diet soda...good or evil???

stephanieogle35

Diet soda = Good
Me without diet soda = Evil

butterfli7o

<---- Enjoying an evil Coke Zero as I type.

AllanMisner

Having given them up and seeing the change in memory and metabolism, I can clearly see how diet soda is toxic (poison). Whenever your body is working to clear out a chemical, it can't function properly as it relates to real food. And considering how important even small changes in hormone levels are, doing something that would spike insulin (without the blood sugar) is only going to slow weight loss.

You can drink a small amount of bleach without it killing you. Gonna try that?

cmc6921

My cousin is a general practioner. He does not have a problem with diet soda at all IN MODERATION. That's the key with anything.

AmberLee2012

Any "artifical sweetners" are bad for you, but so are a lot of foods/drinks. I quit my long time diet soda habit about 6 weeks ago after reading up on aspartame. I try to avoid any diet drinks/foods that have aspartame now. It's personal choice really. I just figure soda is bad for my teeth and my body and I'm personally not going to drink it anymore.

laurenmanderson1

Not so hot for you... try Zevia (sweetened with Stevia). Or use sparkling mineral water and add flavored Stevia to it, it tastes great when you want the flavor without HFCS or the toxic chemicals in diet drinks. When I drank regular diet soda I had headaches all of the time... I only get them now when I'm sick.

There's flavored Stevia?? I am so excited right now :flowerforyou:

YES!!! My favorites are Kal brand; Caramel Cream, Chocolate Cardamom, Coconut, Hazelnut and in SweetLeaf; English Toffee, Vanilla Cream, Cola, Root Beer.

I never knew this either! Thank you so much!

thisismeraw

For all those posting articles about how evil diet pop is for you... you can find articles that will support either view of whether they are good or not. There are a ton of opinions and articles online that people seem to jump to believe stating that diet pop is so terrible for you and will give you cancer.

There have been NO CREDIBLE studies done that diet pops are harmful to humans. Rats, sure... but in HUGE quantities.

We get a diet pop thread multiple times a day. Searching brings up hundreds of answers.

Don't listen to someone else's opinion and base your decisions on what you believe from credible resources. Diet pop is fine in moderation. If you're drinking 24 cans a day... sure it's not good for you but a can or two a day... not bad for you provided you don't have an issue with sweeteners.

jelk8881

Stay off the soda and drink sparkling ice its awesome. And tastes way better than soda.

confetti_blind

Diet coke

LOVE it!

beyondjupiter

There have been NO CREDIBLE studies done that diet pops are harmful to humans. Rats, sure... but in HUGE quantities.

There have been quite a few studies.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-mark-hyman/diet-soda-health_b_2698494.html

The study in particular:
http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/early/2013/01/30/ajcn.112.050997

And trust me, there are more.

jelk8881

I'm no expert on the topic, but I do know that they definitely aren't the best for you. You should avoid drinking them on a regular basis and opt for water or sparkling mineral water instead (Sparkling Ice is my new favorite drink!). But sometimes I just really, really want a soda and I will occasionally grab a coke zero. I think moderation is the key with diet sodas.

I love sparkling Ice. Its the best flavored water out there. I used to drink soda like crazy until I found this drink. I might have a can of diet dr. pepper. at night once in awhile. But I drink Sparkling Ice all day. :drinker:

TracyJo93

Evil. It's bad for you even if it doesn't have calories.

extraordinary_machine

It's neither good nor evil...it just is. It's a carbonated drink. It lacks the ability to be good or evil. Drink it...or don't. Whatever floats your boat.

bacitracin

I'm a scientist and I wrote a blog post about it. http://crunchyscientist.wordpress.com/2013/04/25/obesity-carbohydrates-diet-drinks-and-correlation-studies/

But basically: My husband has in the past brought up the idea of diet drinks causing weight gain and although I explained this fallacy to him at the time, he recently brought it up again. He said he “heard that diet drinks cause weight gain because people who drink diet drinks gained more weight over years than those who don’t”. I decided to try to find where he heard this and came up with nada. The interwebs seem to have started and circulated this rumor because there isn’t a Pubmed article I could find with this claim. Some counter arguments were raised on other websites saying that the study called 2lbs “weight gain” and it was a pure correlation study.

Really, what it comes down to is that no one has any idea what possible biological mechanism could cause an artificial sweetener that does not affect insulin levels and has no calories to have anything to do with weight.

Two articles did catch my attention though:



See http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17992188 for more



See http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21696306

These articles discuss diet and weight gain, saying

Within each 4-year period, participants gained an average of 3.35 lb (5th to 95th percentile, -4.1 to 12.4). On the basis of increased daily servings of individual dietary components, 4-year weight change was most strongly associated with the intake of potato chips (1.69 lb), potatoes (1.28 lb), sugar-sweetened beverages (1.00 lb), unprocessed red meats (0.95 lb), and processed meats (0.93 lb) and was inversely associated with the intake of vegetables (-0.22 lb), whole grains (-0.37 lb), fruits (-0.49 lb), nuts (-0.57 lb), and yogurt (-0.82 lb) (P≤0.005 for each comparison). Aggregate dietary changes were associated with substantial differences in weight change (3.93 lb across quintiles of dietary change). Other lifestyle factors were also independently associated with weight change (P<0.001), including physical activity (-1.76 lb across quintiles); alcohol use (0.41 lb per drink per day), smoking (new quitters, 5.17 lb; former smokers, 0.14 lb), sleep (more weight gain with <6 or >8 hours of sleep), and television watching (0.31 lb per hour per day).

and

There is no clear evidence that altering the proportion of total carbohydrate in the diet is an important determinant of energy intake. However, there is evidence that sugar-sweetened beverages do not induce satiety to the same extent as solid forms of carbohydrate, and that increases in sugar-sweetened soft drink consumption are associated with weight gain. Findings from studies on the effect of the dietary glycemic index on body weight have not been consistent.

In fact, replacing sugary drinks with diet drinks DOES decrease BMI in children [citation], which also presumably be the case in adults.

What’s the take home message? Don’t jump on a bandwagon without reading the studies yourself.

I want to have your science babies.

TLDR; science says diet soda is NOT the devil.

GURLEY_GIRL3

I quit dt dew a few months back! I swear I am not as hungry or ill! lol but grant you thats about all i drank all day! Crazy! Started drinking water w/ lemon and my coffee at breakfast and afternoon. I dropped weight fast as soon as i quit them. But its up to you. One a day or a few a week. MODERATION.

etoiles_argentees

Gah...I don't drink it myself.

I'm tired of arguing with this professor all over the internets, so I'm posting this now.. last comment. Ratskep has the whole mess if you're interested. http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/index.php/are-artificial-sweeteners-safe/

niner? tiger?

chunkydunk714

cmon really??? is this a serious question.....Lametard

does it seem like she's joking?

corderdeb

It's neither good nor evil...it just is. It's a carbonated drink. It lacks the ability to be good or evil. Drink it...or don't. Whatever floats your boat.

Thumbs up!

challenger9509

Question

Diet soda: Is it bad for you?

I drink diet soda every day. Could this be harmful?

Answer

from Katherine Zeratsky, R.D., L.D.

Drinking a reasonable amount of diet soda a day, such as a can or two, isn't likely to hurt you. The artificial sweeteners and other chemicals currently used in diet soda are safe for most people, and there's no credible evidence that these ingredients cause cancer.

Some types of diet soda are even fortified with vitamins and minerals. But diet soda isn't a health drink or a silver bullet for weight loss. Although switching from regular soda to diet soda may save you calories in the short term, it's not yet clear if it's effective for preventing obesity and related health problems.

Healthier low-calorie choices abound, including water, skim milk, and unsweetened tea or coffee.

Very good reply...thanks for posting!

etoiles_argentees

We did this last year... and the year before - http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/646860-the-aspartame-thread?hl=Rich+Murray

chileheadmike

My anti-sweet tooth says all sodee pop is Evil.

tedrickp

Diet soda is the sweet nectar that flows from God's breasts...according to studies.

kerrieanne1976

I don't drink any hot drinks, and lived on coke cola, and orange juice. But they are not good on for the diet so I have changed to not sure what you call it in America but in England we call it no added sugar orange squash. Try that instead of soda

Garthamatic

I have bigger things to worry about than Deh Ebil Dietz Zodaz.

Hell, I'm gonna die of something eventually. If I worry about all the incremental ways it might happen I'll be miserable.

I like Diet Coke, the taste, the caffiene, etc. I'm more focused on life changes in diet and exercise that have an appreciable impact. But that's just me.

I don't smoke, hardly ever drink, eat a balanced diet, exercise... Hell if a little Diet Dr. Pepper is my vice, I figure I'm ahead of many americans... :P

lalionne

EVIL! the only good thing in it is the water content...what is carbonation, flavoured syrup & some nasty chemical filled fake sugar going to do for you? soda in general is bad, but i believe that if you're going to drink it, go for regular soda! yeah, drinking high fructose corn syrup isn't the best, but at least it's actual sugar...and not that aspartame crap (not to mention i think regular soda tastes waaaaay better)...i just don't trust the artificial sweeteners and really, what's the point? drink some water, juice, or something else that's healthier. i only drink soda if i am out at a bar & i order a vodka with sprite...or if i break down and have fast food. every other time in my life i am drinking water, almond milk, iced tea, juice, etc.

i honestly don't see how anyone could defend soda...ESPECIALLY diet!

LJSmith1989

I want to kick the cola. Its ripping my teeth apart.

Mmmmona

I'm a scientist and I wrote a blog post about it. http://crunchyscientist.wordpress.com/2013/04/25/obesity-carbohydrates-diet-drinks-and-correlation-studies/

But basically: My husband has in the past brought up the idea of diet drinks causing weight gain and although I explained this fallacy to him at the time, he recently brought it up again. He said he “heard that diet drinks cause weight gain because people who drink diet drinks gained more weight over years than those who don’t”. I decided to try to find where he heard this and came up with nada. The interwebs seem to have started and circulated this rumor because there isn’t a Pubmed article I could find with this claim. Some counter arguments were raised on other websites saying that the study called 2lbs “weight gain” and it was a pure correlation study.

Really, what it comes down to is that no one has any idea what possible biological mechanism could cause an artificial sweetener that does not affect insulin levels and has no calories to have anything to do with weight.

Two articles did catch my attention though:



See http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17992188 for more



See http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21696306

These articles discuss diet and weight gain, saying

Within each 4-year period, participants gained an average of 3.35 lb (5th to 95th percentile, -4.1 to 12.4). On the basis of increased daily servings of individual dietary components, 4-year weight change was most strongly associated with the intake of potato chips (1.69 lb), potatoes (1.28 lb), sugar-sweetened beverages (1.00 lb), unprocessed red meats (0.95 lb), and processed meats (0.93 lb) and was inversely associated with the intake of vegetables (-0.22 lb), whole grains (-0.37 lb), fruits (-0.49 lb), nuts (-0.57 lb), and yogurt (-0.82 lb) (P≤0.005 for each comparison). Aggregate dietary changes were associated with substantial differences in weight change (3.93 lb across quintiles of dietary change). Other lifestyle factors were also independently associated with weight change (P<0.001), including physical activity (-1.76 lb across quintiles); alcohol use (0.41 lb per drink per day), smoking (new quitters, 5.17 lb; former smokers, 0.14 lb), sleep (more weight gain with <6 or >8 hours of sleep), and television watching (0.31 lb per hour per day).

and

There is no clear evidence that altering the proportion of total carbohydrate in the diet is an important determinant of energy intake. However, there is evidence that sugar-sweetened beverages do not induce satiety to the same extent as solid forms of carbohydrate, and that increases in sugar-sweetened soft drink consumption are associated with weight gain. Findings from studies on the effect of the dietary glycemic index on body weight have not been consistent.

In fact, replacing sugary drinks with diet drinks DOES decrease BMI in children [citation], which also presumably be the case in adults.

What’s the take home message? Don’t jump on a bandwagon without reading the studies yourself.

And I'm the queen of England. How nice to meet you.

bacitracin

I have bigger things to worry about than Deh Ebil Dietz Zodaz.

Hell, I'm gonna die of something eventually. If I worry about all the incremental ways it might happen I'll be miserable.

I like Diet Coke, the taste, the caffiene, etc. I'm more focused on life changes in diet and exercise that have an appreciable impact. But that's just me.

I don't smoke, hardly ever drink, eat a balanced diet, exercise... Hell if a little Diet Dr. Pepper is my vice, I figure I'm ahead of many americans... :P

Preach it, brother. On a long enough timeline, all of us will get cancer even if we're otherwise immortal. If diet soda helps me live long enough to see 3d printed replacement organs, I don't care if they have to put new kidneys in every 5 years because of my diet coke and diet rockstar and diet xyience, and diet root beer. At least I don't have high cholesterol and obesity from HFCS.

Acg67

http://andevidencelibrary.com/template.cfm?template=sort_list_template&key=2795

Capt_Apollo

it is a soft drink. it is neither good or evil. it is amoral.