Confused about diet soda (coke, pepsi etc)

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  • Aaron_K123
    Aaron_K123 Posts: 7,122 Member
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    Citation for metabolic breakdown and blood levels: http://informahealthcare.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10408440701516184

    By the way I have full science journal access so if anyone is interested in reading the full metanalysis study just let me know and I can send it to you.
  • WonderWhitney11
    WonderWhitney11 Posts: 78 Member
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    From what I understand, the artificial sweeteners in diet sodas are essentially sugar molecules that are modified on the molecular level. They somehow replace a single molecule of one element on the end of the molecular chain with another, leaving the majority of the compound alone. Because it's really similar to sugar, it tastes like sugar, except our bodies don't recognize it as sugar so it passes straight through without being digested, which is what makes it 0 calories.

    I think the most dangerous part of this is that because our bodies don't recognize the sweetener as sugar, we crave more and more sugar (because we do need a little bit of sugar in our diets), making us drink more soda. Kind of a vicious cycle. The good news is that it also works the other way! Stop drinking it, and you don't really crave it any more!

    I used to be a huge diet soda drinker too... at one point I'd go through 5 or 6 cans per night. Now, I have one maybe once or twice a week just for the change in flavor and the bubbly carbonation. I've pretty much replaced it with iced tea or water, which I find are more satisfying in the long run. :)
  • Aaron_K123
    Aaron_K123 Posts: 7,122 Member
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    From what I understand, the artificial sweeteners in diet sodas are essentially sugar molecules that are modified on the molecular level.

    No, aspartame for example is a methyester of a dipeptide between phenylalanine and aspartate, two essential amino acids and common metabolites of protein. Nothing to do with sugar at all.
    They somehow replace a single molecule of one element on the end of the molecular chain with another, leaving the majority of the compound alone.

    Well in the case of aspartame its just methylated aspartyl-phenylalanine.

    Because it's really similar to sugar, it tastes like sugar, except our bodies don't recognize it as sugar so it passes straight through without being digested, which is what makes it 0 calories.

    Molecularly it isn't similar to sugar at all actually but yes its recognized by our tastebuds as being "sweet". All "taste" is is molecules binding to certain receptors on our tongue and this molecule happens to bind to the "sweet" receptor.

    I think the most dangerous part of this is that because our bodies don't recognize the sweetener as sugar, we crave more and more sugar (because we do need a little bit of sugar in our diets), making us drink more soda. Kind of a vicious cycle.

    There is no evidence that is true. Things are sweet or things aren't. Just because you taste something sweet doesn't mean that you must have more sweet things. That might be true of some people but its subjective and personal, based more on personality and what you like and don't like than on biology

    [/quote]
    The good news is that it also works the other way! Stop drinking it, and you don't really crave it any more!

    Again, subjective and not going to be true for everyone. Correct would be to say I guess when you stopped drinking it you didn't crave it anymore but that is as much as you can say, you cannot take your personal experience and assume it applies to everyone.
    I used to be a huge diet soda drinker too... at one point I'd go through 5 or 6 cans per night. Now, I have one maybe once or twice a week just for the change in flavor and the bubbly carbonation. I've pretty much replaced it with iced tea or water, which I find are more satisfying in the long run. :)

    Cool. Doesn't mean there is anything wrong with aspartame or other artificial sweeteners or any reason to actively avoid them.
  • Mr_Excitement
    Mr_Excitement Posts: 833 Member
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    http://diettogo.com/blog/diet-sodas-truth-may-be-hard-to-swallow

    I suspect you could show a similar link between increasing waistlines and *any* diet food. People buy "diet foods" because they want to lose weight, but many of them still eat too much. People who take in even a moderate surplus of calories slowly get heavier as they age.

    I drink diet soda all the time and haven't noticed any ill effects, personally. I've gone months without it, and weeks where I drank little else. Haven't observed a difference in my health or fitness in either state, to be honest.
  • evanblove
    evanblove Posts: 82 Member
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    Your basically drinking chemicals, that aint good for you.

    Watch out for the dihydrogen monoxide in your water! http://www.dhmo.org/facts.html
  • fittoday14
    fittoday14 Posts: 128
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    Soda, as well as other asidic juices and drinks, aren't good for your teeth. If anything, do it so that when you're 70, you're teeth are still on you. :bigsmile:
  • cwoyto123
    cwoyto123 Posts: 308
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    2 litres? Get a grip, lol.
  • 120by30
    120by30 Posts: 217 Member
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    Diet Pepsi is much better than Diet Coke
    No no no...you meant diet mt dew is better than diet coke!

    Definitely!
  • cebreisch
    cebreisch Posts: 1,340 Member
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    Well, I've been to the point where I've had about 2 liters a day, and now I'm down to just a few a day. Yes, it's diet, and even with diet coke or diet doctor pepper, they are also things that you "get used to" and crave.

    I try to limit myself some. I allow it at lunch and MAYBE for dinner or a snack later on. so that's once, maybe twice a day. I've found that the more I drink water, the more I want it.

    The only real issue I see with soda is that it has salt and carbonation in it and that creates bloat - aka makes you hold onto water. And it can erode your teeth.

    But if it's a case of diet pop vs. some variety of fried foods, then the lesser of the evils is the pop.
  • evileen99
    evileen99 Posts: 1,564 Member
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    Sodas are acidic. Our bodies function best in an alkaline (basic) environment. Acidic environment of the body is where disease flourishes, cancer cells can multiply faster, bacteria thrives, none of that makes us feel good. What else causes an acidic environment? Sugar. Fried foods. Even meat. What makes a basic environment? All those health foods like veggies, nuts, seeds, (fish maybe?), fruits, herbs, and of course, water. I'm no nutrition fanatic (just love learning it), so I'm not saying go live in the woods and eat the plants. Unless you want to. But if we are already eating in a culture of breads, sugared desserts daily, French fries/chips/fried-everything-ever, beef and chicken galore, why pour gallons of acidic soda into our body weekly, too? This is what makes us feel like crap. Ps, stress creates an acidic environment, too. We owe ourselves some H2O.

    g

    This!

    Sorry, but unless you're gravely ill, your lungs pretty much keep your pH at 7.4 on a second-by-second basis with your kidneys as back up. And almost all foods are acidic,so using your logic, we shouldn't eat anything but egg whites and olives.

    http://www.foodscience.caes.uga.edu/extension/documents/fdaapproximatephoffoodslacf-phs.pdf
  • earlnabby
    earlnabby Posts: 8,171 Member
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    Well, just remember that if you do switch over to water, make sure you talk nice to it or it may become bad for you.

    http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/celebrity-life/gwyneth-paltrow-thinks-negative-words-and-sounds-can-hurt-waters-feelings/story-fn907478-1226943092134
  • fatfudgery
    fatfudgery Posts: 449 Member
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    The amount of mom-science in this thread is truly epic.
  • gaelicstorm26
    gaelicstorm26 Posts: 589 Member
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    Scientific fact: olives are meant to look pretty in martinis.
  • eddiesmith1
    eddiesmith1 Posts: 1,550 Member
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    Your basically drinking chemicals, that aint good for you.

    Watch out for the dihydrogen monoxide in your water! http://www.dhmo.org/facts.html

    Bwahahahaha Nice
  • bagge72
    bagge72 Posts: 1,377 Member
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    Absolutely agree. Go read what brain surgeon Dr Jack Kruse says that aspartame does in the brain and how it messes with your metabolism.
    Where's the actual science that backs it up? And from a guy who's been suspended by the Association of which he practices in?

    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness industry for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

    You might be interested in this: http://youtu.be/nTUbDwmZmAY you might want to start at minute 2.

    Wow that was terrible, so much out dated information, and the news reports from the early 90's that are used in it, that is just classic, I can't believe the author of that video would use such crappy sources for such an important video to them.
  • conqueringsquidlette
    conqueringsquidlette Posts: 383 Member
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    Well, just remember that if you do switch over to water, make sure you talk nice to it or it may become bad for you.

    http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/celebrity-life/gwyneth-paltrow-thinks-negative-words-and-sounds-can-hurt-waters-feelings/story-fn907478-1226943092134

    Dead. I am just dead. That is the funniest thing I've read all day.
    The amount of mom-science in this thread is truly epic.

    Oooh, saving that term for later. Is mom-science the *opposite* of bro-science, or do they overlap?
  • Aaron_K123
    Aaron_K123 Posts: 7,122 Member
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    Well, just remember that if you do switch over to water, make sure you talk nice to it or it may become bad for you.

    http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/celebrity-life/gwyneth-paltrow-thinks-negative-words-and-sounds-can-hurt-waters-feelings/story-fn907478-1226943092134

    Dead. I am just dead. That is the funniest thing I've read all day.
    The amount of mom-science in this thread is truly epic.

    Oooh, saving that term for later. Is mom-science the *opposite* of bro-science, or do they overlap?

    I think the distinction would be this:

    Eat your vegetables and you will get ripped bro
    vs
    Eat your vegetables or your teeth will fall out then what will the girls/boys think of you!
  • mattforty2
    mattforty2 Posts: 1 Member
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    Anecdotally I find that diet sodas leave me craving sweets, not a big loss not to drink them though as I don't really like them anyway.

    I think most of the fear of aspartame comes from studies like this one that do show that it can cause cancer and brain damage in rats -

    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16507461
    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22385158

    But you have to realize that in one of them the rats were being given the equivalent of 500mg/kg of body weight. I don't know if any studies have been done on lower dosages that might paint a more realistic picture. Anything can be poisonous at high enough doses.

    This study suggests that artificial sweeteners do increase appetite - but someone earlier in the thread stated these studies had been debunked and that it does not increase appetite, I couldn't find it but that doesn't mean it's not there.

    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2892765/

    According to the EU study a person would need to drink 12 cans at the maximum allowed (per can by regulation) or 36 cans at what is normally in them, what I'm not sure of is whether at that point it is poisonous, or if that is the maximum safe daily amount -

    http://www.efsa.europa.eu/en/faqs/faqaspartame.htm?wtrl=01

    I'm just posting these because there seemed to be a fair amount of fluff, since I don't like the diet soda anyway I don't really care as long as having a soda every once in a while won't kill me.

    Personally I wouldn't drink 2 liters daily either though just because it seems excessive, but I don't have proof as to why I would think drinking so much soda is bad for you, I just think water is "better".
  • SomeNights246
    SomeNights246 Posts: 807 Member
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    Diet Pepsi is much better than Diet Coke

    How so?

    OP, I don't think diet soda's are harmful at all - that said, 2 litres does seem a lot of it to drink every day - I would maybe cut back to 1/4 of that and try to drink more water instead.
    No need to cut it out entirely - just perhaps cut back to a more moderate level.

    Take the Pepsi challenge. You will see.

    Interesting and random fact about that. We discussed this in Psychology. The real reason Pepsi always won was because they were exploiting a psychological fact that something is much 'stronger' the first time your senses pick up on it. Like a house that stinks stinks worse when you first walk in, but you adjust to it the longer you sit in the house. Pepsi was always given first. So, that first sip of Pepsi was more refreshing than the second sip, and by the time the people sip Coke, they're just like 'meh'.

    lol But really, I get the joke. I just ramble about things sometimes.

    Diet pop is not inherently bad. I've yet to see any scientific studies that were convincing enough to scare me away from it. Two liters a day is insane, though. I used to drink that much pop. I slowly eased out of it. Went to coffee and tea and eased into just 1-2 cups of coffee, tea, or soda a day.

    I could never give up caffeine entirely. It would be a cold day in a Texas summer before I'd do that..
  • jamsieboi
    jamsieboi Posts: 11 Member
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    Thanks for all the input......I think!

    Lots of information to consider but I think the main think I am getting is the amount I drink, even if it's not that bad I can see a big difference in how bloated I feel so plan to cut back.

    Strange point on the coke / pepsi debate, I love full fat coke but prefer diet pepsi to diet coke or coke zero.

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