Is Diet Coke really that bad for you?

[Tone2TheBone]

Aspartame. Do we embrace it? Do we abhor it? More sugar or more aspartame? What's the dealio guys?

[duhvoodooman]

**SIGH**

I see Tone is bored at work again! :rolleyes: ;)

I don't care for Coke, period. W/r to aspartame, it's better for you than saccharine, but I prefer Splenda to both....

[WackyT]

Royal Crown (RC) Cola all the way, baby! :rockon:

[Tone2TheBone]

They make Coke with Splenda too. Ok so then I should append this question and ask....are both Aspartame and Splenda really that bad for you? Why do people say they are?

Someone had to get it going again Voo. ;)

[sunvalleylaw]

C & H . .
Pure Cane Sugar . . .
From Hawaii . .
Grown in the sun!
:D


I pretty much avoid all the fake stuff, and drink almost no sugared sodas. I drink seltzer water with a little lime juice, or some other fruit juice, for a little flavor. Seltzer with a splash of Rose's lime is really good!

I also like teas, cold OR hot.

My granddad, a doctor, steered us away from saccharine, and my Mom, a nutritionist, says aspartame is bad too, but loves splenda. I still don't drink it.

[Tone2TheBone]

Well I normally just drink beer but they don't have beer in the soda machines around here. heh I just wondered what the problem was with sweeteners like that. I did a google search and found some answers as to why they're bad.

[sunvalleylaw]

The malts (most of the sugar is malt) in beer are at least initially more complex (ie a little better) than simple refined sugars, at least initially . . . and in moderation. Plus, you gotta love the yeasties in homebrew or good craft brew. Vit. B12 is good! ;)

[Spudman]

No artificial sweeteners for me. I don't like the after taste so that tells me that something isn't right.

It's like butter or margarine - I've always stayed away from margarine and then I found out how bad it is for you. I guess I just figured that butter had been around a while and the human race has done fine with it.

[sumitomo]

Diet Coke and Mentos #1 Sumi:D

[Robert]

There are no studies that clearly show that Diet Coke is bad for you.

[aeolian]

Now you guys tell me! About a month ago I switched from regular Coke to diet Coke to cut down on calories. May be it will also have the effect of cutting down my lifespan.

[TS808]

They make Coke with Splenda too. Ok so then I should append this question and ask....are both Aspartame and Splenda really that bad for you? Why do people say they are?

Someone had to get it going again Voo. ;)

Anything without sugar, caffeine, or alcohol is bad for you :D

[just strum]

Pepsi - non alcoholic sugar drink

Irish Coffee - alcoholic sugar drink (the content of sugar in the whip cream)

[Spudman]

Diet Coke and Mentos #1 Sumi:D

They'll never let you fly commercial again.

[Katastrophe]

I like Diet Coke. That's proof right there that it's bad for you.

[Childbride]

[snicker] i've drunk diet coke since i was thirteen, and both of the matriarchy would give me newspaper articles over the years about various and sundry alleged health problems it created.

look.

i can't drink coffee, it tears my stomach up.

i am a non-functional human being without caffeine.

something will eventually take me out of this world to Another Place... i pick my vices.

i work out, i try to eat well, but i y'ams what i y'ams and that's all that i y'ams. ;)

[sumitomo]

I rarely ever drink sodas,I drink carrot juice and other veggie juices.I said mentos cause I saw that funny vid on Roberts sight.Check it out.Sumi :D

[SuperSwede]

Sucralose (or Splenda) is not a very good thing to feed your body.

Chlorine Coke? Hell no, I prefer real sugar and drink sodas a little less frequent instead.

SPLENDA® Is It Safe or Not?

After twenty years of NutraSweet® (aspartame) dominating the sweetener market, people are realizing for themselves that aspartame really is a foul food chemical tragically harmful to their health. Now, people think Johnson & Johnson’s Splenda, made from sucralose, has come to the rescue as the newest chemical sugar replacement “made from real sugar.” People don’t want to hear that it may be just as dangerous as aspartame, and this white knight of sweeteners is no better improvement.

New chemical sweeteners (like Splenda) and the sweetener blends (aspartame, sucralose and acesulfame K blended together in one product) may be causing users to show signs of weight gain, disruption of sleep patterns, sexual dysfunction, increases in cancer, MS, Lupus, diabetes, and a list of epidemic degenerative diseases. The corporations continue to stand tough in their denial of any connection to chemical sweetener additives.

This website takes you into the world of Splenda; ready or not, here we go again.

The Chlorine In Splenda

Chlorine is commonly found in nature, but almost always in combination with other building block elements. Chlorine's structure makes it very reactive and because it is so reactive, it is very useful to chemists, engineers and others involved in making things humans use every day.

The inventors of Splenda admit around fifteen percent (15%) of sucralose is absorbed by the body, but they cannot guarantee us (out of this fifteen percent) what amount of chlorine stays in the body and what percent flushes out.

So, do you feel lucky today as you sprinkle that yellow packet of powder in your tea? You will be alarmed once you realize how chlorine, this common chemical we’ve trusted as a “purifier”, is actually affecting our health in more ways than you know. Hopefully, this chapter will make you hesitate before you let your toddler take another sip of your diet cola.

[Bloozcat]

Do a Google search on aspertame and decide for yourself.

Start with the FDA approval process for aspertame, and make note of the people involved in it and their roles regarding the approval.

Aspertame is a neurotoxin, plain and simple. When you ingest it, your body breaks it down into formalehyde, and formic acid. I'm sure everyone has heard of formaldehyde, but for reference, formic acid is the same substance that makes up the neurotoxin in fire ant bites. For those living in the south, you know how much one of those little ant bites hurts, now imaging injesting even larger quantities of this into your system....intentionally.

Aspertame has been linked to Fibromyalgia, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Lupus, and several other auto immune distresses. There is also serious concern that aspertame may be responsible for causing an interuption of the electric impulses that regulate the function of normal heart rhythms. There have been documented cases where people have have died of sudden cardiac arrest when there had been no family history of heart disease, and the individual had suffered no heart disease of any kind prior to the cardiac arrest. Granted, these cases are few and the most extreme, but it is an indicator of how bad aspertame can be at it's worst. Think back a little about Fybromialgia. It wasn't even a diagnosed and named disease until about, what, 20 years ago? How long has it been since aspertame started appearing on the market? And contrary to popular opinion, diet sodas with aspertame (and Splenda) actually trigger a hunger response in the brain that causes you to eat more, not less.

Now for my own personal, albeit anecdotal testimony. I am a healthy adult male with no personal history of heart disease. About 4-years ago I started to notice what I thought was a eurythmia (irregular heartbeat). I would take my own pulse and notice that almost every 13th beat my heart would skip a beat. Not in every cycle, but very consistently still. I was obviously concerned about this, so I went to a heart spec*alist to get it checked out. The doctor was surprised when he listened to my heart and just as I had said, about every 13th beat of my heart, it would skip a beat. The doc put me through the usual series of test, culminating with a stress test. He didn't even finish the stress test because three quarters of the way through it, he said that my heart got stronger under stress, not weaker (which is apparently an indicator of healthy heart function). So, he gave me some Beta Blockers to take...which did absolutely nothing positive for me at all. There were minor negative effects, but that's not important to this discussion. So, I stopped the ineffective Beta Blockers.

It really bugged me that this was happening, and I was determined to find out what was causing it. Mainstream medical science did it's usual thing, and made it's usual recommendation, ineffective drugs. So, I started looking at my diet for an answer.

The one area that I focused in on was my consumption of diet soda with aspertame in it. I was going through about 4-6, 2-litre bottles of the stuff a week. Hey, it was non-caloric diet soda, right? What's wrong with that? Well, plenty, apparently. So I began my experiment. I stopped the diet sodas immediately, and looked at eveything I was eating that might have aspertame in it. Since I knew that detox programs take time, I knew that it would be a while before I would probably see results. Well, it took about six months, but the eurythmia has ceased.

I'll never knowlingly drink or eat anything that has aspertame in it....

[Spudman]

Thank you.


Do a Google search on aspertame and decide for yourself.

Start with the FDA approval process for aspertame, and make note of the people involved in it and their roles regarding the approval.

Aspertame is a neurotoxin, plain and simple. When you ingest it, your body breaks it down into formalehyde, and formic acid. I'm sure everyone has heard of formaldehyde, but for reference, formic acid is the same substance that makes up the neurotoxin in fire ant bites. For those living in the south, you know how much one of those little ant bites hurts, now imaging injesting even larger quantities of this into your system....intentionally.

Aspertame has been linked to Fibromyalgia, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Lupus, and several other auto immune distresses. There is also serious concern that aspertame may be responsible for causing an interuption of the electric impulses that regulate the function of normal heart rhythms. There have been documented cases where people have have died of sudden cardiac arrest when their had been no family history of heart disease, and the individual had suffered no heart disease of any kind prior to the cardiac arrest. Granted, these cases are few and the most extreme, but it is an indicator of how bad aspertame can be at it's worst. Think back a little about Fybromialgia. It wasn't even a diagnosed and named as a seperate disease until about, what, 20 years ago? How long has it been since aspertame started appearing on the market? And contrary to popular opinion, diet sodas with aspertame (and Splenda) actually trigger a hunger response in the brain that causes you to eat more, not less.

Now for my own personal, albeit anecdotal testimony. I am a healthy adult male with no personal history of heart disease. About 4-years ago I started to notice what I thought was a eurythmia (irregular heartbeat). I would take my own pulse and notice that almost every 13th beat my heart would skip a beat. Not in every cycle, but very consistently still. I was obviously concerned about this, so I went to a heart spe******t to get it checked out. The doctor was surprised when he listened to my heart and just as I had said, about every 13th beat of my heart, it would skip. The doc put me through the usual series of test, culminating with a stress test. He didn't even finish the stress test because three quarters of the way through it, he said that my heart got stronger under stress, not weaker (which is a apparently an indicator of healthy heart function). So, he gave me some Beta Blockers to take...which did absolutely nothing positive for me at all. There were minor negative effects, but that's not important to this discussion. So, I stopped the ineffective Beta Blockers.

It really bugged me that this was happening, and I was determined to find out what was causing it. Mainstream medical science did it's usual thing, and made it's usual recommendation, ineffective drugs. So, I started looking at my diet for an answer.

The one area that I focused in on was my consumption of diet soda with aspertame in it. I was going through about 4-6, 2-litre bottles of the stuff a week. Hey, it was non-caloric diet soda, right? What's wrong with that? Well, plenty, apparently. So I began my experiment. I stopped the diet sodas immediately, and looked at eveything I was eating that might have aspertame in it. Since I knew that detox programs take time, I knew that it would be a while before I would probably see results. Well, it took about six months, but the eurythmia has ceased.

I'll never knowlingly drink or eat anything that has aspertame in it....

[R_of_G]

Do a Google search on aspertame and decide for yourself.

Start with the FDA approval process for aspertame, and make note of the people involved in it and their roles regarding the approval.

Excellent point Bloozcat. When one understands who was involved in the approval of aspartame it becomes a bit more clear as to why there are not more "official" studies as to its potential harm.

Great post overall as well.

[Tone2TheBone]

Good replies you guys thank you indeed.

[Bloozcat]

There are no studies that clearly show that Diet Coke is bad for you.

That is a valid point on the surface, Robert. At least as far as the USFDA is concerned and any agencies and committee's out there that rely on that agency's rulings as a standard for their own acceptance of a product.

Remember asbestos? There were no studies that clearly showed that asbestos was bad for you...until there were studies done that proved it.

Remember DDT? There were no studies that clearly showed that DDT was bad for you...until there were studies done that proved it.

Remember Thalidomide? It took 10,000 children being born with severe malformities before anybody wanted to take another look at the drug (and FDA still hasn't learned that lesson yet).

And in a more direct comparison, remember cyclamates? There were no studies that clearly showed that cyclamates were bad for you...until there were studies that proved it. But that was a very different time in which Abbott Labs - the company that marketed cyclamates - released a study of their own that proved that the product was not good for human consumption. Now that was corporate responsibility.

The point is, there is enough mounting evidence to warrant a more serious look at aspartame. The only way that this is going to happen right now, is if an entity with enough clout to take on Monsanto and it's paid and coerced minions, takes the lead. Unfortunately, there hasn't been any to step forward.

There is another route that is developing, though. An all natural non-caloric sweeter is out there now that would not only be better and safer than apartame, it is more adaptable for sweetening purposes in general than aspartame. It's called Stevia, and it's been in use in South America for over 100 years (as well as in other parts of the world). Attempts to get Stevia certified as a sweetner have been thwarted by Monsanto's lobbyists who see Stevia as the death of aspartame. There is hope, though. Coca-Cola is currently partnering with Cargill in the development of a Stevia product that they plan to market under the brand name Rebiana. Since there is currently no acceptance by the Monsasnto sycophants in the USFDA for any Stevia products in the US (with Canada in lockstep with the USFDA), Coca-Cola and Cargill plan to introduce the product in foreign markets that are already Stevia friendly as both an ingredient in a diet Coke Zero, and as a natural sweetner alone. If and when Rebiana is introduced in North America, we will finally have a natural, non-nutrative/non-caloric sweetner with no bad side effects.

It's pretty disheartening to think that an agency in the US Government would champion a corporation's prerogative to market a dangerous product, over the safety concerns of the public. It's downright disgusting when there's clear evidence that shows that the agency was in collusion with that corporation in the nefarious act. And to be clear, I'm neither naive, nor some kind of anti-government, anti-corporate type who looks for reasons to find fault in them.

"I'm from the government and I'm here to help you."

Yeah, right.... :confused:

[Guitar Gal]

It's pretty disheartening to think that an agency the US Government would champion a corporation's peroggative to market a dangerous product, over the safety concerns of the public.



Excellent point Blooz........it is difficult to do the right thing when corporate greed depends on looking the other way.

I have personally tried to eliminate aspartame as much as I can in my own diet. When you actually start looking, it is amazing how many food products actually contain aspartame.

GG

[Robert]

I'd love to see a study that clearly shows these dangers, but since there isn't one, I am not convinced (yet) it is bad for you. It could very well be though.

Sugar is big business. Found this interesting article about child labor - http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=11379

[sunvalleylaw]

Refined sugar is really bad for you too, so I think the best thing is to back those ultra sweet bevs out of your diet as best as possible. Watch out for fructose, sucrose, and the other "ose" words on your bev labels too. An occasional treat exception is in order of course. An old fashioned root beer float once in a while is a great pleasure. I used to rely on diet sodas back in college and law school, and used to consume a lot. I have not done so for some time now. For every day life, I have tried to move to our own great well water which we carbonate with a home carbonator machine, and sometimes I add a little fruit juice for flavor. Teas are great too. A green tea is healthier, and has a caffeine kick as well.