Is giving up diet soda really worth it?

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  • js3013
    js3013 Posts: 7 Member
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    universally accepted as bad for you

    You don't seem to quite have a handle on what "universally" means.
    "My grandpa smoked for 50 years and didn't get lung cancer, so cigarettes must be safe! My cousin ate a bowl of lead paint chips each morning for breakfast when he was a child and he's in great shape! Come on, show me a study that conclusively states that cigarettes and lead paint are bad for you - and when you do, I'll still claim that they are good for you, because I'm a contrarian that that really loves to argue!"

    No idea what this list of anecdotes has to do with anything. There's plenty of published science that strongly establish causative links between smoking, and lead exposure, to poor outcomes.

    The same empirical evidence exists of health risks from pop as they do for tobacco and lead paint.

    Absolutely and unequivocally false.

    So prove it. Show me some links to some independent studies, studies that weren't funded by producers of cola, aspartame, or the government, that prove beyond a doubt that diet pop and its chemicals are safe.
  • dkrioux
    dkrioux Posts: 144
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    It is sooooo worth it! I haven't had a soda in about a month and feel so incredible! Keep it up, you won't be sorry.
  • daniellacastelucci
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    Diet soda has sodium, which will cause you to 'inflate'. I strongly recommend you to change this 'addiction' for something that will bring less damage to your body - like coffee, or Yerba Mate (probably there is Yerba Mate there in US). good luck!! :flowerforyou:
  • jonnythan
    jonnythan Posts: 10,161 Member
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    Diet soda has sodium, which will cause you to 'inflate'. I strongly recommend you to change this 'addiction' for something that will bring less damage to your body - like coffee, or Yerba Mate (probably there is Yerba Mate there in US). good luck!! :flowerforyou:

    A can of Diet Coke has 30 mg of sodium.

    This is about 1% of normal daily sodium intake.
  • rachseby
    rachseby Posts: 285 Member
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    Recent research:

    Eur J Nutr. 2013 Apr 11. [Epub ahead of print]
    Sugar-sweetened beverage and diet soda consumption and the 7-year risk for type 2 diabetes mellitus in middle-aged Japanese men.
    Sakurai M, Nakamura K, Miura K, Takamura T, Yo****a K, Nagasawa SY, Morikawa Y, Ishizaki M, Kido T, Naruse Y, Suwazono Y, Sasaki S, Nakagawa H.
    Source
    Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Kanazawa Medical University, 1-1 Daigaku, Uchinada, Ishikawa, 920-0293, Japan, m-sakura@kanazawa-med.ac.jp.
    Abstract
    PURPOSE:
    This cohort study investigated the association between sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) and diet soda consumption and the incidence of type 2 diabetes in Japanese men.
    METHODS:
    The participants were 2,037 employees of a factory in Japan. We measured consumption of SSB and diet soda using a self-administered diet history questionnaire. The incidence of diabetes was determined in annual medical examinations over a 7-year period. Hazard ratios (HRs) with 95 % confidence intervals (CIs) for diabetes were estimated after adjusting for age, body mass index, family history, and dietary and other lifestyle factors.
    RESULTS:
    During the study, 170 participants developed diabetes. The crude incidence rates (/1,000 person-years) across participants who were rare/never SSB consumers, <1 serving/week, ≥1 serving/week and <1 serving/day, and ≥1 serving/day were 15.5, 12.7, 14.9, and 17.4, respectively. The multivariate-adjusted HR compared to rare/never SSB consumers was 1.35 (95 % CI 0.80-2.27) for participants who consumed ≥1 serving/day SSB. Diet soda consumption was significantly associated with the incident risk of diabetes (P for trend = 0.013), and multivariate-adjusted HRs compared to rare/never diet soda consumers were 1.05 (0.62-1.78) and 1.70 (1.13-2.55), respectively, for participants who consumed <1 serving/week and ≥1 serving/week.
    CONCLUSIONS:
    Consumption of diet soda was significantly associated with an increased risk for diabetes in Japanese men. Diet soda is not always effective at preventing type 2 diabetes even though it is a zero-calorie drink.

    It's known that diet soda consumption is correlated with diabetes incidence.

    The question is whether the diet soda causes diabetes.

    What do you think? What confounding variables could be present here? What factors could explain this link?
    Do you know how hard it is to prove causality? If you want to drink 10 cans a day and wait until it is proven, knock yourself out. I LOVE soda, regular, diet, any kind. But I stopped drinking it because frankly I'd rather go without than take the risk. What other people do is their business. My advice is moderation. I would never profess to know, with absolute certainty, whether or not is is safe or unsafe. I am simply presenting research that I have found. Others can read it or not, and make of it what they will. If you want to sit here all day and claim that it is perfectly safe, that is your business. But I think that it is irresponsible to advise other people based on your own soapbox. And if you knew that a correlation w/ diabetes incidence does exist, why not state that instead of just arguing that it is perfectly safe? Is this about being right, or providing information?

    I do.

    If you want to stop drinking it just in case it eventually turns out to have some health risk, that's fine. Just don't pretend that one has been established already.

    I'm not pretending, I'm presenting research. Do you have a problem with people reading for themselves and making up their own minds? Don't pretend that there are no risks associated with drinking it.
  • HeatherMN
    HeatherMN Posts: 3,821 Member
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    I gave up all sodas, at first i gave up all regular sodas and switched to diet sodas then last year i gave up diet sodas. I don't have as much sweet cravings as i used to and no more muscle twitches and also noticed that my restless leg syndrome is not even there anymore. Never thought about that... hmm. Wonder if it has to do with it. But yeah if you can continue without soda do it, if you can't then one a day shouldn't hurt.

    I read an article about some people being more sensitive to aspartame and it causing muscle twitching. My husband has always twitched a LOT right before falling asleep...until he switched from soda to SodaStream exclusively. The twitches went away completely. In the midst of moving and a hectic schedule, he's been drinking diet soda again and guess what? The twitches are back in full force.

    So, yes, I'd say you're one is affected by aspartame in this way. Congrats on giving it up!
  • jonnythan
    jonnythan Posts: 10,161 Member
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    universally accepted as bad for you

    You don't seem to quite have a handle on what "universally" means.
    "My grandpa smoked for 50 years and didn't get lung cancer, so cigarettes must be safe! My cousin ate a bowl of lead paint chips each morning for breakfast when he was a child and he's in great shape! Come on, show me a study that conclusively states that cigarettes and lead paint are bad for you - and when you do, I'll still claim that they are good for you, because I'm a contrarian that that really loves to argue!"

    No idea what this list of anecdotes has to do with anything. There's plenty of published science that strongly establish causative links between smoking, and lead exposure, to poor outcomes.

    The same empirical evidence exists of health risks from pop as they do for tobacco and lead paint.

    Absolutely and unequivocally false.

    So prove it. Show me some links to some independent studies, studies that weren't funded by producers of cola, aspartame, or the government, that prove beyond a doubt that diet pop and its chemicals are safe.

    You can't prove something is safe. And that's not what I said is false anyway.

    The poster said that there is equivalent evidence for poor health outcomes for diet soda that there are for smoking and lead paint. This is absolutely, 100%, completely false. I can't stress that enough. It's absolutely, absolutely false.
  • LoreleiEvil
    LoreleiEvil Posts: 65 Member
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    I've cut back, but I consume diet soda as a caffeine delivery vehicle for the public good. I'm not fun to be around uncaffeinated and my stomach doesn't tolerate coffee often.
  • jaymibecca
    jaymibecca Posts: 10 Member
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    I have diet soda.. I need something to put my alcohol in..

    I was thinking this the whole time reading posts! That's the only time a drink soda. You cant give up everything!
  • Nutella91
    Nutella91 Posts: 624 Member
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    I actually hate fizzy drinks and i still drink diet coke because it doesn't have calories. Sometimes it makes me hungry (so does chewing bubblegum) but sometimes it satisfies my cravings
  • kkerri
    kkerri Posts: 276 Member
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    I gave it up and feel better (I was drinking a lot of diet coke and energy drinks). I am forcing myself to drink coffee b/c I need the caffeine and while I don't love it, I like how I feel much better. The caffeine from coffee seems to not have that "crash" that I would get from energy drinks and I do not have the foggy/nauseated feeling that I get from Diet Coke.
  • Chadomaniac
    Chadomaniac Posts: 1,785 Member
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    YES IF ITS WORTH IT TO YOU /THREAD
  • skcardiog
    skcardiog Posts: 316 Member
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    On day 2 of 180 no soda . . . doing it for me . Doing it for the challenge. Wish me luck .
  • dawg
    dawg Posts: 16 Member
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    I have read that all soda, including diet soda, can raise your risk of developing diabetes. I love diet soda also, but I make myself drink water. If you need caffeine how about tea?
  • js3013
    js3013 Posts: 7 Member
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    universally accepted as bad for you

    You don't seem to quite have a handle on what "universally" means.
    "My grandpa smoked for 50 years and didn't get lung cancer, so cigarettes must be safe! My cousin ate a bowl of lead paint chips each morning for breakfast when he was a child and he's in great shape! Come on, show me a study that conclusively states that cigarettes and lead paint are bad for you - and when you do, I'll still claim that they are good for you, because I'm a contrarian that that really loves to argue!"

    No idea what this list of anecdotes has to do with anything. There's plenty of published science that strongly establish causative links between smoking, and lead exposure, to poor outcomes.

    The same empirical evidence exists of health risks from pop as they do for tobacco and lead paint.

    Absolutely and unequivocally false.

    So prove it. Show me some links to some independent studies, studies that weren't funded by producers of cola, aspartame, or the government, that prove beyond a doubt that diet pop and its chemicals are safe.

    You can't prove something is safe. And that's not what I said is false anyway.

    The poster said that there is equivalent evidence for poor health outcomes for diet soda that there are for smoking and lead paint. This is absolutely, 100%, completely false. I can't stress that enough. It's absolutely, absolutely false.

    Is it? I don't really see either one of you backing up your claims with any real proof. You can say it's false all day long, but I don't know you, so it doesn't really mean anything. If you want to be logical and credible, then I think you ought to hold yourself to the same burden of proof you are holding everyone else to. At the very least, post the links to the information that leads you to say several people in this thread are making false claims so that people can decide based on evidence, not just your say so.
  • CrankMeUp
    CrankMeUp Posts: 2,860 Member
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    tumblr_lytyr3nj6o1qkikgro1_250.gif
  • bacitracin
    bacitracin Posts: 921 Member
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    No.

    This guy, right here. Nailed it. /thread
  • Jsneel
    Jsneel Posts: 24 Member
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    To each there own about diet soda however be sure to look up side effects of the artificial sweetners so you are aware that there are side effects. My Hubby and I use to drink 44oz diet sodas daily and we stopped aprox 1-2yrs ago. We drink coffee or tea now just b sure not to dump to many extra calories in the drink, I drink my coffee blk and tea unsweetened it sounds yucky but once your use to them that way and u taste sugary stuff, the sugary stuff taste yucky! I'm ver thankful for quitting/stopping. I had headaches and my throat would have red stripes like hivesI think from drinking diet soda. Also my Father inlaw passed away in feb and he had diabetes which he would drink diet soda and I wonder if diet soda triggered hi sugar and the diabetics ketoacidocis was result of high sugar Plus his blood was acidic and that sent him in full cardiac arrest.... Diabetes ketoacidosis is where the ph in the body changes and I wonder if all that diet/Acidic drinks contributed.(He was sooo thursty alot)Please drink pleanty of water when u drink diet soda, I don't think he drank much water if any. I think that they could find another way of making diet soda. Drink what ya want but be aware!
  • jonnythan
    jonnythan Posts: 10,161 Member
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    universally accepted as bad for you

    You don't seem to quite have a handle on what "universally" means.
    "My grandpa smoked for 50 years and didn't get lung cancer, so cigarettes must be safe! My cousin ate a bowl of lead paint chips each morning for breakfast when he was a child and he's in great shape! Come on, show me a study that conclusively states that cigarettes and lead paint are bad for you - and when you do, I'll still claim that they are good for you, because I'm a contrarian that that really loves to argue!"

    No idea what this list of anecdotes has to do with anything. There's plenty of published science that strongly establish causative links between smoking, and lead exposure, to poor outcomes.

    The same empirical evidence exists of health risks from pop as they do for tobacco and lead paint.

    Absolutely and unequivocally false.

    So prove it. Show me some links to some independent studies, studies that weren't funded by producers of cola, aspartame, or the government, that prove beyond a doubt that diet pop and its chemicals are safe.

    You can't prove something is safe. And that's not what I said is false anyway.

    The poster said that there is equivalent evidence for poor health outcomes for diet soda that there are for smoking and lead paint. This is absolutely, 100%, completely false. I can't stress that enough. It's absolutely, absolutely false.

    Is it? I don't really see either one of you backing up your claims with any real proof. You can say it's false all day long, but I don't know you, so it doesn't really mean anything. If you want to be logical and credible, then I think you ought to hold yourself to the same burden of proof you are holding everyone else to. At the very least, post the links to the information that leads you to say several people in this thread are making false claims so that people can decide based on evidence, not just your say so.

    You can't prove a negative. I can't prove there's no research out there that links diet soda to negative health outcomes the same way as research showing smoking and lead paint are bad.

    The user made a positive claim: that diet soda has been proven to be bad using the same type of evidence that proves smoking and lead paint are bad. It is up to the person who made that claim to support it, by showing us the research that strongly establishes as causative link between diet soda and a negative health outcome.
  • lamilli09
    lamilli09 Posts: 354 Member
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    I have diet soda.. I need something to put my alcohol in..

    Be a man and drink it straight.

    Or be a woman and drink it straight. Good liquor requires nothing, not even ice.

    ^^ this