Diet Coke (All diet soda) Dangerous ???!!!!

[Dismom55]

I am so tired of hearing all the things that are bad for you, I believe all things in moderation. If I ate bacon all day everyday, then the stroke I had 5 yrs ago would be blamed on the bacon. I have drank diet pepsi for nearly 38 yrs now and I do not blame my stroke on DP, rather I blame it on my fat body that has led me to diabetes, my high BS and high BP casued the stroke, those were high because I was eating to much and exercising not enough. Would I suggest we all drink diet drinks all day, no. ALL things in moderation.

 

[shortbun]

Don't use diet pop, never have. I try not to use fake anything. I have my natural hair color, never have changed my name, avoid HFCS and have for years, avoid food dye-my kid gave the other kids a lecture on food dye when he was 3 in preschool. We wonder what in the world is causing all the cancers and diseases...it's got to be the fake stuff we put in and on our bodies along with the air and water table polution. I'm working very hard to keep all of that stuff out of my life. My aha moment? My farmer uncle and my aunt(his wife) died within a year of each other from the same brain cancer then their son was diagnosed with CCL at age 45.

 

[bdcp]

I quit drinking diet soda last summer after having food poisoning and needing to replace the sugar, etc in my system. I feel so much better. While I was drinking it, I had lots of digestion problems and it didn't matter if it was splenda or nutrasweet. I have not had one single episode since I quit. I occasionally drink a real soda, but never diet anymore. I actually prefer plain iced tea most of the time.

 

[3boymthr]

What's natural is definitely not always good for you. Water is not always good for you.

Case in point: My mother's neighbors had to stop drinking their well water because they found toxic levels of arsenic in it.

I'll stick with my diet coke.

 

[LilyWDW]

Yup! We just discussed this exact report yesterday in my statistics class. It's a totally crappy study. We actually laughed quite a bit about it in our lecture yesterday.Read the actual journal article itself - Oh wait! This wasn't even a peer reviewed journal article - it was a CONFERENCE paper, not even scrutinized.

The one thing I've learned in grad school is that pretty much everything that is reported on the news when it comes to "scientific" studies are pure baloney.

But going along with this topic, I still don't drink diet soda, but for other reasons.

From another grad student taking WAY too many statistics classes...



This "study" is not peer reviewed. This is also a stand alone study. Until more information is gathered and reviewed by the scientific community then all it is is a situation of "We might have found a connection of some sort between these things."

When I saw it last night on the news I went "Ummm okay? So?"

Personally, I don't drink diet soda and the like because I think they taste disgusting.

 

[Planogirl]

I'm past caring if drinking Coke 0 is bad for me or not. I might drink two glasses in a day or none. I will continue to do so.

Incidently, I have had hypertension forever and I'm regularly tested and monitored. Everything seems to be fine (so far) except for the stupid hypertension.

 

[SILLYANDI]

I have not read any studies or seen any newscasts but I can tell you MY experience. About a year ago I started drinking WAY too much diet soda and really have no excuse or explaination- I think it was the caffeine as I am not a coffee drinker. I was drinking 2-3 cans a day (which is too much in my opinion). Prior to that I would drink regular soda, maybe a can a day and never had any problems.

I started having dizzy spells, light sensitivity, migranes, ringing in my ears. heart palpitations, forgetfulness, difficulty forming sentances, visual disturbances all kinds of crazy stuff was happening and the doctors couldn't figure out the cause, my primary care doctor was convinced I had MS.
One day I had a crazy event which I can only describe as a siezure- I was walking through a store with flourescent lights which caused me to get dizzy (which had become common for me), I left and started to drive home and I started having lightflashes in my peripheral vision like cars were speeding past me but there were no cars, I got off the side of the road and felt like I had some type of seizure, no shaking but my mind got fuzzy, I couldn't orient myself, I couldn't move to call for help, etc (luckily once the flashing lights started I had pulled off the highway and parked). I sat for a good 10 minutes unable to think enough to call for help. I finally was able to hit redial on my cell and call my husband but couldn't tell him where I was or descirbe what was wrong. By a stroke of luck I described what I could see around me and he recognized the colors of signs I was describing and knew where to find me.
After extensive testing and seeing several specialists the ONLY thing that they all could agree on was that I had a bad reaction to the aspartame(I had drank 4 cans back to back that morning with nothing else just prior to this all happening and was popping sugar free gum like it was going out of style. I feel like i was addicted to the aspartame).

I immediately switched to iced tea for my caffeine addiction and have not had any problems since...except when I drink diet soda. I don't know if it's subconcious now or if I really am sensitive to it, I do know that it scared the crud out of me and I will not allow my kids to drink any, and avoid it myself if I can.

 

[marie1203]

We don't drink soda. It is rare when we have soda in the house and it usually it is not coke.

 

[kaytieeldr]

We cut out most soda in our house. We still sometimes do get it when we go out for a meal or if we are having company over, but we don't keep it around.

Between the artificial chemical sweeteners and the artificial chemical other ingredients, not to mention carbonation and what it does to our bones, we just don't do it often.

Dawn

WHAT does carbonation do to our bones? It's Co2 - a natural element.

 

[squirrel]

I have not read any studies or seen any newscasts but I can tell you MY experience. About a year ago I started drinking WAY too much diet soda and really have no excuse or explaination- I think it was the caffeine as I am not a coffee drinker. I was drinking 2-3 cans a day (which is too much in my opinion). Prior to that I would drink regular soda, maybe a can a day and never had any problems.

I started having dizzy spells, light sensitivity, migranes, ringing in my ears. heart palpitations, forgetfulness, difficulty forming sentances, visual disturbances all kinds of crazy stuff was happening and the doctors couldn't figure out the cause, my primary care doctor was convinced I had MS.
One day I had a crazy event which I can only describe as a siezure- I was walking through a store with flourescent lights which caused me to get dizzy (which had become common for me), I left and started to drive home and I started having lightflashes in my peripheral vision like cars were speeding past me but there were no cars, I got off the side of the road and felt like I had some type of seizure, no shaking but my mind got fuzzy, I couldn't orient myself, I couldn't move to call for help, etc (luckily once the flashing lights started I had pulled off the highway and parked). I sat for a good 10 minutes unable to think enough to call for help. I finally was able to hit redial on my cell and call my husband but couldn't tell him where I was or descirbe what was wrong. By a stroke of luck I described what I could see around me and he recognized the colors of signs I was describing and knew where to find me.
After extensive testing and seeing several specialists the ONLY thing that they all could agree on was that I had a bad reaction to the aspartame(I had drank 4 cans back to back that morning with nothing else just prior to this all happening and was popping sugar free gum like it was going out of style. I feel like i was addicted to the aspartame).

I immediately switched to iced tea for my caffeine addiction and have not had any problems since...except when I drink diet soda. I don't know if it's subconcious now or if I really am sensitive to it, I do know that it scared the crud out of me and I will not allow my kids to drink any, and avoid it myself if I can.

My uncle use to drink way too much Diet Coke. He use to drink about 12 cans a day. He loved to eat at McDonalds and get a soda as they will re-fill it for free. I don't know if he had any seizures before he started drinking that much Diet Coke, but I do know that he did have them after.

I drink about 3 cans a week of Diet soda. I try and get ones without the aspartame. I prefer the ones with Splenda. I have low blood pressure and haven't noticed any side effects from drinking Diet Soda.

 

[branv]

What I say is pass the diet DP.

One of the best thing I ever did was to take a statistics class. Granted, it was a requirement for my degree (you usually have to drag me kicking and screaming where math is involved), and only an intro class, but WHAT an eye-opener! I find that now I can't even read or hear so-called study findings or statistics without questioning how the study was done, the potential bias, what was ignored or "coerced", etc. Anyone can manipulate data, whether in how it's achieved or how it's presented, to make the argument they want. So now my favorite favorite saying whenever I hear any so called this-causes-this association, from a medical study to "my car makes a noise when it's cold" is:

"Correlation does not equal causation."

Learn it, live it, love it.

The funny thing is that my husband had to take stats as an adult student as well, and now we're probably a little annoying in the way we question everything. Despite stinking it up at math usually, both of us rocked this class b/c it simply is applicable to everyday life for all of us. I believe whole-heartedly now that this class should be a requirement for every student.

 

[bdcp]

WHAT does carbonation do to our bones? It's Co2 - a natural element.

There are some that believe that carbonation and phosphorus interfere with calcium consumption. Some studies show it and some don't. Scientists actually think the effect is minimal and that the real problem is people drink soda instead of eating a balanced diet so they aren't getting the calcium they need. I love soda but I limit myself because it is empty calories, not because I'm afraid of it. I am however a totally opposed to diet soda after realizing how crappy I felt when drinking it. I've met many others who say the same thing. They didnt' even realize how bad they felt until they stopped consuming a lot of artificial sweeteners. The problem is that there are artificial sweeteners in a lot of foods that no one would even suspect without reading labels. It's used a lot. But, by avoiding intentionally consuming foods specifically sweetened with it, I have noticed a huge difference. I definitely think problems are tied to how much you consume.

And, yes, statistics can mainly be made to say anything. Just remember that the next time someone calls to ask you questions. Real life experiences of me and other posters here carry a lot more weight with me than a random study.

 

[edk35]

My husband drinnks diet sodas but usually only 1 or 2 a day. The kids and I only have soda if we eat out and it is NOT diet. I don't keep it in the house at all. Of course when we are at Disney..... THEY OD ON SODA. I have heard things about artificial sweeteners over the years and who knows what is true and not true. There are so many chemicals in foods that people eat so I am sure that diet soda in moderation is no worse than PROCESSED foods that people eat on a daily basis.

 

[kaytieeldr]

There are some that believe that carbonation and phosphorus interfere with calcium consumption.

I found this "Results: Relative to water, urinary calcium rose significantly only with the milks and the 2 caffeine-containing beverages. The excess calciuria was ≈0.25 mmol, about the same as previously reported for caffeine alone. Phosphoric acid without caffeine produced no excess calciuria; nor did it augment the calciuria of caffeine.

Conclusions: The excess calciuria associated with consumption of carbonated beverages is confined to caffeinated beverages. " here http://www.ajcn.org/content/74/3/343.full

So it's not the carbonation at all; it's not the phosphoric acid alone. If anything, it's the phosphoric acid combined with caffeine.

 

[ellone]

We don't have soda in our house. The sweet stuff has high fructose corn syrup which we try and avoid we don't trust the fake sweeteners. My husband does use stevia as a sweetener for his coffe though (but it is natural).

We have a soda stream and make our own unflavored seltzer. We try and avoid cans - just about all cans have some BPA.

 

[scootch]

My friend works for a cardiologist, his take on the study is they did not differentiate other aspects(such as weight, ect..) He said if you look at many overweight people they order order a big mac, large fry and a diet coke for lunch. Being overweight eating salty high saturated fats leads to strokes for sure.

 

[Planogirl]

There is that notion that drinking diet drinks makes a person crave sweets too. I know that I crave sweets and always have but I just ignore the craving or eat some fruit or a bit of dark chocolate from time to time.

Now all bets are off when I travel. Bring on the goodies is what I say!

 

[bdcp]

I found this "Results: Relative to water, urinary calcium rose significantly only with the milks and the 2 caffeine-containing beverages. The excess calciuria was ≈0.25 mmol, about the same as previously reported for caffeine alone. Phosphoric acid without caffeine produced no excess calciuria; nor did it augment the calciuria of caffeine.

Conclusions: The excess calciuria associated with consumption of carbonated beverages is confined to caffeinated beverages. " here http://www.ajcn.org/content/74/3/343.full

So it's not the carbonation at all; it's not the phosphoric acid alone. If anything, it's the phosphoric acid combined with caffeine.

If you google soda and calcium you will find many different opinions.

 

[DizFan101]

Yes. All Soda Diet or Non Diet is bad. Diet is bad because it has aspartame in it.

Don't you just LOVE the new Anti-soda commerical showing what soda does to you?

I miss my soda....i only drink it when i'm at the world though (and at theatres) i definitely think i cut back from what i used to drink (2 cans per day). ouch. i drink flavored sheltzer water...not only is it better then soda it's less expensive.