Thursday, September 4, 2008
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Diet vs. Regular Pop
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
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