is diet sode ok?

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Replies

  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,976 Member
    The problem I see in the first study was that information was gathered from a "dietary questionnaire" every 2 years. That's not a "controlled" study.

    That's why I said it wasn't conclusive but it interested me.

    Chances are most people on here will have no ill effects from aspartame but a small percentage may wish they had paid attention to the studies years from now. I constantly showed hubby studies and opinions on aspartame but he wouldn't give it up. I am pretty convinced that it contributed to his lymphpma and wish I had been able to convince him to give it up. What he is going through is not fun and neither is being his caregiver.
    My condolences for you situation. I hope soon in the future that there will be a way to cure this disease.

    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
  • neanderthin
    neanderthin Posts: 10,207 Member
    My husband showed me an article from Men's Health a couple of weeks ago about a study done linking diet sodas to increased waist size and a decreased weight loss rate.

    So, like I said, up to you. However, I am convinced the stuff is evil. lol

    ETA: Here is the link for anyone interested: http://news.menshealth.com/the-truth-about-diet-soda/2011/07/07/
    The study compared diet soda drinkers to a group of non-diet drinkers (including both regular soda fans and people who didn’t drink any soda). While all participants’ waists grew over the course of the 9.5-year study, the diet soda drinkers had 70 percent greater increases in belly bulge.

    Do you see what they did there?

    Anytime someone conducts cohort studies that rely on questionnaires and self diagnosis in epidemiology is never going to give you cause and effect, let alone any reliable data in any category, regardless of the ingfredient. Not only that, you can't include pop with calories (regular pop) and then conclude that it was the one without calories (diet pop) that caused the weight gain,lol. Studies will also sometime point to a demographic, the obese for example, and see how many consume diet pop, then conclude that diet pop contributes to obesity, forgetting to mention that another group of obese individuals that are losing weight also drink diet pop. These studies obviously fool many people including editors of health magazines, so I won't hold it against you, that you fell for it as well.
  • issyfit
    issyfit Posts: 1,077 Member
    The problem I see in the first study was that information was gathered from a "dietary questionnaire" every 2 years. That's not a "controlled" study.

    That's why I said it wasn't conclusive but it interested me.

    Chances are most people on here will have no ill effects from aspartame but a small percentage may wish they had paid attention to the studies years from now. I constantly showed hubby studies and opinions on aspartame but he wouldn't give it up. I am pretty convinced that it contributed to his lymphpma and wish I had been able to convince him to give it up. What he is going through is not fun and neither is being his caregiver.
    My condolences for you situation. I hope soon in the future that there will be a way to cure this disease.

    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

    Thank you!
  • cz52
    cz52 Posts: 7
    diet coke is my habit......... has it made me gain weight .....no..... .....AND ALL THE CRITICS OF DIET COKE ..BLAH.. IF THE DOC TOLD ME THAT I HAD TOO BC OF SUM UNKNOWN REASON THEN YEAH ID QUIT BUT.........


    DRINK IT:wink:
  • ryannyberg
    ryannyberg Posts: 8 Member
    I drink at least a can of diet soda a day.

    I love the carbonation and it has no calories. :happy:

    I agree I love the carbonation as well. If you have no issues with it and are still losing weight while drinking it great. I had issues that I would directly point to the aspertain in the drinks. I'm not certain of all the other studies about cancer and what not. I'm just certain of what I saw with me. That's why I choose to look at what I drink and look for those drinks that don't contain aspertain. Otherwise I think were in full agrement the carbonation is great and water only sucks. Just differ on how our bodies react to different ingredients and what works for one might not work for the other.
  • animemoon5
    animemoon5 Posts: 55 Member
    The worst part about diet soda, are the sweeteners such as Aspartame.... "Zevia" is a little bit better for you, it's more expensive but the ingredients are more natural, and they sweeten it with stevia instead... I love the stuff, but can't always afford it...
  • AnvilHead
    AnvilHead Posts: 18,343 Member
    Glad to see that context and dosage is being ignored in this thread, as is usually the case. Classic "all or nothing" thinking - you're either a chemically-contaminated fiend who sucks diet soda down by the gallon, or you're a pure, clean person who never touches the stuff. Nothing in between could possibly exist.


    Guzzling down a 12-pack a day, every day? Yeah, probably not a good thing.

    Drinking diet soda in moderation, along with plenty of other liquids and a balanced diet? Probably no more or less dangerous than the air you breathe on a daily basis.
  • MinimalistShoeAddict
    MinimalistShoeAddict Posts: 1,946 Member
    I sure hope it is okay. I drink it all the time!
  • MyChocolateDiet
    MyChocolateDiet Posts: 22,281 Member
    No diet sode is not ok. But Diet soda is.
    Just busting your chops.

    I don't know just kidding some people try to eat really clean so if you are going that route then diet soda in addition to fake sugar has other bad things.

    If you're only concerned with calories it has none usually for most flavors so it's ok.

    Personally I have to limit the fake sugars cause they'll make me sick, but that's just me.
  • LoveAlwaysAlisa
    LoveAlwaysAlisa Posts: 111 Member
    The best advice i can give is everything in moderation. I only drink it when I have a craving for one or when I get fast food which isn't as often anymore.
  • 1Fizzle
    1Fizzle Posts: 241 Member
    You don't turn orange, explode, or die from it alone, so I suppose it's ok.
  • koshkasmum
    koshkasmum Posts: 276 Member
    I have been a Fresca drinker for many years and can't say I've noticed an issue appetite wise. But I think the key is moderation. One or two cans per day is okay by every health care professional I've ever asked. I have had friends who got into trouble with the diet versions of caffinated pop (Coke, Pepsi) - they all drank huge amounts and then got headaches etc. when they tried to stop (caffeine addiction was the problem).

    Diet pop should not replace water but it works well a a treat in lieu of something worse (a pile of sugar or alcohol).
  • aross001
    aross001 Posts: 237
    I have about 5 cans a week. I used to drink alot more, and cut back to be safe. There is some evidence that the sweetener effects folks with sleeping disorders (the phenylalanine) so I cut back. I don't know if it made a difference, or eating better and losing weight made a difference but I'm sleeping better by about 50%.

    I suspect it's the exercise...


    from the mayo clinic (http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/phenylalanine/AN01552)

    " Phenylalanine isn't a health concern for most people. However, for people who have the genetic disorder phenylketonuria (PKU) or certain other health conditions, phenylalanine can be a serious health concern.

    Phenylalanine can cause mental retardation, brain damage, seizures and other problems in people with PKU. Phenylalanine occurs naturally in many protein-rich foods, such as milk, eggs and meat. Phenylalanine also is sold as a dietary supplement."


    This is somewhat redundant in this thread, but I thought I'd share more details.
  • MyChocolateDiet
    MyChocolateDiet Posts: 22,281 Member
    when I go cold turkey off thr diet I get horrible headaches.

    Okay, you may be addicted to the caffeine. Research online how to wean yourself off of it slowly. I did this and it took me a full year to go from drinking an average of one cup of coffee per day (or it's equivalent in soda/tea/etc.) to zero caffeine per day. IF you find no info online, then IM me but I'd rather not blabber on about how I did it because it'll take forever and I'm not a Dr. anyways, I think you could ask your doc how or research it yourself better.
  • missmadejavu
    missmadejavu Posts: 33 Member
    I try not to drink any soda, even diet soda. I drink put Mio Energy in water if I need a caffeine fix our take 1/2 or 1 caffeine pill with a glass of water to help me with the caffeine dependency!
  • tigersword
    tigersword Posts: 8,059 Member
    If anyone can find a credible source definitively proving the link between aspartame and cancer please do share.

    This isn't conclusive and doesn't prove the link with cancer but it interested me because hubby was recently diagnosed with non-Hodgkins lymphoma and he was a heavy diet coke drinker.

    http://www.naturalnews.com/037772_aspartame_leukemia_lymphoma.html
    and

    This next one was done on rats but they claim it is pretty conclusive:
    http://ezinearticles.com/?Aspartame-and-the-Increased-Risks-of-Lymphoma-Cancer&id=398772

    "Although the long-term study was conducted exclusively on female rats, without involving the active participation of any human subjects, the results are still very conclusive: aspartame is a clear carcinogenic agent that has a major contribution in the occurrence and evolution of lymphoma. A very popular chemical sweetener used as a replacement for sugar-based sweeteners, aspartame is no longer considered to be harmless."

    Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/398772
    We asked for studies, not articles that mention studies without actually citing the studies. I don't want to read an article about a study that was written by an obvious anti-aspartame author, I want to read the actual study. Most studies that have shown any links between aspartame and cancer in rats have only done so by pumping the rats with enough aspartame that a human being would need to drink several THOUSAND diet sodas every day to consume the same amount.
  • Matt_Wild
    Matt_Wild Posts: 2,673 Member
    I get ripped on diet drinks every year. Unless you have one of those unfounded beliefs that that they are the devil then its fine, nutritionally speaking.
  • saanrio
    saanrio Posts: 2
    My husband showed me an article from Men's Health a couple of weeks ago about a study done linking diet sodas to increased waist size and a decreased weight loss rate.

    So, like I said, up to you. However, I am convinced the stuff is evil. lol

    ETA: Here is the link for anyone interested: http://news.menshealth.com/the-truth-about-diet-soda/2011/07/07/
    The study compared diet soda drinkers to a group of non-diet drinkers (including both regular soda fans and people who didn’t drink any soda). While all participants’ waists grew over the course of the 9.5-year study, the diet soda drinkers had 70 percent greater increases in belly bulge.

    Do you see what they did there?

    Anytime someone conducts cohort studies that rely on questionnaires and self diagnosis in epidemiology is never going to give you cause and effect, let alone any reliable data in any category, regardless of the ingfredient. Not only that, you can't include pop with calories (regular pop) and then conclude that it was the one without calories (diet pop) that caused the weight gain,lol. Studies will also sometime point to a demographic, the obese for example, and see how many consume diet pop, then conclude that diet pop contributes to obesity, forgetting to mention that another group of obese individuals that are losing weight also drink diet pop. These studies obviously fool many people including editors of health magazines, so I won't hold it against you, that you fell for it as well.

    Wow...

    Thanks for taking out all of the personal experience and making it sound like I'm a gullible idiot.

    Did I say the study was definitive? No. Did I say it was so incredibly scientific and amazing? No. Did I say that taking the possibility that the article may have some kind of truth to it, combined with my personal experiences, led me to believe that the stuff is bad? Yes.

    You took everything I said and decided to cut out what would allow me to not sound like the gullible idiot you wanted to make me, but don't worry, "I won't hold it against you."

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