diet cola
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If you're trying to lose weight, you should try to keep sodium intake to around 1100-1200 mg/day. If a can of soda has 35mg (I'm not sure of the exact number but it's around that) and you have four cans per day, that's 140 mg of sodium. Your ingesting over 10% of the sodium you should have for the entire day, and you are not getting any nutritional value from that sodium intake. There's not nearly that much sodium in drinking water. Drinking water has maybe 20% of that amount.
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Misconceptions
Although most people believe that drinking diet soda leads to weight loss, this is not the case. With only approximately 5 calories per serving, diet soda does not directly contribute excessive calories to the diet; however, the consumption of sweet beverages has been shown to cause an increased desire for other sweetened foods and beverages. The sweetened beverage can also cause greater hunger during the day as the body begins to feel deprived of the calories normally associated with sweet taste.
Read more: http://www.livestrong.com/article/140742-why-diet-soda-is-not-healthy/#ixzz1xbXV3sjG
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Yes, gastric acid has a pH of between 1 and 3. Not an issue.
However, I also shudder to think what diet soda does to our kidneys.
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People think diet soda is a practical alternative to water. I know many people who drink diet coke all day but no water, then wonder why they get kidney stones on a regular basis. I've never had a kidney stone, but from I can tell it's very painful. Hence the shuddering.0 -
Yes, gastric acid has a pH of between 1 and 3. Not an issue.
However, I also shudder to think what diet soda does to our kidneys.
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People think diet soda is a practical alternative to water. I know many people who drink diet coke all day but no water, then wonder why they get kidney stones on a regular basis. I've never had a kidney stone, but from I can tell it's very painful. Hence the shuddering.Doctors do not always know what causes a stone to form. While certain foods may promote stone formation in people who are susceptible, scientists do not believe that eating any specific food causes stones to form in people who are not susceptible.
A person with a family history of kidney stones may be more likely to develop stones. Urinary tract infections, kidney disorders such as cystic kidney diseases, and certain metabolic disorders such as hyperparathyroidism are also linked to stone formation.
In addition, more than 70 percent of people with a rare hereditary disease called renal tubular acidosis develop kidney stones.
http://kidney.niddk.nih.gov/kudiseases/pubs/stonesadults/#cause
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To the person that said there have been no studies that have linked aspartame to ill health. I did a quick search and found these 3:
1. Lovett, Richard
Source: New Scientist; 5/6/2006, Vol. 190 Issue 2550, p40-43, 4p
This article focuses on the health aspects of aspartame. Aspartame, also known in Europe as E951, is the artificial sweetener people love to hate. Since it was approved for food use 25 years ago it has been linked to pretty much every health scare going, from brain tumours to insomnia and mood swings. In 2005 a group of scientists at the European Ramazzini Foundation in Bentivoglio, near Bologna in Italy, published some new findings. When the foundation's researchers added aspartame to the diet of 1500 rats, they saw an increase in the incidence of leukaemias and lymphomas, cancers of the blood and lymphatic systems, particularly among females. Notably, cancer incidence rose even in rats fed the equivalent of half the World Health Organization's acceptable daily intake of 40 milligrams of aspartame per kilogram of body weight.
2. Bandyopadhyay, Atrayee1
Ghoshal, Sarbani2
Mukherjee, Anita1 anitamukherjee28@gmail.com
Source: Drug & Chemical Toxicology; 2008, Vol. 31 Issue 4, p447-457, 11p, 1 Diagram, 2 Charts
Low-calorie sweeteners are chemicals that offer the sweetness of sugar without the calories. Consumers are increasingly concerned about the quality and safety of many products present in the diet, in particular, the use of low-calorie sweeteners, flavorings, colorings, preservatives, and dietary supplements. In the present study, we evaluated the mutagenicity of the three low-calorie sweeteners in the Ames/Salmonella/microsome test and their genotoxic potential by comet assay in the bone marrow cells of mice. Swiss albino mice, Mus musculus, were orally administered with different concentrations of aspartame (ASP; 7, 14, 28, and 35 mg/kg body weight), acesulfame-K (ASK; 150, 300, and 600 mg/kg body weight), and saccharin (50, 100, and 200 mg/kg body weight) individually. Concurrently negative and positive control sets were maintained. The animals were sacrificed and the bone marrow cells were processed for comet assay. The standard plate-incorporation assay was carried with the three sweeteners in Salmonella typhimurium TA 97a and TA 100 strains both in the absence and presence of the S9 mix. The comet parameters of DNA were increased in the bone marrow cells due to the sweetener-induced DNA strand breaks, as revealed by increased comet-tail extent and percent DNA in the tail. ASK and saccharin were found to induce greater DNA damage than ASP. However, none could act as a potential mutagen in the Ames/Salmonella /microsome test. These findings are important, since they represent a potential health risk associated with the exposure to these agents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
3. Hull, Janet Starr
Source: Total Health; Feb/Mar2005, Vol. 27 Issue 1, p30-32, 3p
Reveals the health hazards of artificial sweeteners. Denial of corporations on the connection between aspartame and obesity; Chemical sweeteners that may be causing users to show signs of weight gain and sexual dysfunction; Artificial sweeteners to be avoided.
Despite all of this I was addicted to diet soda too. I am not saying people shouldn't drink it, that's not for me to decide but I also think it is not good to be disillusioned about the ill affects such substances might have on our health either. We really don't know what all of the potential health risks associated with artificial sweeteners are. But there certainly is science to support there might be some risks (not just "natural quackery" or whatever someone posted earlier in this thread). My take on it is moderation is probably okay. I was not able to drink coke zero in moderation so I had to quit somewhat recently. I'm not sure if it will help me lose weight/change something about my body or health because it hasn't been enough time to notice any of that . But I'm glad I quit. It is probably best not to put these extra chemicals in my body either way. Clean water is the best thing for the body and I crave it too.0 -
The worst part about soda is the sodium.When you drink too much soda over a long period of time, you produce more acid and this can damage your esophagus. This can potentially do irreparable harm if this continues for a long time.The artificial sweeteners are most likely not good for you, but their effects haven't been proven and their is not a consensus among the scientific community about whether it's detrimental.
As for the caffeine, too much isn't good and it could be one of the reasons you're addicted to the soda. Maybe try to have one caffeinated and one non-caffeinated per day.
The carbonation probably isn't good for your body. I don't know as much about this, but I would bet that, similar to artificial sweeteners, there isn't a consensus as to the detrimental effects of carbonation.
Because too much of anything isn't good, I'd recommend trying to cut down to one or two per day and then maybe trying to cut it out except on "special" occasions (going out to dinner, going to a movie, etc...)
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Yes, there is more sodium in many natural foods; however, with those natural foods, you're giving your body other nutrients as well. With sodas, you're essentially "wasting" your sodium allowance. I would doubt that many people have difficulty reaching the necessary sodium requirement with real food.
The following is NOT medical advice and is not meant to inform anyone that they may or may not have some condition.
As for the damage to the esophagus, when you drink soda, it results in a minor form of gastric distention which causes some of the contents of the stomach to move up into the esophagus because the gastroesophageal sphincter is forced to stay open. Because the esophagus isn't lined the same way the stomach is, it can't handle the acid, and the acid can cause damage to the tissue lining the esophagus. Additionally, when you burp after drinking soda, additional acid is brought up to the esophagus with the air. When this happens consistently (people who drink a lot of soda over a long period of time) the damage to the esophagus can result in Barret's Esophagus which is basically a change in the cells lining the esophagus. For a small number of people, this condition can result in ulcers or formation of an adenocarcinoma.
To the sodium requirement, I do agree that the number is subjective. I've heard 1400 mg for an adult and I adjusted it down a little to account for the fact that most people here are dieting and thus eating less calories. With that same statement, I underestimated the amount of sodium in diet coke by 5, so 4 diet cokes is 160 mg. Even if you think the number should be 1600 mg, 4 sodas still means you're getting 10% of your sodium without getting any nutritional benefits from that.0 -
diet soda is POISON. Look at the ingredients. If you are making a commitment to be healthy and want to POISON yourself, its your personal choice. Just make sure you are honest with yourself before making that choice.0
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Thanks for the info guys. I'm gonna try fizzy water. Hopefully it helps my coke zero addiction0
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diet soda is POISON. Look at the ingredients. If you are making a commitment to be healthy and want to POISON yourself, its your personal choice. Just make sure you are honest with yourself before making that choice.
Oh Em Gee0 -
The worst part about soda is the sodium.When you drink too much soda over a long period of time, you produce more acid and this can damage your esophagus. This can potentially do irreparable harm if this continues for a long time.The artificial sweeteners are most likely not good for you, but their effects haven't been proven and their is not a consensus among the scientific community about whether it's detrimental.
As for the caffeine, too much isn't good and it could be one of the reasons you're addicted to the soda. Maybe try to have one caffeinated and one non-caffeinated per day.
The carbonation probably isn't good for your body. I don't know as much about this, but I would bet that, similar to artificial sweeteners, there isn't a consensus as to the detrimental effects of carbonation.
Because too much of anything isn't good, I'd recommend trying to cut down to one or two per day and then maybe trying to cut it out except on "special" occasions (going out to dinner, going to a movie, etc...)
A.C.E. Certified Personal/Group FitnessTrainer
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Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 28+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
Yes, there is more sodium in many natural foods; however, with those natural foods, you're giving your body other nutrients as well. With sodas, you're essentially "wasting" your sodium allowance. I would doubt that many people have difficulty reaching the necessary sodium requirement with real food.
The following is NOT medical advice and is not meant to inform anyone that they may or may not have some condition.
As for the damage to the esophagus, when you drink soda, it results in a minor form of gastric distention which causes some of the contents of the stomach to move up into the esophagus because the gastroesophageal sphincter is forced to stay open. Because the esophagus isn't lined the same way the stomach is, it can't handle the acid, and the acid can cause damage to the tissue lining the esophagus. Additionally, when you burp after drinking soda, additional acid is brought up to the esophagus with the air. When this happens consistently (people who drink a lot of soda over a long period of time) the damage to the esophagus can result in Barret's Esophagus which is basically a change in the cells lining the esophagus. For a small number of people, this condition can result in ulcers or formation of an adenocarcinoma.
To the sodium requirement, I do agree that the number is subjective. I've heard 1400 mg for an adult and I adjusted it down a little to account for the fact that most people here are dieting and thus eating less calories. With that same statement, I underestimated the amount of sodium in diet coke by 5, so 4 diet cokes is 160 mg. Even if you think the number should be 1600 mg, 4 sodas still means you're getting 10% of your sodium without getting any nutritional benefits from that.
Sodium intake is actually set at about 2500. I had heard that they were suggesting less but don't follow your reasoning as to why it should be adjusted further down because people are eating less. If people are getting in their macros and vitamins there's no reason they can't have a diet pop or two if enjoy it. Remember, sodium is a necessary part of a diet.
Also, not everyone who drinks pop burps a lot or gets gastric distention.0 -
It's hard to diet when drinking any pop...it makes you crave sugar & junk food.0
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Diet coke is my one and only vice that I am unwilling to let go. I am addicted...I crave it and want it and love it! Sigh...I have a pic from my wedding doing a Vanna with the can!0
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This the only vice I'm keeping! But in moderation. 2-3 cans a day.
Yikes.....that is stil a lot :-/ and yeah I'm mostly a no soda drinker.0 -
I used to drink a lot of diet soda. Then I was told it only makes some people crave more sugar because of the fake sugar in it so I went to regular soda. Now I am doing MFP and stopped the regular soda and I don't like the taste of the diet anymore. I drink more green tea with honey and much more water. The diet soda doesn't add any calories so if you like it I think you should treat yourself. If you want to cut back then just keep working at it.0
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It's hard for me to diet when drinking any pop...it makes me crave sugar & junk food.
fixed it for you0 -
TAKE YOUR CANS AND BOTTLES OUT OF THE FRIDGE.
See how strong your cravings actually are when you reach for a soda and it's warm. I did that initially at my worst addiction (2-3 cans a day). I've gotten over soda almost entirely. I'm drinking about a gallon of water a day now instead.
As far as health concerns of diet soda, aside from the cancer-causing aspartame and other (somewhat) far-fetched claims, I hear the sweeteners make you retain water. So there's that.0 -
don't let the name deceive you. too much of anything is not good. diet cola is no exception. 4 a day is too much. try to cut back and drink water or juice in its place.0
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To the person that said there have been no studies that have linked aspartame to ill health. I did a quick search and found these 3:
1. Lovett, Richard
Source: New Scientist; 5/6/2006, Vol. 190 Issue 2550, p40-43, 4p
This article focuses on the health aspects of aspartame. Aspartame, also known in Europe as E951, is the artificial sweetener people love to hate. Since it was approved for food use 25 years ago it has been linked to pretty much every health scare going, from brain tumours to insomnia and mood swings. In 2005 a group of scientists at the European Ramazzini Foundation in Bentivoglio, near Bologna in Italy, published some new findings. When the foundation's researchers added aspartame to the diet of 1500 rats, they saw an increase in the incidence of leukaemias and lymphomas, cancers of the blood and lymphatic systems, particularly among females. Notably, cancer incidence rose even in rats fed the equivalent of half the World Health Organization's acceptable daily intake of 40 milligrams of aspartame per kilogram of body weight.
2. Bandyopadhyay, Atrayee1
Ghoshal, Sarbani2
Mukherjee, Anita1 anitamukherjee28@gmail.com
Source: Drug & Chemical Toxicology; 2008, Vol. 31 Issue 4, p447-457, 11p, 1 Diagram, 2 Charts
Low-calorie sweeteners are chemicals that offer the sweetness of sugar without the calories. Consumers are increasingly concerned about the quality and safety of many products present in the diet, in particular, the use of low-calorie sweeteners, flavorings, colorings, preservatives, and dietary supplements. In the present study, we evaluated the mutagenicity of the three low-calorie sweeteners in the Ames/Salmonella/microsome test and their genotoxic potential by comet assay in the bone marrow cells of mice. Swiss albino mice, Mus musculus, were orally administered with different concentrations of aspartame (ASP; 7, 14, 28, and 35 mg/kg body weight), acesulfame-K (ASK; 150, 300, and 600 mg/kg body weight), and saccharin (50, 100, and 200 mg/kg body weight) individually. Concurrently negative and positive control sets were maintained. The animals were sacrificed and the bone marrow cells were processed for comet assay. The standard plate-incorporation assay was carried with the three sweeteners in Salmonella typhimurium TA 97a and TA 100 strains both in the absence and presence of the S9 mix. The comet parameters of DNA were increased in the bone marrow cells due to the sweetener-induced DNA strand breaks, as revealed by increased comet-tail extent and percent DNA in the tail. ASK and saccharin were found to induce greater DNA damage than ASP. However, none could act as a potential mutagen in the Ames/Salmonella /microsome test. These findings are important, since they represent a potential health risk associated with the exposure to these agents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
3. Hull, Janet Starr
Source: Total Health; Feb/Mar2005, Vol. 27 Issue 1, p30-32, 3p
Reveals the health hazards of artificial sweeteners. Denial of corporations on the connection between aspartame and obesity; Chemical sweeteners that may be causing users to show signs of weight gain and sexual dysfunction; Artificial sweeteners to be avoided.
Despite all of this I was addicted to diet soda too. I am not saying people shouldn't drink it, that's not for me to decide but I also think it is not good to be disillusioned about the ill affects such substances might have on our health either. We really don't know what all of the potential health risks associated with artificial sweeteners are. But there certainly is science to support there might be some risks (not just "natural quackery" or whatever someone posted earlier in this thread). My take on it is moderation is probably okay. I was not able to drink coke zero in moderation so I had to quit somewhat recently. I'm not sure if it will help me lose weight/change something about my body or health because it hasn't been enough time to notice any of that . But I'm glad I quit. It is probably best not to put these extra chemicals in my body either way. Clean water is the best thing for the body and I crave it too.
I will agree that we don't know all the potential health risks, however science has yet to actually show affirmative health risk because of them. Personally I've drank diet soda for almost 30 years now and haven't had any bad blood tests, weight gain from it, etc. with the annual physicals I get. So for me, for now I don't consider it a risk to consume it with no adverse effects after drinking it that long.
A.C.E. Certified Personal/Group FitnessTrainer
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Yes, there is more sodium in many natural foods; however, with those natural foods, you're giving your body other nutrients as well. With sodas, you're essentially "wasting" your sodium allowance. I would doubt that many people have difficulty reaching the necessary sodium requirement with real food.The following is NOT medical advice and is not meant to inform anyone that they may or may not have some condition.
As for the damage to the esophagus, when you drink soda, it results in a minor form of gastric distention which causes some of the contents of the stomach to move up into the esophagus because the gastroesophageal sphincter is forced to stay open. Because the esophagus isn't lined the same way the stomach is, it can't handle the acid, and the acid can cause damage to the tissue lining the esophagus. Additionally, when you burp after drinking soda, additional acid is brought up to the esophagus with the air. When this happens consistently (people who drink a lot of soda over a long period of time) the damage to the esophagus can result in Barret's Esophagus which is basically a change in the cells lining the esophagus. For a small number of people, this condition can result in ulcers or formation of an adenocarcinoma.To the sodium requirement, I do agree that the number is subjective. I've heard 1400 mg for an adult and I adjusted it down a little to account for the fact that most people here are dieting and thus eating less calories. With that same statement, I underestimated the amount of sodium in diet coke by 5, so 4 diet cokes is 160 mg. Even if you think the number should be 1600 mg, 4 sodas still means you're getting 10% of your sodium without getting any nutritional benefits from that.
A.C.E. Certified Personal/Group FitnessTrainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 28+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition0 -
diet soda is POISON. Look at the ingredients. If you are making a commitment to be healthy and want to POISON yourself, its your personal choice. Just make sure you are honest with yourself before making that choice.
A.C.E. Certified Personal/Group FitnessTrainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 28+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition0
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