diet soda...good or evil???

For me, it's good. It tames my sweet tooth without actual sugar.

For me, it's good. It tames my sweet tooth without actual sugar.

Me too. Me too. Have one with lunch so that I'm less tempted to go grab what a really want -- a piece of chocolate or five or ten.

I'm still a work in progress ...... usually have only one can or bottle of diet per day, and try to drink more water ..... but usually end up drinking way too much coffee instead :drinker:

Have a wonderful day !

diet soda is the devil!

:laugh:

I used to drink it all the time, Everyday was like two or three 32oz fountain cups. then I decided I would stop. Quitting that stuff is like quitting crack. Now i just drink Boring ol' water


Oh and beer, I do still drink beer LOL.

http://thesmilingman.hubpages.com/hub/Diet-pepsi-Ingredients-Explained

1. Carbonated Water: Plain water into which carbon dioxide gas has been dissolved.
Health effects: Linked to tooth decay. May reduce fertility. Suspected teratogen (any agent that interferes with normal embryonic development).

2. Caramel Color: Brown food coloring and flavoring made by heating a sugar, usually corn syrup. May be processed with ammonia and sulfur to intensify color.
Health effects: May contain ammonium compounds. May affect stomach (gastrointestinal problems), liver, and cause hyperactivity. Caramel color produced with ammonia has been associated with blood toxicity in animals. Associated with reduced white cells and lymphocyte counts.


3. Aspartame: Artificial sweetener. Made from aspartic acid and phenylalanine.
Health effects: Studies link it to cancer in rats. May cause neurological and behavioral issues. Reported symptoms include irritability, headaches, insomnia, hyperactivity, seizures, memory loss, migraines, depression, vision problems, memory loss. Should be avoided by those with the genetic disorder phenylketonuria.


4. Phosphoric Acid: A colorless, odorless solution made from phosphate rock (not a food).
Health effects: May lead to calcium loss in bones and tooth erosion. Eye, skin, throat, nose, and respiratory irritant. Can cause osteoporosis. Linked to kidney damage and kidney stones.
*A corrosive, used to remove rust.


5. Potassium Benzoate: A preservative. Potassium salt of benzoic acid. Benzoic acid is synthesized commercially from toluene. Toluene is produced in the gasoline making process and the making of coke (carbon fuel produced by distillation of coal) from coal. Therefore, potassium benzoate is a petroleum or coal tar derivative.
Health effects: Asthma, hives, eczema. Caution advised if aspirin sensitive. Benzene, a known cancer-causing agent, can form in soft drinks when sodium benzoate and ascorbic acid (vitamin c) are mixed.


6. Caffeine: A bitter, white crystalline xanthine alkaloid that is a psychoactive stimulant drug.
Health effects: Psychoactive, addictive. May cause headaches/migraines, heart disease, depression. Causes birth defects in rats. Can cross the placental barrier. Inhibits fetal growth. Women who consume the amount of caffeine in one and a half to three cups of coffee may nearly double their risk of miscarriage.


7. Citric acid: A weak organic acid used as a flavoring agent and a preservative. Extracted from citrus fruits or made by fermentation of yeast or mold. May contain MSG. May be genetically modified.
Health effects: If MSG sensitive, may provoke symptoms.


8. Natural flavors: Any flavor not chemically derived. Obtained by physical processes from plants or animals. Made to provide flavor to a food rather than nutritional value. May contain MSG.
Health effects: Unknown. Natural flavors may be acquired through any number of processes. Naturally derived ingredients may be altered, rendered unsafe.

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.

Most diet soda's are not very healthy. This is because of the sweetener aspartam which is in most diet drinks. Safety regulations are still on the fence what to say about this particular artificial made sweetener, but there are reseachers who say that you have a higher chance on getting things like cancer. Of course: too much of anything is never good, but this artificial created sweetener shouldn't be taken lightly. It's the sole reason dieticians say you shouldnt be drinking more then 2 glasses a day of, for instance, diet cola.

Stevia on the other hand is a natural sweetener, created by nature itself and far more healthy. The reasons why stevia isn't in every product is:
1) Stevia has a strong taste (taste 1 drop of it pure and you know what i mean), which means that it can alter the taste in things like cola, which the coca cola company doesn't like.
2) Companies who make artificial sweeteners have long contracts with companies like coca cola (this one ive been told by the dietician, heck it sounds quite logical).

Evil: no, as long as you drink it like you should eat/drink anything else: within reason.

neither

Both good and evil...I like the "grey" areas

Jason Blaha, from IceCreamFitness, has a good video on aspartame that might help you understand all the hype/fright around diet soda. It's 4 minutes long, but sums it up quite nicely. Worth a watch, in my opinion:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oev0lkgpSc8

(PS, he's trolling when he does his bicep shots.)

That said, I have a diet root beer, or coke zero every day. I love the stuff! The increased acidity in the diet drinks are still hard on your teeth enamel though, so you still have to drink in moderation, as with all foods and drinks.

Cheers!

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:

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 have heard so many things going either way. What's the verdict??

Neither, but better than the 210g of sugar I was getting from the 2 litres of ginger ale I drank every day. I have diet soda occasionally now, but not often. As I began drinking more and more water, I lost the taste for it. I also find that filtered tap tastes way better than any bottled water, which is where bottled water comes from anyway.

They have done quite a few studies (that I am too lazy to google right now) saying that people who drank diet soda ate more and gained more than people that drank regular soda.

When I do have a soda, which is very rare now, maybe once a month, it is regular. This is after a 6-8 can a day habit.