and again, may i point out to you
"The data clearly indicate that " does not mean "this is fact, here are the numbers"
You need to remember that a journo is not a scientist, and a news paper is not a study. Whilst a Journo tries to relay the facts to the lesser mortals, they often get things wrong because they dont understand as well, and this ends up as Urban Legends.

This btw, isnt so much about the whole sugar/diet thing, but more than people need to take these things into account when reading things online
I work as a Tech Blogger for a fairly major NZ news website, amazingly, a lot of journos are really technophobic and can barely use a computer (not all of them either! just a lot!). So why are they reporting on computing things?
Example: Recently a guy signed up a second login on a website to discredit some trader whom had blocked him (similar to ebay site). The news paper called him "computer expert" and "hacker" because he was able to signup another username. WTF?! :O

As for the diet coke thing, i drink it most a fair bit, better that than booze or sugar drinks if im going out. Ive managed to loose a shitload more than most people. To be fair, for the most part of loosing the weight i think it would be fair to say i drank copious amounts of it

Ok, I'm going to trot this one out again.

The article goes on to talk about how you should write your government officials and demand that they address this issue.

What is Dihydrogen Monoxide? H2O. Water.



So you know - any study can be written in such a way as to give whatever perception the writer wants it to give. And while it's good to be cautious, it's also good to NOT be paranoid.

Sorry I know how to read and interpret what I'm reading. Sure, it may be safe but there is also evidence that it may NOT be safe. People react differently to things. Drink it to your hearts content .

I drink my calculated allocation of water every day - then happily go over to diet cola because I prefer the taste.

It hasnt reversed my weight losses and I havent keeled over because of it.

I drink more diet cola than I did in the middle of my project principally because I weigh less so calculate a lower allocation of water before I feel I have a choice in the matter.

I accept that diet cola is not as good for me as water - but I figure that I am only human and I am allowed the odd treat. I drink next to no alcohol (maybe 6 units over the past 2.5 years) and I happily drink diet cola when out socialising. Sometimes we should just allow ourselves to have what we enjoy and not worry too much about maybes...

I drink diet coke, maybe one or two cans a week, which i don't think is harming me significantly. I don't drink alcohol at all (since two months ago), or any other fizzy drinks other than cloudy lemonade (cos it's ammmazing). Mostly drink water or green tea.

It is the acutal "fiz" that is the worst enemy from what my doctor told me. The carbonated water does not break down in your stomach per se, it can and often does get carried to cells where it "blows" your cells. It is on a minute scale, but if drinking a lot of this product can be a bigger problem. Also, I have panic/anxiety disorder, which, again per my doctor, could greatly be attributed to aspartame. I did some research on this a few years ago as my anxiety attacks were rolling off me like water on a daily basis. I was taking in A LOT of aspartame. When I cut it down to just a drink once in a while, the anxiety subsided some, after it got out of my system, which took a few weeks, then they are all but nill, have had maybe one every two to three months! Now I do drink the diet sodas, but only on a once-in-a-while basis. I have also heard about the carbonated water having something to do with drying out the joints - not sure about it, but it is something I plan to research. Come to think of it, since I have not been drinking them on a daily basis, and drinking more water, my knees are not giving me the fits they used to.. hmmm, I will have to see what I can find out!

That's pure-d nonsense. Seriously I've never heard anything so ridiculous in my life. If my doctor told me that, I'd be looking for another doctor.

lol I was thinking of how I was going to word my post after I read that nonsense, I think you did a fair job for me, cheers!

My cells are doing fine and dont feel blown at all. My joints feel pretty good too.

I suspect the joints of the people on regular coke will suffer more under the strain of the weight due to the surplus calories.

I concur with Kara - time to look for a new doctor...

My last response was a little blunt ... I wanted to elaborate on this a little.

I think that there's a tendency to confuse the effects of CARBONATION with the effects of all the other ingredients in soda - whether diet or regular. People will read something about the effects of soda and not understand that there are many components in soda that have various effects ... and not understand how to separate them out.

First of all, as I mentioned above, the whole concept that the carbonation bubbles get into your cells and blow them is utterly ludicrous. It's science fiction medicine at it's best. It's possible that someone has read about Decompression Sickness (also known as "the bends") and is mixing their science. There is a condition that scuba divers and deep sea divers suffer from that is almost that exact thing: when they ascend too quickly from a deep dive, the change in pressure causes carbon dioxide to be forced into their cells and it causes cellular damage. It can even cause death. It's one of the reasons why divers are trained to surface slowly and decompress.

But that has NOTHING to do with drinking a carbonated beverage and there's no way that carbonation can be forced into your cells simply by drinking a fizzy drink. And aside from that, when the carbonation hits your stomach acids, the carbonation is immediately neutralized and the gas is released. The worst that could happen is that you could drink too much, too fast, and become bloated and burp a lot to get rid of the excess gas.

As far as carbonation drying out the joints - unless you're drinking plain, clear seltzer water, carbonated beverages have other ingredients. Cola drinks have lots of caffeine in them - and caffeine is a diuretic. If you've gone from drinking a lot of cola (coke, pepsi, whatever) to drinking water, I would suspect that your joints WOULD feel better - because you're consuming more water and you're not flushing it out of your system with caffeine.

The debate about artificial sweeteners is a longstanding and ongoing one. There are definitely people who are more sensitive to them than others. I drink a Diet Coke a couple of times a week and it doesn't bother me. My ex can't drink anything with aspartame because he suffers from clinical depression and he's found through about a year of experimenting with his food/drink intake that it *does* affect him. So that can be a valid concern for some people.

But again ... neither of those things have anything to do with the CARBONATION. They have to do with the other ingredients.

There are two things you have to watch out for with carbonation: Reliable studies have shown that if you drink alcoholic beverages in combination with carbonated beverages, the carbonation can increase the absorption of alcohol. So in other words, you get drunker faster if you combine your booze with a fizzy drink. Rum and coke suddenly just got more potent.

And even if you drink plain fizzy water, you need to double check the sodium levels. Most mineral waters/club sodas/etc. have lots of sodium. If you can find a brand w/out sodium, there's no reason not to drink it.

so basically when I order a gin and tonic i'm mainlining it into my system?!?! I can live with that

Hi! So I've been drinking soda,beer,some wine and water all my life. No wonder I'm fat!

my diet mountain dew would is offended

Great article and thanks for sharing.

One thing I noticed when I was going through my diet soda kick is that it actually made me more hungry. Still though, moderation is the key to anything and I know diet is a great alternative to regular. So if you crave a carbonated beverage and are trying to lose weight, stick with diet, just limit yourself and when you can, opt for even more healthy alternatives.

Joey

Exactly.

Plus, that article is full of nothing more than common sense. They could've saved everyone a few minutes of reading by just pasting "DIET SODA IS STILL SODA AND IT ISN'T AS HEALTHY AS WATER" all over the link.