mixed with gin. Tastes just like regular gin & tonic.

    I drink mostly coffee black and water.

    To me, both Coke Zero and Diet Pepsi taste extremely sweet and have a weird aftertaste. I can definitely tell the difference between either of them and Coke Light, although I'm not sure if I could tell the difference between Coke Zero and Diet Pepsi. :D

    I find regular soda to all seem too sweet.