Is diet coke good for you?
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rolenthegreat wrote: »The thing about 'diet' foodstuffs (at least here in America) is that most of them are not truely zero calories. The FDA allows companies to put '0 calories' on the package as long as it has less than 5 calories per serving.
So there are usually 1-4 calories in most calorie free things.
Which isn't going to have an affect on the average consumer's weight loss.
But if you ARE using massive numbers of 'zero' calorie substitutes in your diet and find that you've plateaued, it might be a good idea to reassess the situation. If you are drinking 50 diet cokes every day I might argue there are already some issues with your diet.
(Personally I log them as '4 calories'.)
that means that one would have to drink 100 diet cokes a week to see a weekly increase of 400 calories per week from consuming diet soda..
seems a hair ludicrous to me..
Yeah, like I said, it isn't going to have an affect on the average consumer.
But I HAVE known people who drank more than 100 diet cokes in a week. I may have been there myself until I stopped & counted it up. I worked at a place with a soda machine, refills were free. A big-gulp (I think they were around 40oz) when I got to work & another one on the way home, and usually top it off at lunch time... I was probably averaging at least 90-100 servings of soda/diet soda a week. (I frequently stopped in on my off days to refill for free
) At the time it didn't seem super outrageous to me because a several of my co-workers were drinking more than I was. I was in school, it was mindless calories/caffeine pick me up, I barely even thought about it because I always had one sitting next to me. Yes it is excessive, no most people will not have a problem with it (I certainly don't anymore). But I do think it's something to keep in mind if you use a lot of calorie free substitutes. It's not going to make you lose 50lbs, but if you are close to your goal it might be keeping you on that plateau.
Also like I said I do think it's kind of a questionable dietary decision to consume that much of anything.
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linsey0689 wrote: »It's not good for you. But I think trying to cut out everything is not good. A couple a week IMO is okay
why is it not "good" for you?
I think they mean it doesn't add nutritional benefit (vitamins, minerals or macro).
Neither does water. Yet I don't hear people claiming that water is "bad for you".6 -
linsey0689 wrote: »It's not good for you. But I think trying to cut out everything is not good. A couple a week IMO is okay
why is it not "good" for you?
I think they mean it doesn't add nutritional benefit (vitamins, minerals or macro).
Neither does water. Yet I don't hear people claiming that water is "bad for you".
Never said they did. I was merely explaining a potential reason for an comment.0 -
rheddmobile wrote: »rheddmobile wrote: »Studies have found that those who drink diet soda consume more calories total than those who consume regular soda. It seems to confuse the body's hunger response. If you have no weight problems it won't hurt you, but why would you drink it if you had no weight problems, since it tastes nasty?
Myself and many others here have lost weight and maintained while drinking diet soda. I drink it because I prefer to save my calories for food.
Do what works for you. Your experience is not typical. Look it up. Or ignore science, no skin off my nose. But there is actual evidence that for most people swapping to diet soda does not lead to weight loss.
And you can add me to the growing list of people who have never had diet soda 'trigger the body's hunger response'. Heck, I pretty much never crave sugar and I drink plenty of diet soda. I've also lost over 130 lbs. Like others have stated, correlation and causation are not the same thing and I'm pretty sure those claiming diet coke makes them want to dive into a pool of sugar are the ones with the 'not typical' experience.3 -
linsey0689 wrote: »It's not good for you. But I think trying to cut out everything is not good. A couple a week IMO is okay
why is it not "good" for you?
I think they mean it doesn't add nutritional benefit (vitamins, minerals or macro).
Neither does water. Yet I don't hear people claiming that water is "bad for you".
Never said they did. I was merely explaining a potential reason for an comment.
Understood. I didn't intend that to sound argumentative, it was more of an add-on to your point.1 -
it's good for me.1
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It's good for me. Gives me a kick in the *kitten* and stops me from gnawing off my own arm twice per day.4
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To add for those who suggest to drink water because its "better". You can do both. In fact, i probably drink more water than most, roughly 150+ oz a day. Also, i drink 40 oz of diet dew.
Just like food, getting a variety of drinks can be beneficial.4 -
No it's not good for you, it has artificial crap in it. No it will not cause you to gain weight as it has 0 calories.1
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Which artificial crap is bad for you and how is it bad?5
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I don't have a graph but a well known link is that ice cream sales and drownings increase and decrease simultaneously.
Therefore ice cream causes drowning, like diet sodas cause obesity.
Oh hang on........there might be another explanation.........4 -
From the Nation Institues for Health, here's just one write up that includes references to several very well run studies – – including the decades-long nurses study. It is a desperately dry piece of writing, but if you are truly interested in whether artificial sweeteners are "good for you "or not, you might want to plow through this:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2892765/
Here's part of the summary at the very end of the article:
"Sweetness decoupled from caloric content offers partial, but not complete, activation of the food reward pathways. Activation of the hedonic component may contribute to increased appetite. Animals seek food to satisfy the inherent craving for sweetness, even in the absence of energy need. Lack of complete satisfaction, likely because of the failure to activate the postingestive component, further fuels the food seeking behavior....
Lastly, artificial sweeteners, precisely because they are sweet, encourage sugar craving and sugar dependence. Repeated exposure trains flavor preference [54]. A strong correlation exists between a person’s customary intake of a flavor and his preferred intensity for that flavor. Systematic reduction of dietary salt [55] or fat [56] without any flavorful substitution over the course of several weeks led to a preference for lower levels of those nutrients in the research subjects. In light of these findings, a similar approach might be used to reduce sugar intake."
To clarify - if you drink something sweet and like it, you might crave more or want more of it. However, it will not randomly force itself upon you, brandishing a weapon, insisting you drink it. It also will not cause you excruciating pain or instant addictive reactions and behaviors. IJS.9 -
Fixed it for you.linsey0689 wrote: »It's not good for you. But I think trying to cut out everything is not good. A couple a week DAY IMO is okay
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Link the studies. Almost every obese person I've dealt with drank regular soda.rheddmobile wrote: »Studies have found that those who drink diet soda consume more calories total than those who consume regular soda. It seems to confuse the body's hunger response. If you have no weight problems it won't hurt you, but why would you drink it if you had no weight problems, since it tastes nasty?
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
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No it's not good for you, it has artificial crap in it. No it will not cause you to gain weight as it has 0 calories.
This is a bit like banging my head against a brick wall, but...
In what way is it not good for you? What is artificial crap? Can you share the evidence base which has informed this conclusion, as I drink lots of these types of drinks and would hate to be doing any harm to myself.6 -
From what I recall, there are potential issues with very high levels of consumption of artificial sweeteners like aspartame. But that's 2 litres plus of Diet Coke consumption EVERY DAY before things get concerning. Or something like that. (No, I don't have the links to the studies. But I think the aspartame-not-being-massively-good-for-you-in-large-quantities is relatively well known, right?)
I had weird issues from Diet Cherry Coke about 10 years ago, but normal Diet Coke is fine. And Diet Dr Pepper is totes amazeballs.
My dentist keeps telling me it's bad for my enamel though, because of the acidity even though there's no sugar. I tend to ignore him
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From what I recall, there are potential issues with very high levels of consumption of artificial sweeteners like aspartame. But that's 2 litres plus of Diet Coke consumption EVERY DAY before things get concerning. Or something like that. (No, I don't have the links to the studies. But I think the aspartame-not-being-massively-good-for-you-in-large-quantities is relatively well known, right?)
I had weird issues from Diet Cherry Coke about 10 years ago, but normal Diet Coke is fine. And Diet Dr Pepper is totes amazeballs.
My dentist keeps telling me it's bad for my enamel though, because of the acidity even though there's no sugar. I tend to ignore him
As far as I remember it's based on a rat study (which I tend to take with a HUGE grain of salt since it's hard to translate those results to humans) and the quantities to be ingested are a few factors higher than 2L of diet coke per day (closer to 20L, but I don't have the numbers in head right now).
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I'd suggest you take stock of how it affects you.
As others have said: there's no calorific value.
Some studies/rumours suggest the sweet taste but lack of calories confuses the body and increases cravings for sweetness. So be aware of your own response.
It does have caffeine which may disrupt sleep. Tiredness can cause cravings. Again, be aware of it yourself, go for caffeine free if it bothers you.
There's no sugar but the high acidity can damage your teeth enamel or upset your stomach
In terms of diet, no calorie, fizzy liquid so will fill you up... But it's full of flavours and colours and sweetners.
If it stops you drinking full sugar Coke, or other calorific drinks, then good. But if it's instead of water, then consider trying to limit it.
Try fizzy water or flavour water with lemon or peppermint or whatever you fancy
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ladyreva78 wrote: »From what I recall, there are potential issues with very high levels of consumption of artificial sweeteners like aspartame. But that's 2 litres plus of Diet Coke consumption EVERY DAY before things get concerning. Or something like that. (No, I don't have the links to the studies. But I think the aspartame-not-being-massively-good-for-you-in-large-quantities is relatively well known, right?)
I had weird issues from Diet Cherry Coke about 10 years ago, but normal Diet Coke is fine. And Diet Dr Pepper is totes amazeballs.
My dentist keeps telling me it's bad for my enamel though, because of the acidity even though there's no sugar. I tend to ignore him
As far as I remember it's based on a rat study (which I tend to take with a HUGE grain of salt since it's hard to translate those results to humans) and the quantities to be ingested are a few factors higher than 2L of diet coke per day (closer to 20L, but I don't have the numbers in head right now).
It's somewhere close to that. It's a sufficient level that by the time the aspartame starts having a negative effect, either the caffeine or the fluid imbalance will have killed you.3 -
ladyreva78 wrote: »From what I recall, there are potential issues with very high levels of consumption of artificial sweeteners like aspartame. But that's 2 litres plus of Diet Coke consumption EVERY DAY before things get concerning. Or something like that. (No, I don't have the links to the studies. But I think the aspartame-not-being-massively-good-for-you-in-large-quantities is relatively well known, right?)
I had weird issues from Diet Cherry Coke about 10 years ago, but normal Diet Coke is fine. And Diet Dr Pepper is totes amazeballs.
My dentist keeps telling me it's bad for my enamel though, because of the acidity even though there's no sugar. I tend to ignore him
As far as I remember it's based on a rat study (which I tend to take with a HUGE grain of salt since it's hard to translate those results to humans) and the quantities to be ingested are a few factors higher than 2L of diet coke per day (closer to 20L, but I don't have the numbers in head right now).
Here's the kicker: in that study, the rats got cancer at a rate LOWER than what they normally do. Still well within the margin of error - so it's not like the aspartame was a cancer preventative - but it showed that aspartame was no more a carcinogen than anything else in the world.4 -
I will say that I have stopped drinking diet soda- mainly because my habit was expensive (I could go through 6 cans a day so 3-4 cases a week). I drink it rarely when I am out, but otherwise I stick to coffee/tea and water. Did I think it was bad for me health-wise? Not particularly. Do I know being overweight is detrimental health-wise? Yes. So I will make the choices that fit my lifestyle to address the issue I DO know is a problem, so I can fix my weight in the long term. There is no one "perfect" solution so if it involves drinking diet soda, more power to you. If you chose to not drink diet soda again, more power to you. Find a sustainable plan for you that fits your goals, and go with it.1
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Very different questions.
Is it good for you? I doubt it.
Can you lose weight while drinking it? There are differing thoughts, but I'd bet for the average person, yes.1 -
It's pretty acidic and therefore bad for your teeth. It also has some artificial additives - like caramel color that might be bad for you.
IMO it's OK occasionally, especially as a substitute for a sugary soda.0 -
I seem to recall that most of them were woo rather than science.rheddmobile wrote: »rheddmobile wrote: »Studies have found that those who drink diet soda consume more calories total than those who consume regular soda. It seems to confuse the body's hunger response. If you have no weight problems it won't hurt you, but why would you drink it if you had no weight problems, since it tastes nasty?
Myself and many others here have lost weight and maintained while drinking diet soda. I drink it because I prefer to save my calories for food.
Do what works for you. Your experience is not typical. Look it up. Or ignore science, no skin off my nose. But there is actual evidence that for most people swapping to diet soda does not lead to weight loss.
Can you post these studies?
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I dont like drinking my calories and I dont like Diet Coke but if I am having a meal and I want to have something 'treatful' I drink a 200ml glass of Coke Zero. I hate the taste of Diet Coke. No need to live on it. Coke zero is good, Water is better.1
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This is an insane discussion. It's bad for your teeth! Ask your dentist! Taking care of your teeth is incredibly important and an often overlooked health issue. You're better off skipping the juices, and soda (diet or otherwise) and sticking to water and milk.
That being said, Diet Coke alone shouldnt make you gain weight if the rest of your diet is on point. You can take steps to reduce the negative impact of highly acidic drinks on your teeth. For example, moderate your intake, drink with a straw and rinse your mouth when your done.
https://www.wda.org/your-oral-health/sip-all-day
Consider how you are fueling your body though; are you drinking Diet Coke because you're fatigued all the time and need the caffeine? You can be skinny with nutritional deficiencies and health problems (and bad teeth)!
Live your own life, treat yourself once in a while. But don't pretend that Diet Coke is a "healthy" drink because it has no calories.
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