Diet Coke, friend or foe?
Replies
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cerise_noir wrote: »
If a discussion about this is causing you too become so exasperated, maybe you should take a break...just saying.
As I've said, I'm not trying to prove that artificial sweeteners are harmful, I'm simply saying that you can't say with such certainty that they are safe. I couldn't care less that you drink them...go for it, more power to you. This is an Internet forum which brings with it a variety of opinions. I am from the side that happens to choose to not consume them so I voice that opinion. There are studies that validate my opinion if you look just as there are studies that validate that they are safe.
http://stroke.ahajournals.org/content/48/5/1139
The only thing I have a problem with is that people here are saying with out a doubt aspartame is 100% safe. That claim cannot be made just as the claim can't be made that they are 100% harmful.
Correlation vs causation for that study though.5 -
So what happens here if I kneel for Diet Pepsi?
At this point, I don't care what others think. I've had it in my diet for over 25+ years and have had no issues. And till I do and knowing it was the reason that caused it................................I'll keep drinking it.
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
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People are so insular on a www site!
It's not just the FDA that regards diet drinks as safe -how many of the FDA equivalents in the c. 195 countries across the world have banned Diet Coke (or similar)?
Balance that against "Ah yes but my Aunty Jane's best friends niece's husband saw a post on Facebook about diabeetus........".
Probably the same reason they haven't banned cigarettes...
Our government is trying to ban e-cigs, and have prohibited the sale of nicotine here in Aus. But they are more than happy to charge 30+ dollars for a pack of 25 cigarettes...
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cerise_noir wrote: »
If a discussion about this is causing you too become so exasperated, maybe you should take a break...just saying.
As I've said, I'm not trying to prove that artificial sweeteners are harmful, I'm simply saying that you can't say with such certainty that they are safe. I couldn't care less that you drink them...go for it, more power to you. This is an Internet forum which brings with it a variety of opinions. I am from the side that happens to choose to not consume them so I voice that opinion. There are studies that validate my opinion if you look just as there are studies that validate that they are safe.
http://stroke.ahajournals.org/content/48/5/1139
The only thing I have a problem with is that people here are saying with out a doubt aspartame is 100% safe. That claim cannot be made just as the claim can't be made that they are 100% harmful.
It was discovered in 1965...it has been studied extensively since it was discovered...it is the most rigorously studied additive ever...it has been deemed safe for human consumption. If there was some kind of health issue related to it, it would be pretty apparent by now.6 -
The only thing I have a problem with is that people here are saying with out a doubt aspartame is 100% safe. That claim cannot be made just as the claim can't be made that they are 100% harmful.
What does it mean to be 100% safe? If you mean we cannot say for sure that no one will determine they play (at some level of intake) some role in increasing the risk for some bad thing or another, then yes, I agree. But the same thing is true for virtually everything we eat, so why focus on diet soda as if it were a different or special case?
Also, it's not that the claim can't be made that they are "100% harmful." We know they are not "100% harmful." But of course meat is not "100% harmful" and yet some don't eat it because they think it increases risk of something or other, so if someone wants to be risk adverse and avoid diet soda as potential harmful and not other things that seem to stand as likely a chance of being as much a potential source of some increased risk (which is what we mean by harmful), shrug, whatever.
I think the frustration comes when people act as if there is some reason to single out diet soda as more risky than whatever else they consume or otherwise incur risks as a result of, including many things they never even think about. Again, whatever, we all act somewhat irrational in this way (many people are much more scared of flying than driving), but trying to argue that this is scientifically based is a non starter.5 -
There is literally nothing we consume that can be proven 100% safe.
People can have weird reactions to all sorts of otherwise harmless foods. All we can go by is the data that develops over time and when they find correlative study results, then try to determine if there is causality or not.
Like recent concerns about vitamin E supplementation. Or people who can have fatal allergic reactions to peanuts. My brother is allergic to apple and pear skins. He made a smoothie with an apple one day and had to be taken to the ER because his throat swelled up so much he was having trouble breathing. I eat peanuts and apples just fine. Maybe one day my luck will change and I'll have a reaction to one of them. People gave themselves kidney stones by drinking insane amounts of spinach in green smoothies. So apples, pears, spinach, nuts, and seeds are NOT 100% safe. Do you avoid them?
Aspartame has been consumed for 50 years and people have been trying to prove it causes something - anything - the whole time. All they can find is that if rats marinate in it for years, they eventually get cancer. And occasionally they find a correlation result like in the study just posted, but have yet to prove causality in any of them, even though they try.
I make sure I don't drink too much diet soda (no more than one a day). But then I make sure I don't consume a lot of anything, I try to eat a moderate and balanced diet of a little bit of everything as I believe that is a part of being healthy.
If someone wants to avoid aspartame, too each their own. But if anyone is waiting for it to be proven safe, I'm curious, what would that look like? How can organizations who need dietary boogeymen to fight against be made to stop? How can research or a study prove something is safe to you? How many years does a food have to be on the market before you would think any health consequences would be evident? Because all the regulatory and food safety organizations, plus 50 years being consumed by the world population, have shown no reason to avoid it.6 -
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.9
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...The only thing I have a problem with is that people here are saying with out a doubt aspartame is 100% safe. That claim cannot be made just as the claim can't be made that they are 100% harmful.
That's a ridiculous and unrealistic premise right from the start. NOTHING we eat, drink or breathe is "100% safe". Even breathing the very air that keeps you alive isn't "100% safe" (pollutants, airborne germs/bacteria, etc.). Life itself isn't "100% safe". Driving a car, flying in a plane, walking down the street next to traffic? Being married to another human being, socializing with other humans? Nope, none of them are "100% safe" (ever heard of domestic violence or workplace violence?). Yet they're all things we do all day, every day.
Drinking too much fresh, pure spring water could kill you (hyponatremia), or you could drown in it. Eating organic broccoli grown in your own garden isn't 100% safe - you'd eventually die of malnutrition if you ate nothing else. Any and everything you eat or drink carries some risk that makes it not "100% safe" if it's not consumed in moderation and within the proper context in your diet. Yes, just like the 'dreaded' aspartame.5 -
The all powerful illuminati has quite clearly contaminated the Diet Coke supply of the globe turning us all into obedient lemmings. The obvious exception is our ever-enlightened and benevolent friend in this thread who knows the real truth and is desperately trying to get us to see that Diet Coke is really akin to ingesting a slow acting hallucinogen that was secretly developed by an alien race thousands of years ago to enslave and subjugate mankind.
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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?5
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Probably a foe on the long run. But I am unable to diet without coke. That's a battle for another day3
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When I was in my early 20's and dropped my first 120's and was looking fine for the first and only time in my life, I lived on Diet Sprite. I'm talking a case every two days, it helped a lot but now I can't tolerate anything with artificial sweeteners in it. I end up getting severe migraines and have a stomach ache for the rest of the day. I don't know if I overdid it or if that was my only chance to ever lose weight as my body is literally fighting me to keep the weight on now.
As far as the "science" goes, I read a lot of articles that have a lot to say towards the negative but no proof whether or not it's actually bad for us. The last one I received said it causes Type II Diabetes, Diet Soda, not the normal kind causes it. So there's no telling what the truth actually is.
I say, do what you need to do to get through the day and maintain. You'll be happier for it, listen to your own self and don't let anyone tell you what to do.5 -
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?
They have not been proven to do harm, which in the real world is the best you can do. So if you avoid artificial sweetener because it isn't proven to be 100% safe, and you agree that nothing is 100% safe, why do you avoid artificial sweetener? Serious question, I honestly don't understand at this point.6 -
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.4 -
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?
They have not been proven to do harm, which in the real world is the best you can do. So if you avoid artificial sweetener because it isn't proven to be 100% safe, and you agree that nothing is 100% safe, why do you avoid artificial sweetener? Serious question, I honestly don't understand at this point.
I avoid them because I have read enough and spoken to enough people to make me have my doubts about them...it's not worth the possible risk for me. If I want to enjoy a soda (if I have 1 soda a month that would be a lot), I just assume have the real thing. I rarely drink soda anyways...I'd rather drink water because soda just makes me thirstier. I also avoid artificial sweeteners because I think it tastes horrible and gives me a weird tingling feeling in my mouth.
The debate over artificial sweeteners continues to go on and on. There are many people still question the health risk of them, hence one reason I avoid them. New studies are being done every day on tons of different things, some more than others. There is no debate on whether apples and oranges are "safe". In 10 years it could come out that there is something in an orange that is unhealthy, but currently there is no debate about it (that I am aware of). I just personally don't find it worth the risk of consuming them when a regular soda tastes better imo (although regular soda is far from healthy as well with all the sugar/hfcs.) So it's just a personal choice based on what I have learned over the years.7 -
I don't often drink Coke. And I find Diet drinks taste horrible.2
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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.8 -
"The debate over artificial sweeteners continues to go on and on"
Umm, no, it doesn't. Debate involves someone actually engaging with the available evidence in a meaningful and discernible way to form a valid counterpoint. Your paranoia and innuendo comes nowhere close to meeting this standard.10 -
JustRobby1 wrote: »"The debate over artificial sweeteners continues to go on and on"
Umm, no, it doesn't. Debate involves someone actually engaging with the available evidence in a meaningful and discernible way to form a valid counterpoint. Your paranoia and innuendo comes nowhere close to meeting this standard.
I wasn't referring to me debating...I'm simply offering my unscientific opinion. I was referring to the many people in the world who still question it...hence the many threads on MFP on whether it is healthy or not.3 -
JustRobby1 wrote: »"The debate over artificial sweeteners continues to go on and on"
Umm, no, it doesn't. Debate involves someone actually engaging with the available evidence in a meaningful and discernible way to form a valid counterpoint. Your paranoia and innuendo comes nowhere close to meeting this standard.
I wasn't referring to me debating...I'm simply offering my unscientific opinion. I was referring to the many people in the world who still question it...hence the many threads on MFP on whether it is healthy or not.
There are people in the world who belong to the Flat Earth Society too, who similarly hold ridiculous positions with no basis in reality. They likely don't consider themselves ridiculous if you were to ask them, but that does not change the fact that the geometry of the Earth is well documented.
My point is this is not a question in which your opinion is needed. The facts are well established.9 -
JustRobby1 wrote: »JustRobby1 wrote: »"The debate over artificial sweeteners continues to go on and on"
Umm, no, it doesn't. Debate involves someone actually engaging with the available evidence in a meaningful and discernible way to form a valid counterpoint. Your paranoia and innuendo comes nowhere close to meeting this standard.
I wasn't referring to me debating...I'm simply offering my unscientific opinion. I was referring to the many people in the world who still question it...hence the many threads on MFP on whether it is healthy or not.
My point is this is not a question in which your opinion is needed. The facts are well established.
Well seeing as this is an Internet forum, you do not get to tell me when or if my opinion is needed. If you don't like to see my opinion, you can feel free to stop participating in this thread, or go ahead and block those users who's opinion you don't like. Solution to your problem is quite simple.5 -
JustRobby1 wrote: »JustRobby1 wrote: »"The debate over artificial sweeteners continues to go on and on"
Umm, no, it doesn't. Debate involves someone actually engaging with the available evidence in a meaningful and discernible way to form a valid counterpoint. Your paranoia and innuendo comes nowhere close to meeting this standard.
I wasn't referring to me debating...I'm simply offering my unscientific opinion. I was referring to the many people in the world who still question it...hence the many threads on MFP on whether it is healthy or not.
My point is this is not a question in which your opinion is needed. The facts are well established.
Well seeing as this is an Internet forum, you do not get to tell me when or if my opinion is needed. If you don't like to see my opinion, you can feel free to stop participating in this thread, or go ahead and block those users who's opinion you don't like. Solution to your problem is quite simple.
You being a contrarian who can't accept facts is hardly problematic for anyone other than yourself.7 -
I truly don't understand why it is such a huge problem for you that I choose to disagree with the majority? Why is this a problem?
Have I once told you or anyone that they can't or shouldn't drink diet soda? No. I've simply said why I choose not to drink it. It's not a problem for me either. I am no worse off not drinking diet soda than if I did...so again, why is my opinion such a problem for you? I personally have no problem going against the majority opinion...doesn't bother me as much as it seems to bother you.5 -
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?"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.
SUPRISE.
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
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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.3 -
amusedmonkey 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.2 -
Ran across this on Charles Staley's Facebook page and figured it was apropos for this thread:
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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.
Ah but haven't you read all the horrible things sugar does to you? It'll slit your throat in your sleep.
As we said, you can find "evidence" and even studies that say just about everything is gonna kill you. That's why you vet sources and why the scientific consensus is so important. We're going in circles here. The EFSA, the FDA and a ton of other scientists have looked at all the available studies and found that there's no health concerns at normal intakes. That's about the highest form of "proof it is safe" there is in the world.
Here's another long series of articles that talks about aspartame, the controversy, the studies "showing" that it's somehow harmful and what actually happens when you consume aspartame and why we can deduct from that how much is safe.
https://weightology.net/aspartame-an-undeserved-bad-reputation/5 -
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?
They have not been proven to do harm, which in the real world is the best you can do. So if you avoid artificial sweetener because it isn't proven to be 100% safe, and you agree that nothing is 100% safe, why do you avoid artificial sweetener? Serious question, I honestly don't understand at this point.
I avoid them because I have read enough and spoken to enough people to make me have my doubts about them...it's not worth the possible risk for me. If I want to enjoy a soda (if I have 1 soda a month that would be a lot), I just assume have the real thing. I rarely drink soda anyways...I'd rather drink water because soda just makes me thirstier. I also avoid artificial sweeteners because I think it tastes horrible and gives me a weird tingling feeling in my mouth.
So it sounds to me like you normally drank regular soda before you decided to (mostly) quit and don't care for diet. That's a really good reason not to consume them. I don't think anyone is claiming you should (or even caring if you privately believe something they consider irrational).
For the record, some things I do personally that I would not insist are other than my own quirks: I happen to avoid a lot of things mostly because they are just not how I like to eat or I have environmental issues with them. I get grassfed or pastured meat and try to avoid industrial farmed (but know this is more expensive for many so wouldn't insist it's necessary or better for anyone but me and my preferences). I don't really approve of corn being in everything, for example, so I tend to avoid things that have HFCS and corn oil, etc. I think soy is in too much so generally avoid things with soy added where you wouldn't expect it, although I eat tofu and tempeh and soy beans (and make some exceptions for foods I eat occasionally that have soy, like a Quest bar), and for the most part I don't eat foods that have lots of ingredients because I prefer cooking for myself or using standard items like dried pasta that have been common for a long time. BUT, and I consider this a really important distinction, I acknowledge this is about my own preferences and NOT me being healthier than others or that there's any good evidence to think that consuming something with HFCS will be harmful (in reasonable amounts, of course).
I also (like you and I assume like most people) don't consume foods I dislike. For example, I think putting sweetener in coffee is disgusting. However, I don't feel compelled to tell people who do like them that I read on FB that sweetener in coffee (sugar or otherwise) is really bad for you and that I avoid it for that reason. Instead, I simply don't comment on it, for the most part, since of course the reason I do not consume it is that I dislike it.
It almost seems like you may be a little jealous that some people can consume soda whenever they want without worrying about it, since the soda they enjoy is calorie free (or close enough to it that it does not matter).
I dunno, I don't consume soda all that often because more often than not there are other things I'd rather drink (this morning I'm having coffee plus an iced tea I made at home, I also drink lots of water, since I love it). Since soda isn't something I particularly want to drink a lot, I don't much think about it, and am not sure why someone would be that focused on the safety of something they rarely consumed. Whenever I do drink it I will drink diet, however, since as mentioned above I prefer the diet sodas I like to regular (which tastes too sweet and sticky to me after choosing the diet options for over 25 years).
What I've seen is that the vast majority of the hard core "artificial sweeteners are unnatural and unsafe" things are from really questionable sources like FB or Food Babe (just realized they have the same initials, heh) whom I would be embarrassed to cite, especially in response to an analysis and explanation like Aaron did. Are their studies that say that it might be an issue in extremely large amounts or due to reasons that don't really apply if one is watching calories (the "it makes you crave sweet" thing)? Sure. The latter is something I am convinced is not true for me (it seems to be more the case for people who have messed up their palate and cannot appreciate less sweet foods, which has always struck me as odd anyway), but if I am having trouble sticking to my calories I can analyze why. (I don't consume much sweet stuff other than fruit, so it's certainly not craving sweets.)2 -
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