Diet Coke, friend or foe?

clicketykeys

Poisonedpawn78 wrote: »

Returning to this thread 7 pages later, I am sort of amazed at the amount of Facebook bro-science that people believe the instant they read it. Its like 50% of the population learned NOTHING in school.

ninerbuff wrote: »

Lol, that's because they were of the mindset: "Why do we have to learn this stuff if we're never going to use it in REAL life?"

SUPRISE.

As a teacher, I can confirm that a significant portion of the student population has this mindset, as well as a lack of interest in any explanation.

sixxpoint

Ericnutrition wrote: »

megpie41 wrote: »

Ericnutrition wrote: »

megpie41 wrote: »

amusedmonkey wrote: »

megpie41 wrote: »

AnvilHead wrote: »

megpie41 wrote: »

I agree that nothing is 100% safe, yet any time I mention questioning the safety of artificial sweeteners I am told I'm wrong and they have been proven to be completely safe...so what exactly are we debating? Semantics?

Science has proven them to be just as safe as anything else we eat or drink. I haven't seen studies which conclusively prove that tap water is 100% safe under all conditions for everybody everywhere either, but I'm not afraid to drink it when I'm thirsty.

If you look hard enough, you can find tinfoil hat fearmongerers who claim that virtually anything is unsafe or bad for you. If you believe all of them and the "studies" they quote, you'd not only rule out artificial sweeteners, but also all meat (hormones, bacteria, teh cancerz and undigested meat somehow rotting in your gut), milk (pus-filled death in a glass), all carbs (teh insulinz and teh diabeetus), any and every non-organically grown fruit and vegetable (pesticides), tap water (fluoride, industrial pollutants), bottled water (BPAs and generating excess waste products)....the list goes on and on. By the time you get to the point where you're only eating foods which are consensus choices as "100% safe", your options are looking pretty limited.

I guess you'd probably be okay as long as you can subsist off dewdrops you collect from the leaves of plants high atop the Himalayas. I haven't seen anybody call those unsafe yet.

You're right, you can find people who will say just about anything is unhealthy/unsafe. I will avoid BPA, pesticides, growth hormones etc if I can, but sometimes it is hard to do. Avoiding artificial sweeteners is extremely easy...just buy the "regular" version of soda etc and you avoid them. They are the same price and in the same location...it's just a matter of reaching for the diet or regular soda (better yet, don't reach for either).

Btw...I love how you go to such extremes at the end of your post...classic.

Oh dear, let's hope the "HFCS" crowd don't catch you saying the bolded.

Kidding aside, I really don't mind it when people put up limitations for themselves for whatever reason, backed up by science or not. None of my business if it makes them feel good about their choices. While diet soda will not cause you to spontaneously combust, there is no need for it to be a part of anyone's diet. It's just an add on for those who want it. My only quibble is when such choices make life unnecessarily harder for the person like someone who really likes soda but wouldn't drink it because of the boogie man. This doesn't appear to be the case for you, so rock on.

Personally, I only drink it in the summer sometimes when I feel like sipping on something cold. Water doesn't work that way because I'm not used to sipping water as a cool drink. The way I use water is completely different: I drink water (and nothing but water) automatically when thirsty, like a means to satisfying a need. I don't consider it "a drink" or ponder the taste. It's just a mindless need-reaction thing for me. A cold drink is something different, it's enjoyable and refreshing. Hard to explain. That's why water as a drink is not an option for me.

Overall I agree with your post. I also appreciate the fact that you don't necessarily agree with me, but you can respect a different opinion. Thank you for that.

There seems to be lots of correlation studies with diet soda. To me, these correlation studies don't mean much.

It's typically something like "people who drink diet soda have a 20% greater chance of getting or having "whatever" than people who don't drink diet soda."

But people who don't drink diet soda may get "whatever" 2% of the time, meaning people who do drink diet soda get "whatever" 2.4% of the time (2% x 1.20 =2.4%). That number is meaningless.

And the number 20% is often not understood. Many people think if you are starting at a 2% chance, you now have a 24% chance.

But if it makes you feel good avoiding diet soda, keep avoiding it. I'm not going to call you a flat earther or other names like other posters. And I'm not giving your posts a "woo."

Thank you for your post. I respect your opinion and greatly appreciate the fact that you can disagree with me in a respectful way.

Your post about correlation studies makes sense...I get it, but for me the correlation is enough for me to personally avoid it. Thank you again for not resorting to derogatory comments to make your point.

Not a problem. I don't believe diet soda is harmful. But it is not my religious belief. The anger and hostility vented toward you by posters here is pretty outrageous.

Perhaps one day there will be a study that actually convinces me that it is harmful. I have yet to see it.

That means nothing. Humans don't know many things concretely, so your beliefs are no more accurate than someone else's on the same topic.

What I can tell you as a fundamental nutritional issue is that whole foods found in nature, that are not processed, or very minimally processed, are far better for human beings than man-made food products.

For me personally, the phosphoric acid they use in soda exacerbates my acid reflux, and was probably the cause of it. I grew up in the 80s. Soda was more available than bottled water.

MizMareedy

Momepro wrote: »

Friend. Oh so friendly friend. All the "you're totally gonna get MS and fibro and lupus" stuff has about as much science behind it as autism being caused by vaccines. So exactly none.

There was a study done on aspartame and it did cause cancer in rats -- however -- they gave them about ten times their body weight -- at 1 time. Of course that part of the study wasn't publicized as much as the cancer word was.. Media =\ =\.

watts6151