For years, people have thought that diet soda was the way to go if you wanted to cut down on the sugar and calories that come with regular soda. Apparently, they are now finding that it might not be such a safe choice after all. Researchers have now determined that drinking one soda a day, whether it's diet or regular, is associated with a much higher rates of heart disease and diabetes.
They've associated regular, sugar-sweetened soda, with those health concerns for years, but this is the first study that finds that diet soda is also an indicator of future health issues. They don't think that it is the ingredients in the diet soda that lead to health problems, but that drinking soda (of any variety) is an indicator of other questionable eating patterns. Which just confirms what we've all known for years. You can not redeem a quarter pounder with cheese and large fries with the addition of a diet soda.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
1I think your headline and first part of the post is misleading then. If the research shows that its not the diet soda ingredients that are harmful, rather the person who has the bad eating habits....then diet soda itself is fine. Doesn't matter if you're drinking the diet soda, water or apple juice...the big mac + fries will kill you.
27-25-2007 @ 2:40PM
lola flores said...
please know that corn syrup is not quite the same thing as sugar. ^***hugz***^
3Yeah I saw this headline on the news last night and it's utterly ridiculous. News organizations need to stop posting headlines that have nothing to do with the results. READ the article for God's sake before you post stuff like this.
"Ramachandran S. Vasan of Boston University School of Medicine, the lead author of the study, said it was unlikely that an ingredient in diet soda caused the effect.
More likely, he said, is that soft-drink consumption changes dietary patterns - perhaps people who drink any kind of soda, for example, become accustomed to eating more sweets - or that soda consumption simply accompanies generally poor eating habits. "
Even the scientist who headed the article admits the diet soda has no effect on heart disease and diabetes, rather it's the poor dietary habits that go along with soda that can lead to heart disease and diabetes. And to say "Diet Soda is no better than regular soda" is ridiculous. Diet soda IS better for people who take in too many calories. It's indisputable that it has less calories than regular soda. And as anyone can tell you too many calories are a bad thing, so anything that cuts down on an abundance of them is beneficial. So please read the article next time, thanks.
4Marisa, sadly, I just lost my respect for you - you proved to be just as manipulative and "playful" with the information as the 5 o'clock news - to say "Diet Soda is no better than regular soda", when you yourself write "They don't think that it is the ingredients in the diet soda that lead to health problems...", is, to say the least, inconsistent and yes, as Derek said, ridiculous.
6Stupid headline... I keep seeing this and it's utterly ridiculous. My sister lost 20 pounds switching from regular to diet, I know others have lost more. Also, I am diabetic, so I am not substituting calories, but able to drink something sweet when the sweetooth fairly arrives instead of something else. I know a lot of people that drink diet soda and still have good eating habits.
The problem is people that think "light" and diet foods and exercise are excuses to eat more and worse foods.
Diet Soda is better for you than Regular Soda. Please change your healine, it's just confusing!
UGH!
77-26-2007 @ 10:30AM
Trisha Smith said...
If people would just take the time to really read the food labels, including the ones on soft drinks, and then do the research on the listed ingredients, their trusted opinions about what they are putting inside their bodies and digestive systems would certainly change. With Diet Coke, take a REAL good look into the ingredients of the REAL THING.
Phosporic Acid, one of the listed ingredients, is used in dentistry and orthodontics as an etching for tooth enamel to prepare the tooth surface to properly accept the filling or dental appliance being placed on the tooth. I know this to be true as I worked in the dental field for over 20 years. Also, phosphoric acid has been linked to lower bone density and many studies have supported the theory that drinking too many sodas will result in lower bone density. Also, take a good look at another ingredient, citric acid. Although it's one that's used in many foods and is recognized as being safe for the body, it is capable, with excessive, use of eroding tooth enamel. I have personally seen this kind of erosion on the teeth of a person who drank cokes, both regular and diet, for years. So it really doesn't matter what the headline says, the truth is, these colas, whether regular or diet are just not good for you. But it's like anything else you do in excess, including eating or drinking the wrong foods, it is eventually going to be harmful to your body in some way.
9See, this is why I only drink beer.
"You can not redeem a quarter pounder with cheese and large fries with the addition of a diet soda"
The only reasonable statement I've heard regarding people who do that, is when Roger Ebert stated that maybe some people just prefer the taste of diet soda.
107-26-2007 @ 3:27PM
annieladner said...
"You can not redeem a quarter pounder with cheese and large fries with the addition of a diet soda"
My two cents:
How many people actually believe that a diet soda cancels out junk food? Like the commentor above me, some people just prefer the taste. I know I do. And some people want to indulge in a little greasy crap now and again, but don't feel the need to go completely overboard with sugar and choose to save the 200+ calories.
It's kind of ridiculous that I have to feel embarrassed about ordering a diet soda in a fast food place.
12Diet soda is extraordinarily bad for you. Yes downing that much sugar at once with regular pop is not healthy... but every last sugar substitute is known to cause occasional allergic reactions and other more serious health problems, like cancer and death.
He's out of vogue now, but good ol' Don Rumsfeld was the guy who was responsible for getting FDA approval for Nutrasweet, which caused giant tumors in rats during FDA testing.
http://www.newmediaexplorer.org/sepp/2004/05/07/aspartame_gate_when_donald_rumsfeld_was_ceo_of_searle.htm
For that matter citrus-based soda pop (Dr. Pepper, Slice, Mtn. Dew, etc.) also contains an awful lot of brominated vegetable oil (Bromine, like in your hot tub) because it's an excellent suspensor of citrus molecules. Unfortunately it also kills people and is banned from public consumption in India.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brominated_vegetable_oil
And a bonus link about Splenda,
http://www.holisticmed.com/splenda/
I think I'll stick to regular old cane sugar. It might make me fat, but it won't give me a tumor.
13Diet soda is extraordinarily bad for you. Yes downing that much sugar at once with regular pop is not healthy... but every last sugar substitute is known to cause occasional allergic reactions and other more serious health problems, like cancer and death.
He's out of vogue now, but good ol' Don Rumsfeld was the guy who was responsible for getting FDA approval for Nutrasweet, which caused giant tumors in rats during FDA testing.
http://www.newmediaexplorer.org/sepp/2004/05/07/aspartame_gate_when_donald_rumsfeld_was_ceo_of_searle.htm
For that matter citrus-based soda pop (Dr. Pepper, Slice, Mtn. Dew, etc.) also contains an awful lot of brominated vegetable oil (Bromine, like in your hot tub) because it's an excellent suspensor of citrus molecules. Unfortunately it also kills people and is banned from public consumption in India.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brominated_vegetable_oil
And a bonus link about Splenda,
http://www.holisticmed.com/splenda/
I think I'll stick to regular old cane sugar. It might make me fat, but it won't give me a tumor.
1410-07-2007 @ 4:08PM
Nicholas Dynes Gracey said...
Hi Marisa McClellan, Jaden, lola flores, Derek M., Brooke, CJ, Trisha Smith, wintem01, kevjohn, annieladner, Leena, jsmylie, James & Anyone seeking a cure for chronic 'diseases' classified for example as "heart disease" or "diabetes mellitus" aka chronic HYPERglycemia [c/o chronic transient HYPERinsulinemia] …
"...Meir Stampfer of Harvard Medical School ... previously had reported that diet sodas increase the risk of obesity and high blood pressure..."
The new association with diet soda is via a relatively 'newly' classified 'disease slash syndrome', often associated with obesity, called 'metabolic syndrome' ... which has better been described as 'relative-HYPOglycemia' since 1924 [more than 80 years ago]. And the report goes on to state ...
"...Metabolic syndrome, the association reported yesterday, is broader - a cluster of symptoms that includes excessive abdominal fat, high blood-glucose levels, high blood pressure, high blood triglycerides, and low levels of HDL ("good") cholesterol. People with three or more of these symptoms have double the normal risk of heart disease and diabetes ... Those who drank at least one soda per day also had: A 31 percent greater risk of becoming obese ... A 30 percent higher risk of having a larger waistline..."
HOWEVER ...
Obesity is NOT a disease and UNdrugTREATED obesity should be a lifestyle choice...
http://www.chestjournal.org/cgi/content/full/120/6/1953
AND...
Heart disease is NOT caused by artery-sclerosis aka 'atherosclerosis' [which is a protective adaptative process] and/or heart disease is NOT caused by angina [which is a protective adaptative process] and/or heart disease is NOT caused by high blood pressure [which is a protective adaptative process] and/or heart disease is NOT caused by high cholesterol [which is a protective adaptative process] and/or heart disease is NOT caused by high blood sugar [which is a protective adaptative process].
Marisa states: "...Researchers have now determined that drinking one soda a day, whether it's diet or regular, is associated with a much higher rates of heart disease and diabetes..."
"determined" ...
BECAUSE Those considered to have any one 'element slash symptom' of "metabolic syndrome" are likely 'ANYdrugTREATED'...
ie conventional drug administration is usually imposed upon Those considered "obese" [and/or having "...excessive abdominal fat, high blood-glucose levels, high blood pressure, high blood triglycerides, and low levels of HDL ("good") cholesterol..."] and They often then succumb to 'drug-associated side-effects', CAUSED by that conventional drug administration, including 'heart disease' and 'diabetes'.
The Hippocratic Oath states: "To please no one will I prescribe a deadly drug nor give advice which may cause his death."
It is the responsibility of every MD who has taken the Hippocratic Oath to ensure that ANYdrugTREATED 'metabolic syndrome Patient' is free from any prescribed treatments which forseeably CAUSE 'heart disease' and/or 'diabetes'.
…Warm thanks; Nick Gracey, BSc(Hons) Medical Biochemistry, Birmingham University, UK, WATerian c/o www.slashfood.com @ 19:23hrs SUN.07.OCT.2007.
ps… Diabetes Is Caused By Food And Or Drug Administration Too Much And Or Too Often.
http://www.thediabetesblog.com/2007/04/19/no-food-no-problem
pps… Diabetes is NOT a disease … diabetes is the CURE [for relative-HYPOglycemia]…
http://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/bpb/24/8/950/_pdf
'Relative-HYPOglycemia As A Cause Of Neuropsychiatric Illness' @ Journal Of The National Medical Association @ Harry M Salzer MD @ January 1966 @ Vol 58 @ Number 1 @ Table 1 @ Figure 2.
ppps… FOR MORE related info on chronic HYPERglycemia, chronic transient HYPERinsulinemia AND Insulin Resistance [a protective adaptative process] induced by transient CARBOhydrate overload... please follow the links via…
www.tinyurl.com/2k4n3a
What Can I Get You Folks? - Server Revenge
Reality-Show Celebrities Serve Up Chef Curtis Stone's 'Hundred-Dollar Burger'
Foods Celebrity Chefs Hate
