Is Diet Pepsi Really Bad For Me?

That's fine. No one wants to make you drink diet soda and if you choose not to drink it because you don't like it or it makes you feel weird that's fantastic reasoning. As long as you aren't trying to make your experience apply to everyone or come up with crazy claims from random blogs no one will say boo.

It's when people say things like "It's bad for everyone" or 'It makes you retain fat!" that people start arguing.

That's what I don't understand about people who throw news articles, studies, etc at others. Although they may be helpful, it doesn't apply to everyone, and I think people should use more of their personal experiences as a basis for reasoning - or at least a balance between the two. :U

On a side not, can. I say I hate when people say diet soda (or anything else) causes diabetes? That is a completely uneducated and insulting statement.

Only thing bad about it is it's not as good as it's younger cousin Pepsi Max or, my favorite, Coke Zero. IIFYM ftw.

Coke Zero with Splenda was SO AWESOME.

You don't undersand why, when someone asks 'is diet soda bad for me', people use studies to answer the question and tend to frown on people using personal anecdotes to answer the question?

Simply put it's because your experience isn't the experience of others but studies about things like aspartame and the lack of harm it causes in humans *do* apply to the population at large. Coming forth and saying "I feel better without diet soda" is about as worth while as someone with a peanut allergy saying 'I feel better without peanuts!' That's nice and all but what does it mean for people without that allergy?

No a damn thing.

OP didn't ask if you feel better without diet soda, they asked if diet soda is bad for them. Your personal experience has no bearing on that.

So for the OP's question, the general answer /should/ have been, "Find out for yourself." ? Since neither group study nor personal experience would help them.

I drink it daily. Meh. Diet cherry dr. Pepper for life!

You don't undersand why, when someone asks 'is diet soda bad for me', people use studies to answer the question and tend to frown on people using personal anecdotes to answer the question?

Simply put it's because your experience isn't the experience of others but studies about things like aspartame and the lack of harm it causes in humans *do* apply to the population at large. Coming forth and saying "I feel better without diet soda" is about as worth while as someone with a peanut allergy saying 'I feel better without peanuts!' That's nice and all but what does it mean for people without that allergy?

No a damn thing.

OP didn't ask if you feel better without diet soda, they asked if diet soda is bad for them. Your personal experience has no bearing on that.

So for the OP's question, the general answer /should/ have been, "Find out for yourself." ? Since neither group study nor personal experience would help them.

No the answer is "these studies show that diet soda has no ill effects on people barring allergies and will not impact your health." They already know how diet soda effects them personally, so telling them to find out for themself is silly. They're asking specifically about the healthfulness of it, which is something that can be answered.

You don't undersand why, when someone asks 'is diet soda bad for me', people use studies to answer the question and tend to frown on people using personal anecdotes to answer the question?

Simply put it's because your experience isn't the experience of others but studies about things like aspartame and the lack of harm it causes in humans *do* apply to the population at large. Coming forth and saying "I feel better without diet soda" is about as worth while as someone with a peanut allergy saying 'I feel better without peanuts!' That's nice and all but what does it mean for people without that allergy?

No a damn thing.

OP didn't ask if you feel better without diet soda, they asked if diet soda is bad for them. Your personal experience has no bearing on that.

So for the OP's question, the general answer /should/ have been, "Find out for yourself." ? Since neither group study nor personal experience would help them.

"studies about things like aspartame and the lack of harm it causes in humans *do* apply to the population at large."

The answer /should/ have been "here's a study, this is how it applies to you."

You don't undersand why, when someone asks 'is diet soda bad for me', people use studies to answer the question and tend to frown on people using personal anecdotes to answer the question?

Simply put it's because your experience isn't the experience of others but studies about things like aspartame and the lack of harm it causes in humans *do* apply to the population at large. Coming forth and saying "I feel better without diet soda" is about as worth while as someone with a peanut allergy saying 'I feel better without peanuts!' That's nice and all but what does it mean for people without that allergy?

No a damn thing.

OP didn't ask if you feel better without diet soda, they asked if diet soda is bad for them. Your personal experience has no bearing on that.

So for the OP's question, the general answer /should/ have been, "Find out for yourself." ? Since neither group study nor personal experience would help them.

"studies about things like aspartame and the lack of harm it causes in humans *do* apply to the population at large."

The answer /should/ have been "here's a study, this is how it applies to you."

Indeed. If OP has asked "I'm thinking about giving up Diet Soda because I've heard doing so makes people fly; have you given it up and sprouted wings?" then personal experience would be warranted and indeed would have been asked for.

But when asking if something is harmful/bad then actual studies are what, in my opinion, rules.

Sorry about cutting across your conversation. My bad.

I would beg to differ. Even in the cases where somebody is asking "I'm thinking about using GC to lose weight but I've heard that it gives people nasty asparagus farts, what is your experience?" a perfectly valid response is "here is a study showing that it has no weight loss effect if you are not a rat."

I've never worried about artificial sweeteners, and my family has always been diet soda drinkers. My oldest (34) used to drink those ridiculously large BigGulps several times a day. He still drinks diet soda, just not as much.

I understand the concern about our bodies still craving sugar/sweet because the diet soda, but it hasn't been a problem for us.

However, the big thing with me is that I was replacing plain old water with diet soda. I'd learned to crave the carbonation and the caffeine at the expense of just drinking water to satiate my thirst. So, I finally decided to save diet sodas for treats and to begin drinking plenty of cold water. I keep a nice refillable water bottle in my fridge (I find I like super cold but not icy water) and sip on it all day long. I have noticed my skin feels better and my hair is much shiner and I don't burp nearly as much as I used to when drinking soda all day long.

I rely only on evidence based science. I know there are many, many 'studies' and theories on artificial sweeteners, but most are anecdotal or are pushed by the 'hoo-hoo' conspiracy type websites.

You don't undersand why, when someone asks 'is diet soda bad for me', people use studies to answer the question and tend to frown on people using personal anecdotes to answer the question?

Simply put it's because your experience isn't the experience of others but studies about things like aspartame and the lack of harm it causes in humans *do* apply to the population at large. Coming forth and saying "I feel better without diet soda" is about as worth while as someone with a peanut allergy saying 'I feel better without peanuts!' That's nice and all but what does it mean for people without that allergy?

No a damn thing.

OP didn't ask if you feel better without diet soda, they asked if diet soda is bad for them. Your personal experience has no bearing on that.

So for the OP's question, the general answer /should/ have been, "Find out for yourself." ? Since neither group study nor personal experience would help them.

"studies about things like aspartame and the lack of harm it causes in humans *do* apply to the population at large."

The answer /should/ have been "here's a study, this is how it applies to you."

Indeed. If OP has asked "I'm thinking about giving up Diet Soda because I've heard doing so makes people fly; have you given it up and sprouted wings?" then personal experience would be warranted and indeed would have been asked for.

But when asking if something is harmful/bad then actual studies are what, in my opinion, rules.

Sorry about cutting across your conversation. My bad.

I would beg to differ. Even in the cases where somebody is asking "I'm thinking about using GC to lose weight but I've heard that it gives people nasty asparagus farts, what is your experience?" a perfectly valid response is "here is a study showing that it has no weight loss effect if you are not a rat."

Nasty asparagus farts?

Are those a thing?

(That's what I've chosen to take from this)