The safety of diet drinks?

[waterinthefuel]

I've heard good and bad things about diet drinks. The only one I can palate is diet Dr. Pepper. It has aspartame, which seems to get some people's panties in a bunch about it being unsafe. I've read both views online, studies show its unsafe, studies show its safe. I don't know what to believe.

I drink soda like a fish so if I can save a thousand calories here and there by going diet, hell yea I'll do it. But if the secret ingredient is going to kill me, I'll have to reconsider.

This is in tech topics because I thought aspartame is pretty technical, when you have to consider the chemicals it's made out of to determine if it's safe or not. If you feel it should be in DC then its ok to move it. It's not going to offend me.

 

[Drowned Rat]

Re: The safety of diet drinks?

witf,

I've read those reviews online too, but I don't know how much to believe. One thing I know for sure is aspartame has been shown to aggravate headaches and when you combine that with caffeine, it's twice as bad. Aspartame also metabolizes into formaldehyde. Now I don't know if that'll kill ya, but it doesn't sound good. Like you say, it's probably not as bad as if you were drinking non-diet sodas and taking in all those empty calories.

 

[arboldt]

Re: The safety of diet drinks?

As I recall Consumer Reports said it was ok in moderation.

*Anything* -- even water -- can be toxic if taken to the extreme. Life is an act of constantly balancing between the good / bad effects of everything. Hence the age-old emphasis on balance or "all things in moderation."

I, too, changed to strictly diet beverages a few years ago. This was an essential step in controlling blood sugar and preventing diabetes. Now my doctor is pleased with those levels. The potential ill effects of aspartame were far outweighed by the positive effects (control of weight and blood sugar).

If you're going through that much soda, you may want to re-evaluate your consumption, for economic reasons if not the aspartame.

Because it constricts blood vessels, caffeine actually helps relieve most headaches.

BTW, if all you like is Diet Dr Pepper (also a favorite of mine), you might try diet root beer, Cherry Zero (from Coke), or diet Lime Coke.

 

[samm835]

Re: The safety of diet drinks?

Well being a Diabetic, I drink only diet sodas. I gotta say th Diet Dr Pepper is good. Diet Coke taste wierd to me, but another I do like is Diet Mtn Due, either code Red or the regular. Plus it has alot of caffiene so I can have the best of both worlds and not need a coffee afterwards. I did read the same reviews.....but I read them also things in moderation. I like beer, but to much and it could pose a problem as well.

 

[ezmobee]

Re: The safety of diet drinks?

Diet Sunkist, Diet A&W, and all the flavors of Fresca are my favs. If diet soda kills you I'm screwed.

 

[waterinthefuel]

Re: The safety of diet drinks?

Thanks guys, I was curious whether any of the other diet drinks were any good. You guys gave me a ton of suggestions. Thanks a lot!

Good points too, like you said above, too much water has killed people. Too much of anything is not good. You can kill yourself with too much sugar too, and thats the alternative to fake sugar.

 

[Kenneth Brown]

Re: The safety of diet drinks?

You can now get Diet Coke with Splenda. I've been a Coke drinker forever and its almost as good as the regular. I too had to cut back due to high triglycrides and weight. I limit myself to one "leaded" (regular coke) and 1 glass of sweet tea a day now. Evrything else is diet/water/juice.

 

[Mike722]

Re: The safety of diet drinks?

I like the Zero's-- Coke Zero and Sprite Zero.

 

[MikDee]

Re: The safety of diet drinks?

I'm not a coffee drinker, I drink hot tea instead with breakfast, and also with an after dinner snack, and sometimes with meals. I have been using "Equal" in my tea for 12yrs now ever since I've become diabetic, and stopped using sugar. I've heard all the rumors, but haven't really noticed any side effects from it, just better control of my blood sugar. I've also tried "Sweet & low", and Splenda, but I don't like the after taste with either of these (just my preference), in fact I prefer Equal over sugar in my hot tea, or occasional coffee.

The odd part is although I can tolerate Equal in my hot tea, I can't take the taste in cold Diet soda's during other meals, I still haven't been able to fully convert to diet soda, from my regular consumption of Coke, or Dr.Pepper, because I don't like the extra sweet aftertaste of any of them, although Diet Coke, Diet Dr.Pepper, Coke Zero, & Sprite Zero, I can enjoy once in awhile, but I don't drink more then a can of regular soda during 2 meals a day anyway, between meals I drink occasional water, and, or, regular Iced tea.

 

[SgtMaj]

Re: The safety of diet drinks?

Diet sunkist orange... I would challenge anyone to try and taste a difference...

Diet Dr.P is good too, as was mentioned, and diet mtn DEW.

Those are my faves.

By the way, yes some of the chemicals in diet drinks are bad for you, but not as bad as the calories in regular drinks are, so don't worry too much about it.

In the aspartamine tests on mice/rats where it caused cancer in the mice/rats, the mice/rats were given the equivilant of 50,000 diet drink cans worth of aspartamine a day. That's a lot more than any human can drink, so the risk is really quite miniscule.

 

[waterinthefuel]

Re: The safety of diet drinks?

Sagmaj, can you link me to that study? I'd like to read that.

 

[SgtMaj]

Re: The safety of diet drinks?

Sagmaj, can you link me to that study? I'd like to read that.

Here's the original study:
http://www.ehponline.org/docs/2005/8711/abstract.html

However, that doesn't break it down into terms of the equivilant to humans drinking x number of sodas per day... still looking for that, it's been a long time though.

 

[jay_merrill]

Re: The safety of diet drinks?

Unless you have a burning ambition to become a diabetic at a very young age, drink anything other than soft drinks loaded with corn syrup and the like. Understand, too, that the non-carbonated products labled "drink" usually have next to no natural ingredients in them and are heavily laced with corn syrup. Plus, excessive consumption of even 100% fruit juice can cause problems, because it has a high natural sugar content.

I try to stay away from carbonated drinks because they have a lot of acid in them and they seem to me give stomach and acid reflux problems. Instead, I buy gallon jugs of spring water and sugar free drink mixes from wally world. This is not a perfect solution because of the chemicals in the drink mix, but I figure it is less likely to kill me any time soon.

Besides, think how much my estate will save because it will not have to pay for embalming when I die - I'm already so full of chemicals that my body isn't likely to rot for about a ten thousand years! I think I'll have a baby pyramid built in the back yard as a crypt, so someone will dig me up in 4 or 5 thousand years, and prounounce me the long lost pharoh of Nawlins, Looooooosiana!

 

[SgtMaj]

Re: The safety of diet drinks?

On the diabetes front, I saw an interresting study a few years ago that showed that people who increased their normal sugar intake by more than 10% over a month's time had a 4% chance of being diagnosed as diabetic at the end of it, while people who consumed a consistent, but high level of sugar, had much lower chances of becomming diabetic (though people who consistently consumed low levels of sugar of course had even lower chances).

I just thought that was interresting, because a 4% chance in a 1 month time-frame is huge. I can't vouche for the validity of the study though, since I don't even remember where I read it. I want to say JAMA, but I don't know.

 

[big dreamer racing]

Re: The safety of diet drinks?

We only drank regular pop until my son was diagnosed with type 1 juvenile diabetes then he & I switched to diet, now all of us drink diet pop, water, milk. When I switched to diet I lost 15 lbs from that alone, an easier way to switch is start mixing diet & regular until all diet. And Dt. Dr. P / dt. Moutain dew red is our preference also.

 

[H2ot Times]

Re: The safety of diet drinks?

I can only speak of my own experience. My wife recently came home with a carton of, I think, Blackcherry, Fresca. It was soooo good. I drink alot of soda and I was loving it. After a week or so I started waking up at night gasping for breath. I couldn't figure it out for awhile then it dawned on me that it started happening not too long after I started drinking the Fresca. I checked the label and found Aspertame. I quit drinking it and the problem went away. I now drink only soft drinks made with Splenda and have no side effects.