Diet Soda, bad? 7 theories discussed/debunked?

I’m still looking for a reason to not drink diet soda, I have yet to find a convincing one. lets look at the theories;

1. Diet Soda makes you fatter, Where is the data? It is said people who drink it get fatter, if that is the case then people who sign up for jenny craig, buy weight loss videos and health gadgets on late night TV must be getting fat from that as well right? Wrong. The fact is many people that go out of their way to buy diet soda are generally leading unhealthy lives, that leads to weight gain, not the soda, diet soda is an indicator not the cause anymore than the Tony Little Glider is causing people to get fat. Would removing diet soda from this persons diet effect their weight in any way?

4. Too much phosphorus leaches calcium, Again, this goes back to diet. A cup of skim-milk yogurt has 7 times, get that 7 TIMES! the amount of phosphorus in it than a can of soda! Again, the majority of people who drink diet soda are fat, do to poor diets, poor diets=osteoporsis and decreased calcium levels, again, not the diet soda’s fault.

I'm a diet coke junkie, and quit frequently (but never for long).I would never defend the consumption of a completely unnecesary food item, but I do disagree with these two items.

1. I believe the isue with diet soda making you fatter is in the way your body reacts, just as if you have consumed something sweet. Artificial sweetener tricks your body. There is some info about this in Salt Sugar Fat by Michael Moss.

2. There is increasing evidence that there isn't a benefit to conuming dairy products and calcium in terms of bone density. Protein combined with calcium makes it harder to absorb; calcium from plant sources is much more available to the body to absorb. This goes a long way to explaining why there is virtually no osteoporosis in China, where next to no dairy is consumed. And very little soda. In fact, I have recently been told my doctor (an osteoporosis specialist) to reduce the amount of calcium I take. They have also told me to reduce my soda consumption.

People need to make their own decisions, but there is a lot of bad information floating around. I don't underestimate the power of food lobbyists to influence how we think about these things. So, in spite of my own addiction, I would certainly lean in the direction of "avoid".

I'm with you. I limited myself to 2 cans of Diet coke a day first thing in the morning. Eating or drinking massive amounts of anything can't be good for you.... besides water. : )

I pretty much grew up on diet soda and it helps to suppress my sweet tooth for real sugar. So, it helps me diet-wise, although I drink it rarely.

I agree with this. I don't drink a lot and don't drink it every day but I do enjoy it every once in a while. I also drink 1 gallon+ of water per day so I don't think a diet soda in addition is bad.

Drinking that much water will likely flush out any minute amounts of chemicals you might be harboring from drinking one can of diet soda! If it can stop you from filling up on sugar, than it's certainly helpful.

I drink diet soda whenever I feel like it. Stops me from drinking all that sugar with full-sugared drinks - and it definitely doesn't stop me from drinking more water - for glass of soda, I have a glass of water next to it and drink at the same time. Well... different mouthfuls of course.

Definitely a case of you can drink it or you don't. Lot of success stories have occurred whilst drinking so much diet soda - a lot of people on here just tend to whittle on and put loads of unproven facts about how bad they are for you and why you shouldn't drink it - and if you do, well you're a bad person! It's annoying.

Diet soda has been my last "hold out" when it came to my dietary choices/lifestyle. I didn't need hard and fast science to tell me that constantly loading my body with artificial sweetener (which I'd been doing for almost 25 years) wasn't ideal. So, as of the 1st of the year, I started to lower my daily intake of my beloved Diet Dr. Pepper (former flame was diet Coke). It is my morning "cup of joe" and my afternoon pick-me up at work. I reduced to my morning serving and one right after work. As of Sunday, I am diet Soda free. I replaced the caffeine with home brewed tea, and my next goal will be to eliminate (or at least reduce) the caffeine.

It's more of a control issue for me. I don't want to "have" to have this that or the other thing. I am assuming there are health benefits to ridding my daily life of artificial sweeteners. But, like I said, hard science wasn't the motivator here. And, I won't "shame" people who do enjoy their diet soda. I enjoy it, too!!

Diet soda has been my last "hold out" when it came to my dietary choices/lifestyle. I didn't need hard and fast science to tell me that constantly loading my body with artificial sweetener (which I'd been doing for almost 25 years) wasn't ideal. So, as of the 1st of the year, I started to lower my daily intake of my beloved Diet Dr. Pepper (former flame was diet Coke). It is my morning "cup of joe" and my afternoon pick-me up at work. I reduced to my morning serving and one right after work. As of Sunday, I am diet Soda free. I replaced the caffeine with home brewed tea, and my next goal will be to eliminate (or at least reduce) the caffeine.

It's more of a control issue for me. I don't want to "have" to have this that or the other thing. I am assuming there are health benefits to ridding my daily life of artificial sweeteners. But, like I said, hard science wasn't the motivator here. And, I won't "shame" people who do enjoy their diet soda. I enjoy it, too!!

^^^^^^^^^ Another very sensible answer. Way to go.

Diet soda is sooo bad for you! First Aspartame is bad for you, they even tell women who are pregnant to stay away from it. Diet drinks have artifical sweetner in them, which is worse for you then the real stuff. Diet is also sweeter then regular, becasue of the aspartame and the "fake" sugar. Pop is bad for you either way, but with diet, you are taking in extra additives that your body doesnt need. The artificial sweetners also trick your body into thinking you are not giving it sugar, therefore you go for the candy bar or something that has real sugar in it. Another reason to stay away from diet formaldehyde, its in the artificial sweetners. Now, if thats not a reason to stop drinking diet then I dont know what is. Your body, your choice, but for me I will drink regular and take in those extra calories.

The tell pregnant women with phenylketonuria to avoid aspartame in pregnancy. I am on my third pregnancy right now and ironically, with three different OBs, that is probably the only thing that they all agreed was ok during pregnancy. I don't drink diet because I think it tastes like !@#$!@#$!, but I will have the deadly sugary stuff about once a week when I am sick of water.

Isn't any soda, when you drink a lot of it, harder for your kidneys to filter?