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If you drink Diet Coke obsessively....You might be a runner. What's that all about?
upformore
Posts: 17 Member
in Debate Club
Has anyone else ever noticed that runner's drink Diet Coke like it's water? I'm not a nutritionist, nor do I claim any expertise in this matter, but practically substituting your water consumption during the day with Diet Coke has to take a toll eventually...am I right? :-) (Not attacking runners here...just having some fun, but come on already with the Diet Coke!)
20
Replies
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I drink coke on Marathon and ironman courses - instant energy10
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I know lots of runners...most of them drink water most of the time. I don't think my wife has had a diet coke in her life.
I'm a cyclist...I often enjoy a Coke Zero with my lunch for that afternoon caffeine pick me up, but that's about it.10 -
Maybe it's my part of the US...but it seems as if you have been officially welcomed into the running club when you are invited to go get a Diet Coke after a long run. Personally....after a long run I'll take the Coke with sugar...2
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Diet Coke is 99% water and actually hydrates you better than water.
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Nice...getting science involved.0
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I used to drink Pepsi Max as my pre workout1
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I guess if you want to debate the issue, I'm going to ask you to back up your claim that runners drink a lot of diet coke. Then I'll ask you to back up your claim that it's bad for you in any way. Nice to see it hydrates slightly better than water though.
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Carlos_421 wrote: »Diet Coke is 99% water and actually hydrates you better than water.
Where did you get this chart from?
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It's not just Diet Coke, cut Cola in general: https://coca-colacompany.com/stories/why-americas-top-100k-runner-drinks-coca-cola2
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Carlos_421 wrote: »Diet Coke is 99% water and actually hydrates you better than water.
Despite its vital importance, water is often the most undervalued dietary component. Water makes up a large portion of your body composition. Each day, you lose up to 3 quarts of water, making daily replenishment crucial. Water is involved in more bodily processes than any other nutrient. It is recommended that you drink between 8 to 10 glasses of water daily. It can be confusing when you're trying to figure out what counts toward your water consumption each day.
Diet Soda and Daily Water Requirement
You may be surprised to know that because beverages such as diet soda are composed primarily of water, they do count towards your daily water requirement. However, you must take into consideration diet soda additives such as sodium and caffeine that may actually remove water from your body. Because of this, it's crucial that you avoid relying solely on diet soda to meet your daily recommended water intake
https://www.livestrong.com/article/413306-does-diet-soda-count-as-water-intake/
33 -
Carlos_421 wrote: »Diet Coke is 99% water and actually hydrates you better than water.
Where did you get this chart from?
It’s an illustration of the results found from this study:
https://academic.oup.com/ajcn/article/103/3/717/4564598
There’s another illustration of the same results found in the link but it isn’t as pretty.3 -
Packerjohn wrote: »Carlos_421 wrote: »Diet Coke is 99% water and actually hydrates you better than water.
Despite its vital importance, water is often the most undervalued dietary component. Water makes up a large portion of your body composition. Each day, you lose up to 3 quarts of water, making daily replenishment crucial. Water is involved in more bodily processes than any other nutrient. It is recommended that you drink between 8 to 10 glasses of water daily. It can be confusing when you're trying to figure out what counts toward your water consumption each day.
Diet Soda and Daily Water Requirement
You may be surprised to know that because beverages such as diet soda are composed primarily of water, they do count towards your daily water requirement. However, you must take into consideration diet soda additives such as sodium and caffeine that may actually remove water from your body. Because of this, it's crucial that you avoid relying solely on diet soda to meet your daily recommended water intake
https://www.livestrong.com/article/413306-does-diet-soda-count-as-water-intake/
This is an example of why livestrong isn’t always a great source of info.
The claim that sodium (which is no more abundant in soda than in tap water) or caffeine in soda causes one to lose more of the water contained in the drink than if they’d simply drank water is false as demonstrated in the study I linked above.
In fact, you posted this in response to an illustration of the study results.
A theory posited by a blogger on livestrong doesn’t negate the results of a scientific study.20 -
Carlos_421 wrote: »Packerjohn wrote: »Carlos_421 wrote: »Diet Coke is 99% water and actually hydrates you better than water.
Despite its vital importance, water is often the most undervalued dietary component. Water makes up a large portion of your body composition. Each day, you lose up to 3 quarts of water, making daily replenishment crucial. Water is involved in more bodily processes than any other nutrient. It is recommended that you drink between 8 to 10 glasses of water daily. It can be confusing when you're trying to figure out what counts toward your water consumption each day.
Diet Soda and Daily Water Requirement
You may be surprised to know that because beverages such as diet soda are composed primarily of water, they do count towards your daily water requirement. However, you must take into consideration diet soda additives such as sodium and caffeine that may actually remove water from your body. Because of this, it's crucial that you avoid relying solely on diet soda to meet your daily recommended water intake
https://www.livestrong.com/article/413306-does-diet-soda-count-as-water-intake/
This is an example of why livestrong isn’t always a great source of info.
The claim that sodium (which is no more abundant in soda than in tap water) or caffeine in soda causes one to lose more of the water contained in the drink than if they’d simply drank water is false as demonstrated in the study I linked above.
In fact, you posted this in response to an illustration of the study results.
A theory posited by a blogger on livestrong doesn’t negate the results of a scientific study.
From the article you referenced:
The known diuretic effects of caffeine and alcohol, because of their action in inhibiting the release of arginine vasopressin (20, 21), would influence the response to ingested drinks that contain caffeine or alcohol. An acute dose of <250–300 mg caffeine is unlikely to have a measurable effect on urine output, although such an effect is likely to be seen when the dose exceeds ∼300 mg
The writer of the Livestrong article is a RD. She said it's important that one doesn't rely solely on diet soda for their hydration. I know several people that drink a couple 2L bottles of Diet Coke a day, that level brings the caffeine consumption over 300mg.14 -
Carlos_421 wrote: »Packerjohn wrote: »Carlos_421 wrote: »Diet Coke is 99% water and actually hydrates you better than water.
Despite its vital importance, water is often the most undervalued dietary component. Water makes up a large portion of your body composition. Each day, you lose up to 3 quarts of water, making daily replenishment crucial. Water is involved in more bodily processes than any other nutrient. It is recommended that you drink between 8 to 10 glasses of water daily. It can be confusing when you're trying to figure out what counts toward your water consumption each day.
Diet Soda and Daily Water Requirement
You may be surprised to know that because beverages such as diet soda are composed primarily of water, they do count towards your daily water requirement. However, you must take into consideration diet soda additives such as sodium and caffeine that may actually remove water from your body. Because of this, it's crucial that you avoid relying solely on diet soda to meet your daily recommended water intake
https://www.livestrong.com/article/413306-does-diet-soda-count-as-water-intake/
This is an example of why livestrong isn’t always a great source of info.
The claim that sodium (which is no more abundant in soda than in tap water) or caffeine in soda causes one to lose more of the water contained in the drink than if they’d simply drank water is false as demonstrated in the study I linked above.
In fact, you posted this in response to an illustration of the study results.
A theory posited by a blogger on livestrong doesn’t negate the results of a scientific study.
I still don't get why people keep on claiming diet soda has a lot of sodium.21 -
Packerjohn wrote: »Carlos_421 wrote: »Packerjohn wrote: »Carlos_421 wrote: »Diet Coke is 99% water and actually hydrates you better than water.
Despite its vital importance, water is often the most undervalued dietary component. Water makes up a large portion of your body composition. Each day, you lose up to 3 quarts of water, making daily replenishment crucial. Water is involved in more bodily processes than any other nutrient. It is recommended that you drink between 8 to 10 glasses of water daily. It can be confusing when you're trying to figure out what counts toward your water consumption each day.
Diet Soda and Daily Water Requirement
You may be surprised to know that because beverages such as diet soda are composed primarily of water, they do count towards your daily water requirement. However, you must take into consideration diet soda additives such as sodium and caffeine that may actually remove water from your body. Because of this, it's crucial that you avoid relying solely on diet soda to meet your daily recommended water intake
https://www.livestrong.com/article/413306-does-diet-soda-count-as-water-intake/
This is an example of why livestrong isn’t always a great source of info.
The claim that sodium (which is no more abundant in soda than in tap water) or caffeine in soda causes one to lose more of the water contained in the drink than if they’d simply drank water is false as demonstrated in the study I linked above.
In fact, you posted this in response to an illustration of the study results.
A theory posited by a blogger on livestrong doesn’t negate the results of a scientific study.
From the article you referenced:
The known diuretic effects of caffeine and alcohol, because of their action in inhibiting the release of arginine vasopressin (20, 21), would influence the response to ingested drinks that contain caffeine or alcohol. An acute dose of <250–300 mg caffeine is unlikely to have a measurable effect on urine output, although such an effect is likely to be seen when the dose exceeds ∼300 mg
The writer of the Livestrong article is a RD. She said it's important that one doesn't rely solely on diet soda for their hydration. I know several people that drink a couple 2L bottles of Diet Coke a day, that level brings the caffeine consumption over 300mg.
A couple of 2 Ls a day? Wow that's a lot.8 -
singingflutelady wrote: »Carlos_421 wrote: »Packerjohn wrote: »Carlos_421 wrote: »Diet Coke is 99% water and actually hydrates you better than water.
Despite its vital importance, water is often the most undervalued dietary component. Water makes up a large portion of your body composition. Each day, you lose up to 3 quarts of water, making daily replenishment crucial. Water is involved in more bodily processes than any other nutrient. It is recommended that you drink between 8 to 10 glasses of water daily. It can be confusing when you're trying to figure out what counts toward your water consumption each day.
Diet Soda and Daily Water Requirement
You may be surprised to know that because beverages such as diet soda are composed primarily of water, they do count towards your daily water requirement. However, you must take into consideration diet soda additives such as sodium and caffeine that may actually remove water from your body. Because of this, it's crucial that you avoid relying solely on diet soda to meet your daily recommended water intake
https://www.livestrong.com/article/413306-does-diet-soda-count-as-water-intake/
This is an example of why livestrong isn’t always a great source of info.
The claim that sodium (which is no more abundant in soda than in tap water) or caffeine in soda causes one to lose more of the water contained in the drink than if they’d simply drank water is false as demonstrated in the study I linked above.
In fact, you posted this in response to an illustration of the study results.
A theory posited by a blogger on livestrong doesn’t negate the results of a scientific study.
I still don't get why people keep on claiming diet soda has a lot of sodium.
My theory is that Big Water is behind it all.26 -
Around here it’s bananas after the run. For the potassium I think (not to mention the carb kick).4
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Packerjohn wrote: »Carlos_421 wrote: »Packerjohn wrote: »Carlos_421 wrote: »Diet Coke is 99% water and actually hydrates you better than water.
Despite its vital importance, water is often the most undervalued dietary component. Water makes up a large portion of your body composition. Each day, you lose up to 3 quarts of water, making daily replenishment crucial. Water is involved in more bodily processes than any other nutrient. It is recommended that you drink between 8 to 10 glasses of water daily. It can be confusing when you're trying to figure out what counts toward your water consumption each day.
Diet Soda and Daily Water Requirement
You may be surprised to know that because beverages such as diet soda are composed primarily of water, they do count towards your daily water requirement. However, you must take into consideration diet soda additives such as sodium and caffeine that may actually remove water from your body. Because of this, it's crucial that you avoid relying solely on diet soda to meet your daily recommended water intake
https://www.livestrong.com/article/413306-does-diet-soda-count-as-water-intake/
This is an example of why livestrong isn’t always a great source of info.
The claim that sodium (which is no more abundant in soda than in tap water) or caffeine in soda causes one to lose more of the water contained in the drink than if they’d simply drank water is false as demonstrated in the study I linked above.
In fact, you posted this in response to an illustration of the study results.
A theory posited by a blogger on livestrong doesn’t negate the results of a scientific study.
From the article you referenced:
The known diuretic effects of caffeine and alcohol, because of their action in inhibiting the release of arginine vasopressin (20, 21), would influence the response to ingested drinks that contain caffeine or alcohol. An acute dose of <250–300 mg caffeine is unlikely to have a measurable effect on urine output, although such an effect is likely to be seen when the dose exceeds ∼300 mg
The writer of the Livestrong article is a RD. She said it's important that one doesn't rely solely on diet soda for their hydration. I know several people that drink a couple 2L bottles of Diet Coke a day, that level brings the caffeine consumption over 300mg.
And right there in your quote: “<250-300mg caffeine is unlikely to have a measurable effect.”
A 12 oz can of Diet Coke contains only 43mg of caffeine.
You’d have to drink 5.8 cans in a single sitting before you’d have enough caffeine to even tell the difference between how much the Diet Coke made you pee vs the same amount of plain water.
Once again, a blog on livestrong doesn’t negate the findings of an actual scientific study.17 -
Packerjohn wrote: »Carlos_421 wrote: »Diet Coke is 99% water and actually hydrates you better than water.
Despite its vital importance, water is often the most undervalued dietary component. Water makes up a large portion of your body composition. Each day, you lose up to 3 quarts of water, making daily replenishment crucial. Water is involved in more bodily processes than any other nutrient. It is recommended that you drink between 8 to 10 glasses of water daily. It can be confusing when you're trying to figure out what counts toward your water consumption each day.
Diet Soda and Daily Water Requirement
You may be surprised to know that because beverages such as diet soda are composed primarily of water, they do count towards your daily water requirement. However, you must take into consideration diet soda additives such as sodium and caffeine that may actually remove water from your body. Because of this, it's crucial that you avoid relying solely on diet soda to meet your daily recommended water intake
https://www.livestrong.com/article/413306-does-diet-soda-count-as-water-intake/
Sodas sodium content is minimal, much lower than physiologically concentrations and about equivalent to the amount found in tap water. To be honest if you are running you are going to want to be drinking something that has electrolytes such as sodium...likely in higher concentrations than are found in soda. Drinking pure distilled water after a long run is probably not a good thing to do unless you are also eating something with salt content.
The caffeine content is relevant as caffeine is a diuretic and vasoconstrictor...but the caffeine content of soda doesn't negate the water content.
Honestly I haven't found livestrong.com to be a very reliable source of accurate information. It is basically a blog....not a scientific resource. Articles found therein are basically op-eds and should be taken with a grain of salt...ironically.21 -
Carlos_421 wrote: »Diet Coke is 99% water and actually hydrates you better than water.
Where did you get this chart from?
It cites the source in the lower right of the image.6 -
singingflutelady wrote: »Carlos_421 wrote: »Packerjohn wrote: »Carlos_421 wrote: »Diet Coke is 99% water and actually hydrates you better than water.
Despite its vital importance, water is often the most undervalued dietary component. Water makes up a large portion of your body composition. Each day, you lose up to 3 quarts of water, making daily replenishment crucial. Water is involved in more bodily processes than any other nutrient. It is recommended that you drink between 8 to 10 glasses of water daily. It can be confusing when you're trying to figure out what counts toward your water consumption each day.
Diet Soda and Daily Water Requirement
You may be surprised to know that because beverages such as diet soda are composed primarily of water, they do count towards your daily water requirement. However, you must take into consideration diet soda additives such as sodium and caffeine that may actually remove water from your body. Because of this, it's crucial that you avoid relying solely on diet soda to meet your daily recommended water intake
https://www.livestrong.com/article/413306-does-diet-soda-count-as-water-intake/
This is an example of why livestrong isn’t always a great source of info.
The claim that sodium (which is no more abundant in soda than in tap water) or caffeine in soda causes one to lose more of the water contained in the drink than if they’d simply drank water is false as demonstrated in the study I linked above.
In fact, you posted this in response to an illustration of the study results.
A theory posited by a blogger on livestrong doesn’t negate the results of a scientific study.
I still don't get why people keep on claiming diet soda has a lot of sodium.
Right? I mean, it’s as simple as reading the nutrition label to find out it’s completely false.7 -
This has nothing to do with the post, but I like this chart. I sometimes find when I am extremely thirsty, I crave ice cold milk and I feel more hydrated than if I drank water or Gatorade.1
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Charlene____ wrote: »This has nothing to do with the post, but I like this chart. I sometimes find when I am extremely thirsty, I crave ice cold milk and I feel more hydrated than if I drank water or Gatorade.
Same. Milk is my dear friend.0 -
Just some numbers
Sodium content of tap water: 13 mg/12oz (source: just googling sodium tap water)
Sodium content of diet coke: 40 mg/12 oz (source: https://www.coca-colaproductfacts.com/en/products/diet-coke/original/12-oz/)
Sodium content of human blood: 1136 mg/12 oz. (source: https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/hyponatremia/symptoms-causes/syc-20373711) Math: Source gives 140 mEQ/L. Converting that to concentration in mg... Sodiums ionic valence is 1. Sodiums atomic mass is 23 grams per mole. So 140 mEQ/L is the same as 3220 mg/L. There are 34oz in a liter so blood is about 95 mg in 12 oz. There is about 6 liters of blood in your circulation for the typical person so we are talking 19,320 mg in circulation at any given moment just to put that into perspective of the 40mg in a 12 oz bottle of diet coke.
Sodium content of sea water for comparison: 3725 mg/ 12oz (source: https://www.lenntech.com/composition-seawater.htm) Math. Sodium is listed as 10,556 mg/L. 34 oz in a liter so (10,566/34)*12 = 3725mg / 12 oz.
So sure, diet coke has 3x the sodium concentration of tap water. Kind of like how sea water has 3x the sodium concentration of your blood. But if we are comparing amounts, soda has almost 30x less sodium per ounce than your blood has and you have 6 liters of blood. I don't think drinking soda is going to affect your sodium levels all that much.10 -
Carlos_421 wrote: »Diet Coke is 99% water and actually hydrates you better than water.
Plain water hydrates better than a sports drink? I don't think so.0 -
NorthCascades wrote: »Carlos_421 wrote: »Diet Coke is 99% water and actually hydrates you better than water.
Plain water hydrates better than a sports drink? I don't think so.
I'm somewhat curious as to what they're considering as a sports drink. It might be in the methods section of the article cited but I'm nowhere near curious enough to actually find the article right now.0 -
Methods section of the maughan Study, in case anyone is interested:
3 -
I don't like diet coke. I like diet dr pepper.
8 -
It's actually interesting. I don't drink nearly as much water as I used to. I drink 3-4 cups of coffee, a can of diet dr pepper and just one of my fake-tervis cups of plain water during my work day, and I think I'm very well hydrated. I pee a lot and it's always really light yellow.3
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Aaron_K123 wrote: »Just some numbers
Sodium content of tap water: 13 mg/12oz (source: just googling sodium tap water)
Sodium content of diet coke: 40 mg/12 oz (source: https://www.coca-colaproductfacts.com/en/products/diet-coke/original/12-oz/)
Sodium content of human blood: 1136 mg/12 oz. (source: https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/hyponatremia/symptoms-causes/syc-20373711) Math: Source gives 140 mEQ/L. Converting that to concentration in mg... Sodiums ionic valence is 1. Sodiums atomic mass is 23 grams per mole. So 140 mEQ/L is the same as 3220 mg/L. There are 34oz in a liter so blood is about 95 mg in 12 oz. There is about 6 liters of blood in your circulation for the typical person so we are talking 19,320 mg in circulation at any given moment just to put that into perspective of the 40mg in a 12 oz bottle of diet coke.
Sodium content of sea water for comparison: 3725 mg/ 12oz (source: https://www.lenntech.com/composition-seawater.htm) Math. Sodium is listed as 10,556 mg/L. 34 oz in a liter so (10,566/34)*12 = 3725mg / 12 oz.
So sure, diet coke has 3x the sodium concentration of tap water. Kind of like how sea water has 3x the sodium concentration of your blood. But if we are comparing amounts, soda has almost 30x less sodium per ounce than your blood has and you have 6 liters of blood. I don't think drinking soda is going to affect your sodium levels all that much.
Caught a typo in case anyone cares. I said blood has 95mg of sodium in 12 oz but I meant in 1 oz. It is 1136mg in 12 oz.2
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