Diet Sodas

[mister ed]

Good for you when trying to cut, or counter productive?

I imagine they are bad, but I love them, and I see healthy people drinking them with little to no noticable effect.

Any help would be great!

ed

 

[Hbs6]

You will be fine. If it helps you stay away from more destructive foods have at it. If I drink a lot of it though I tend to get a little bloated. Other than that you will be fine.

 

[soultrain]

Are there any diet sodas out there that do not contain aspartame (Nutrasweet)? I have read articles and seen a documentary (Sweet Misery: A Poisoned World) that indicate aspartame has some unhealthy risks and can for some people have dangerous side effects. And I am not talking about people with phenylketonuria. These side effects can manifest themselves in normal people as well.

I love diet soda, but after doing a bit of researching I am now wary of consuming it very often.

 

[ecu19]

Moderation is the key here much like everything. As long as you don't indulge in 1 pack (12 cans) each day for months on end you will be fine. They did have a study done, I believe by Perdue, indicating that when injesting diet drinks, it alters your metabolism (lowers it) so you actually end up gaining weight in the long run. It's the same as drinking water though (0 calories also, lower metabolism), so I see the smoke, but no fire.

 

[bludevil]

Diet Rite soda's contain Splenda. I prefer the tangerine.

 

[CryingEmo]

Diet soda usually has a PH of 3, which is insanely acidic. This won't help you're body maintain a more akaline balance.


The long term saftey of artificial sugars like aspartame is still questionable.


Diet soda's contain flouride which depletes your body of iodine. When you're deficient in iodine, your body can't manufacture T3, and your thyroid goes to hell.



Worst case senario you're looking at:


Cancer someday
A slow thyroid = fat gain
Fake sugars that spike insulin a bit = fat gain
Very acidic = stomach indigestion, disgestion problems, etc

 

[mrchristian]

Diet Rite soda's contain Splenda. I prefer the tangerine.

Yes! Diet Rite has a slew of soda's with no aspartame. I also believe Coke makes a Diet Coke Splenda version.

 

[ecu19]

]Diet soda's contain flouride which depletes your body of iodine. When you're deficient in iodine, your body can't manufacture T3, and your thyroid goes to hell.

As does tapwater.

Seriously, like i said, (almost) everything in moderation.

 

[Hbs6]

Are there any diet sodas out there that do not contain aspartame (Nutrasweet)? I have read articles and seen a documentary (Sweet Misery: A Poisoned World) that indicate aspartame has some unhealthy risks and can for some people have dangerous side effects. And I am not talking about people with phenylketonuria. These side effects can manifest themselves in normal people as well.

I love diet soda, but after doing a bit of researching I am now wary of consuming it very often.

most of the studies I have read about the dangers of diet sodas have been from rat trials. And what the scientist did was ingect the rats with aspartame and see what happens. They said that it was a carcinogen. The kicker is that the amount ingected were equivalent to drinking 800 diet sodas a day for a human. So yeah just like anything else it has a toxic level. Just like advil. Or booze. Or anything.

I mean dont get me wrong though. I find it hard to beleive that I am just putting something into my body and its doing nothing...i mean I guess its possible but it must do something. But normal intake shouldnt be an issue just dont hook yourself up to an IV.

 

[soultrain]

But normal intake shouldnt be an issue just dont hook yourself up to an IV.

LOL. But how would you define normal intake? In the documentary Sweet Misery, a woman who drank 6-8 cans of diet soda everyday developed serious health problems. I realize there are thousands, if not millions, of people out there who consume as much everyday and not develop problems, but since the methanol from aspartame is converted to formaldehyde and then formic acid (both of which seriously cannot be good for you), I am lowering my consumption from 2-3 sodas a day to maybe one or two week. Hell, I might even cut them out completely and make my own drinks with Splenda or stevia. I just get tired of water. When you drink a couple gallons a day, sometimes you just crave something with a little TASTE.

 

[Marcus ATW]

Splenda

Diet Rite soda's contain Splenda. I prefer the tangerine.

WOW I had no idea. I gave up looking for alternative.:head: Thanx Bluedevil

 

[Hbs6]

LOL. But how would you define normal intake? In the documentary Sweet Misery, a woman who drank 6-8 cans of diet soda everyday developed serious health problems. I realize there are thousands, if not millions, of people out there who consume as much everyday and not develop problems, but since the methanol from aspartame is converted to formaldehyde and then formic acid (both of which seriously cannot be good for you), I am lowering my consumption from 2-3 sodas a day to maybe one or two week. Hell, I might even cut them out completely and make my own drinks with Splenda or stevia. I just get tired of water. When you drink a couple gallons a day, sometimes you just crave something with a little TASTE.

I know she had serious health problems. But everyone can have an adverse reaction differently them somebody else. For her that was the upper level, for someone else maybe not. Some people's bodies can tolerate different lifestyles. I knew a guy who smoked everyday...rediculous amounts mind you and he is old as hell now and doctors cant find anything wrong with him..of course he looks like **** but thats a different story. Or my buddy who is nothing short of an alcoholic yet his liver enzymes of his blood work looked fine. Always exceptions...

 

[bludevil]

WOW I had no idea. I gave up looking for alternative.:head: Thanx Bluedevil

No problem, spent quite a while searching myself.

 

[motive]

i limit myself to one soda a week and when i do its a diet. it took a long time of cutting back. its almost like smoking, you cut down until you get comfortable. i really had such an addiction to dr pep that i couldnt just stop completely. i had to cut down to one a day, then every two days.... so on. now im one diet soda a week

 

[Chub]

i stay clear of all kinds of soda. I'll only drink something fizzy if its like a cider. but thats very rare

 

[motive]

ill try to find the study but theres an intresting one on carbonated drinks in general. stating that the carbination is the actual enemy.

 

[Chub]

ill try to find the study but theres an intresting one on carbonated drinks in general. stating that the carbination is the actual enemy.

even diet sodas are full fo crappy **** that i can't even spell. you see the fatties buying them all the time and still wonder why they get fatter.:think:

 

[stxnas]

I <3 PubMed

Sucrose activates human taste pathways differently...[Neuroimage. 2008] - PubMed Result

Sucrose activates human taste pathways differently from artificial sweetener.

Frank GK, Oberndorfer TA, Simmons AN, Paulus MP, Fudge JL, Yang TT, Kaye WH.

University of Colorado at Denver and Health Sciences Center, Department of Psychiatry, The Children's Hospital, Aurora, CO 80045, USA.

Animal models suggest that sucrose activates taste afferents differently than non-caloric sweeteners. Little information exists how artificial sweeteners engage central taste pathways in the human brain. We assessed sucrose and sucralose taste pleasantness across a concentration gradient in 12 healthy control women and applied 10% sucrose and matched sucralose during functional magnet resonance imaging. The results indicate that (1) both sucrose and sucralose activate functionally connected primary taste pathways; (2) taste pleasantness predicts left insula response; (3) sucrose elicits a stronger brain response in the anterior insula, frontal operculum, striatum and anterior cingulate, compared to sucralose; (4) only sucrose, but not sucralose, stimulation engages dopaminergic midbrain areas in relation to the behavioral pleasantness response. Thus, brain response distinguishes the caloric from the non-caloric sweetener, although the conscious mind could not. This could have important implications on how effective artificial sweeteners are in their ability to substitute sugar intake.

If I'm reading this correctly, one could infer that using artificial sweeteners to cope with cravings might merely delay the inevitable.

This is the first time that I have read this abstract, but I have suspected that something along these lines might be feasible. I don't drink a lot of a soda, but when I do, I head for a fountain soda and mix half diet with half regular.

 

[ecu19]

even diet sodas are full fo crappy **** that i can't even spell. you see the fatties buying them all the time and still wonder why they get fatter.:think:

correlation does not imply causation. Also, don't ASSume that they are drinking diet drinks and wonder "how they are still getting fatter."

 

[Nacho1545]

a guy I work with is on a very strict diet because he was trying to lose the most weight for a competition.. He drank Diet Coke because of low cal and no carbs.. Well, he just got out of the hospital finding that he has multiple stomach ulsters and has not been able to eat in 2 days due to pain... Stay away from it especially if you are watching what you eat.. Drink water....

 

[raginfcktard]

the basis of an aspartame study i took a gander at involved feeding rats three times their bodyweight of it a day...oh and guess what, they got cancer. no sht!

 

[Hbs6]

Yes Sir..the rat study was well thought out and very appliable to the real world....

 

[dragonfly]

the basis of an aspartame study i took a gander at involved feeding rats three times their bodyweight of it a day...oh and guess what, they got cancer. no sht!

Aspartame accounts for over 75 percent of the adverse reactions to food additives reported to the FDA. Many of these reactions are very serious including seizures and death. A few of the 90 different documented symptoms listed in the report as being caused by aspartame include: Headaches/migraines, dizziness, seizures, nausea, numbness, muscle spasms, weight gain, rashes, depression, fatigue, irritability, tachycardia, insomnia, vision problems, hearing loss, heart palpitations, breathing difficulties, anxiety attacks, slurred speech, loss of taste, tinnitus, vertigo, memory loss, and joint pain.

According to researchers and physicians studying the adverse effects of aspartame, the following chronic illnesses can be triggered or worsened by ingesting of aspartame: Brain tumors, multiple sclerosis, epilepsy, chronic fatigue syndrome, parkinson's disease, alzheimer's, mental retardation, lymphoma, birth defects, fibromyalgia, and diabetes.

Aspartame is made up of three chemicals: aspartic acid, phenylalanine, and methanol.
Methanol/wood alcohol is a deadly poison. Some people may remember methanol as the poison that has caused some "skid row" alcoholics to end up blind or dead. Methanol is gradually released in the small intestine when the methyl group of aspartame encounter the enzyme chymotrypsin.

Methanol breaks down into formic acid and formaldehyde in the body. Formaldehyde is a deadly neurotoxin. An EPA assessment of methanol states that methanol "is considered a cumulative poison due to the low rate of excretion once it is absorbed. In the body, methanol is oxidized to formaldehyde and formic acid; both of these metabolites are toxic." They recommend a limit of consumption of 7.8 mg/day. A one-liter (approx. 1 quart) aspartame-sweetened beverage contains about 56 mg of methanol. Heavy users of aspartame-containing products consume as much as 250 mg of methanol daily or 32 times the EPA limit.

Symptoms from methanol poisoning include headaches, ear buzzing, dizziness, nausea, gastrointestinal disturbances, weakness, vertigo, chills, memory lapses, numbness and shooting pains in the extremities, behavioral disturbances, and neuritis. The most well known problems from methanol poisoning are vision problems including misty vision, progressive contraction of visual fields, blurring of vision, obscuration of vision, retinal damage, and blindness. Formaldehyde is a known carcinogen, causes retinal damage, interferes with DNA replication and causes birth defects.

Due to the lack of a couple of key enzymes, humans are many times more sensitive to the toxic effects of methanol than animals. Therefore, tests of aspartame or methanol on animals do not accurately reflect the danger for humans. As pointed out by Dr. Woodrow C. Monte, director of the food science and nutrition laboratory at Arizona State University, "There are no human or mammalian studies to evaluate the possible mutagenic, teratogenic or carcinogenic effects of chronic administration of methyl alcohol."

http://www.holisticmed.com/aspartame/abuse/methanol.html

Enough said

 

[Hbs6]

well thank God you posted something from a holistic medicine site...i love unbiased work...

 

[Hbs6]

According to researchers and physicians studying the adverse effects of aspartame, the following chronic illnesses can be triggered or worsened by ingesting of aspartame: Brain tumors, multiple sclerosis, epilepsy, chronic fatigue syndrome, parkinson's disease, alzheimer's, mental retardation, lymphoma, birth defects, fibromyalgia, and diabetes.


So if you are retarded...and drink diet soda...you can become more retarded? Well I didnt know it could alter your chromosomes this article keeps getting better and better.

 

[Bumbaclaat]

I drink a lot of Vitamin Water now instead of diet sodas...probably not that much of a difference, but its not carbonated!!!

 

[dragonfly]

So if you are retarded...and drink diet soda...you can become more retarded? Well I didnt know it could alter your chromosomes this article keeps getting better and better.

As a matter of fact, formaldehyde, the breakdown product of aspartame is a mutagen/carcinogen, so yes, it does alter your DNA....I happen to be a science nerd, I've been working in a biochem lab for over 10 years, we have a special protocols for handling and disposal of formaldehyde, there is a reason for that:

FORMALDEHYDE

Same with methanol, it is not a mutagen but it is highly toxic:

http://avogadro.chem.iastate.edu/MSDS/methanol.htm

There are tons of references in the National Center for Biotechnology Information database on aspartame and its effects, one just has to search:

First Experimental Demonstration of the Multipotential Carcinogenic Effects of Aspartame Administered in the Feed to Sprague-Dawley Rats

Sure, you'll find studies that say aspartame is safe, the decision on who are you going to trust is all yours. If you want to drink diet soda, go ahead, it is your life, your choice, not mine.

 

[Hbs6]

Of course, I love alternate ideas and thought. But sometimes you have to watch what you source because they could be considered bias and the studies you post can sometimes be picked apart. Of course this stuff could be bad for you but all in all just like in anything else you are going to get both sides of an argument and both are going to have science behind them. And you are right you have to make a choice on what you want. I am glad you are a science nerd. I am too, and its funny how when you read about something like this you can find science either way...

 

[dragonfly]

Of course, I love alternate ideas and thought. But sometimes you have to watch what you source because they could be considered bias and the studies you post can sometimes be picked apart. Of course this stuff could be bad for you but all in all just like in anything else you are going to get both sides of an argument and both are going to have science behind them. And you are right you have to make a choice on what you want. I am glad you are a science nerd. I am too, and its funny how when you read about something like this you can find science either way...

It is soooo true, and that is one of the most frustrating parts of a science career, you'll find at least one reference to support whichever claim you wish to make, and the other way around ... :frustrate:
HAHA, I found a few science nerds here on AM, :dl: :squat: :clean: after all that I don't have any energy left for frustration over my work :thumbsup:

 

[TripDog]

I drink diet dew like its my JOB!!!

 

[jmh80]

I just wanted to say in regards to formaldehyde - there is more of that in an apple than 12 oz of a diet soda.

There is formaldehyde in a WHOLE lot of foods. It's a matter of concentration though, broski's.

 

[planetfuzz]

Why drink diet soda?? Water is free and it has zero calories.

 

[Hbs6]

It is soooo true, and that is one of the most frustrating parts of a science career, you'll find at least one reference to support whichever claim you wish to make, and the other way around ... :frustrate:
HAHA, I found a few science nerds here on AM, :dl: :squat: :clean: after all that I don't have any energy left for frustration over my work :thumbsup:

yeah science is good stuff...

 

[Hbs6]

I drink diet dew like its my JOB!!!

I think they put crack in that stuff I love it too...

 

[ecu19]

I just wanted to say in regards to formaldehyde - there is more of that in an apple than 12 oz of a diet soda.

There is formaldehyde in a WHOLE lot of foods. It's a matter of concentration though, broski's.

To play on that, I read up about fruit juice having methanol in it. Couldn't find the amount though..

 

[mister ed]

some articles from CBS.com I found today

Not that I am discounting any arguments made here, but I ran across this while sipping a diet coke today...

thanks

http://www.webmd.com/diet/news/20040630/artificial-sweeteners-damage-diet-efforts?page=2

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/06/13/health/webmd/main701408.shtml

For regular soft-drink drinkers, the risk of becoming overweight or obese was:
• 26 percent for up to 1/2 can each day
• 30.4 percent for 1/2 to one can each day
• 32.8 percent for 1 to 2 cans each day
• 47.2 percent for more than 2 cans each day.
For diet soft-drink drinkers, the risk of becoming overweight or obese was:
• 36.5 percent for up to 1/2 can each day
• 37.5 percent for 1/2 to one can each day
• 54.5 percent for 1 to 2 cans each day
• 57.1 percent for more than 2 cans each day.
For each can of diet soft drink consumed each day, a person's risk of obesity went up 41 percent.


The Mad Hatter Theory

"Take some more tea," the March Hare said to Alice, very earnestly.
"I've had nothing yet," Alice replied in an offended tone, "so I can't take more."
"You mean you can't take less," said the Hatter: "It's very easy to take more than nothing."
Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

There is actually a way that diet drinks could contribute to weight gain, Fowler suggests.

She remembers being struck by the scene in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland in which Alice is offended because she is offered tea but is given none — even though she hadn't asked for tea in the first place. So she helps herself to tea and bread and butter.

That may be just what happens when we offer our bodies the sweet taste of diet drinks, but give them no calories. Fowler points to a recent study in which feeding artificial sweeteners to rat pups made them crave more calories than animals fed real sugar.

"If you offer your body something that tastes like a lot of calories, but it isn't there, your body is alerted to the possibility that there is something there and it will search for the calories promised but not delivered," Fowler says.

Perhaps, Bonci says, our bodies are smarter than we think.

"People think they can just fool the body. But maybe the body isn't fooled," she says. "If you are not giving your body those calories you promised it, maybe your body will retaliate by wanting more calories. Some soft drink studies do suggest that diet drinks stimulate appetite."

 

[Hbs6]

you can look at it that way, or you can just think...people are ****ing stupid and when fat people drink diet soda they think they have more leeway with the food they are eating because that is what stupid fat people do. THey find all different ways to get fatter. My obese fat friend...drops booze for lent...then he promptly picks up sweets and ****...it never fails.

 

[mister ed]

hey now, i'm not trying to hate on fat people here... I was just bringing up a point about some of the possible negative aspects of diet sodas and artificial sweetners.

 

[robdog]

I drink a lot of Vitamin Water now instead of diet sodas...probably not that much of a difference, but its not carbonated!!!

And its full of sugar.

 

[Hbs6]

hey now, i'm not trying to hate on fat people here... I was just bringing up a point about some of the possible negative aspects of diet sodas and artificial sweetners.

oh...well i was trying to hate on fat people

 

[Nacho1545]

Well, I used to have a Big Mac and a Diet Coke all the time (before I started the diet).. What can I say...

 

[dragonfly]

you can look at it that way, or you can just think...people are ****ing stupid and when fat people drink diet soda they think they have more leeway with the food they are eating because that is what stupid fat people do. THey find all different ways to get fatter. My obese fat friend...drops booze for lent...then he promptly picks up sweets and ****...it never fails.

True, there are a few cheesecake & zero coke girls where I work, they are in their early 20ies but have a physique of a 60 year old diabetic woman who is just about to undergo a bypass surgery… Why are people so dumb ? :think:

 

[dragonfly]

Not that I am discounting any arguments made here, but I ran across this while sipping a diet coke today...

thanks

http://www.webmd.com/diet/news/20040630/artificial-sweeteners-damage-diet-efforts?page=2

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/06/13/health/webmd/main701408.shtml

Agreed, one reason why it is so easy to over-consume junk and "diet food" is because it is devoid of nutrients, the body does retaliate and wants more food 'hoping" to get some useful stuff and not just empty calories

 

[plenny]

I drink diet dew like its my JOB!!!

me too. taste like regular dew. but after reading all these horror stories my diet dew days are slowly coming to an end.:think: