With obesity on the rise, many Americans are turning to diets and fads to lose weight. One favored method is the substitution of regular soda for a seemingly slimmer diet option. Fruit flavors and fewer calories add to the appeal that these drinks are healthier and taste great, but exactly how healthy are they for you?
To cut down on sugar, companies like Coca-cola and Pepsi, use the artificial sweeteners Nutrasweet, Splenda, and aspartame to flavor their drinks. Aspartame alone, discovered in 1965, has been a source of controversy for many years. Numerous studies have been performed on it to try to legitimize the link between brain cancer and heavy consumption of aspartame. Thus far, none have proved this theory true, and the FDA has continuously approved the use of aspartame in products, but doubts still arise about possible health risks due to aspartame. It was actually law, until 2001, that companies print a warning label on all products containing saccharine (which is closely related to aspartame and was the previous artificial sweetener used in diet sodas until replaced in 2005) to warn consumers of possible health risks such as seizures, dizziness and migraines.
Another potential reason people switch to diet sodas, is the fewer calorie count. It is true the regular Coke has 140 calories in 1 can and that Diet Coke has none, but if you look further on the nutritional value label you will notice that Diet Coke contains more caffeine. High levels of caffeine can raise your blood pressure, potentially cause sleep-deprivation, and has a potential of becoming an addiction.
The only confirmed study on how diet sodas affect humans, compared to regular sodas, was performed at the University of Texas Health Science Center in 2005. It actually found that those consuming diet sodas gained more weight over a period of time than their counterparts drinking regular sodas!
- reeses puffs
10 comments:
I think also that people who drink diet sodas feel justified in eating more junk food because they feel that they are losing calories from their diet soda.
I think that both regular and diet pops have pros and cons. It is just going to depend on the person. Whether its diet or regular, there are always going to be issues with it whether its too much caffeine or too many calories.
I think this blog is amazing! I totally believe in this and I have never liked or wanted to drink Diet Pop. My 7th grade science teacher showed us a video that talked about a lady that drank only diet soda to lose weight and ended up with a bad case of M.S. and then switched back to regular and it slowly got better until she became more healthy.
Fun fact: The majority of people who drink diet soda are already obese, and do not seem to be able to loose weight. On that note, the majority of average healthy people do not drink diet soda because of all the possible health problems that may occur. In fact, the majority of those who drink diet sodas become more obese and less healthy.
Baja blast you are talking about Mr. Kimball, and he is the only reason I refuse to drink diet pop! His story led me to look into the difference between diet and regular, and I completely believe that if we are to call pop healthy at all, the regular pop is definitely more healthy. Our school board members should read this.
Thank you for this post! I'm always telling people about the effects of diet soda. Especially my parents who only buy diet soda. The artifical sweeteners they use in diet soda have so many mroe side effects then what people realize. Aspartame is, by far, the most dangerous substance on the market that is added to foods. Some documented symptoms caused by aspartame include: headaches/migraines, seizures, muscle spasms, weight gain, depression, insomnia, vision problems, hearing loss, heart palpitations, breathing difficulties, anxiety attacks, tinnitus, vertigo, memory loss, and joint pain. (according to http://www.mercola.com) And bear in mind those are just a few of the many symptoms. Why the FDA is still approving this artifical sweetener is a mystery to me.
regular pop is unhealthy because it's crazy full of sugar, calories and caffein. diet pop is unhealthy because it makes your body do a whole bunch of other spastic things...if someone was really that worried about their health...maybe they should just, you know...not drink pop?
"headaches/migraines, seizures, muscle spasms, weight gain, depression, insomnia, vision problems, hearing loss, heart palpitations, breathing difficulties, anxiety attacks, tinnitus, vertigo, memory loss, and joint pain"
I think Caffine is known to cause most of those as well ;). That said, most corporations are not concerned by the health of there customers as long as they like the product. Diet pop for them lets them grab a larger market whether or not it is more healthy. I think it should always be the choice of the consumer even if both can be lethal. As long as there is the choice, I don't care what people chose.
I do not really care about the diet pop or regular pop controversy, because I do not really drink soda. However, as an athlete it irritates me that they changed the gatorade machines to smaller sizes. I understand having smaller portions at lunch, but changing the machine prevents students in sports from being able to buy a gatorade before or after practice to stay hydrated.
If you just drank less of regular sodas than there would be no need to drink the diet sodas which are filled with so many ingrediants that are so bad for us. Simple solution, soda in general will never be good for you no matter what the soda companies do to it, so drink less soda
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