Are Diet Soft Drinks Bad for You?

[Elheru Aran]

Personally I really enjoy orange juice or apple mixed with a fairly bland clear soda like Sierra Mist...

[Skywalker4eva]

Better to drink water!

[General Zod]

What I've been doing for the past year or so is diluting my soft drinks -- not with water, but with diet soft drinks. At roughly five parts Coke Zero to one part Coke (non-Zero), this takes away the worst of the "empty" taste of the diet drink, while keeping the added empty calories at a fairly low level.

On sale I can get the 6x710mL packs for about $2, which is a reasonable price.

I've gotten used to the taste of diet Coke, so now anytime I drink regular coke the heavy syrup content really stands out and makes me feel like I'm just building up mucus in the back of my throat when I take a drink.

[Elheru Aran]

I've honestly just never liked the taste of diet soda, so I don't bother drinking them. I do note a distinct improvement in flavor when I have a Mexican Coke versus regular soda, but it's not *that* much of an improvement to make drinking Mexican Coke a regular thing. I imagine though that if I drank enough diet soda I could get used to the taste. Likewise I could get used to not drinking soda if I gave it enough effort. It's just a matter of personal discipline and practice.

[Alferd Packer]

I've limited my intake of soda (diet or otherwise) to 1 per day for the better part of a decade now, and I think I'm hitting the point where even that won't be enough, so I've decided to frame the argument thusly: on a given day, or for a given meal, would I prefer to eat my calories or drink them?

When I ask myself that question, I will most often forgo soda in favor of plain water. Yes, soda tastes better, but you know what tastes even better? Actual food. In fact, about the only liquid calories I now consume come from alcohol, and again, that's a conscious choice to drink my calories. In any case, I figure the fewer liquid calories I consume (soda, booze, juice, etc.), the higher quality of life I will ultimately enjoy.

[Simon_Jester]

[shrugs]

As to the posts right after mine... I've never understood why the idea of watering down strongly flavored beverages seems to make certain people want to puke, personally. I can understand it with things you're drinking for the caffeine content, the alcohol content, or something, because then you would be getting less of what you paid for. But for things you drink for flavor?

I guess in the modern era we're so accustomed to everything having strong (artificial) flavors that we get dependent on it. Anything with a weak flavor is intrinsically disgusting to some people; I encounter this in daily life too.

In any event, it's a thing a person CAN do, there are some economic and health benefits to doing it relative to "just drink a gallon of normal sugary beverages every day." And by the standards of a guy who according the the OP weighs 320-30 pounds and has health problems, it's not exactly the weirdest or the worst thing he might do in an attempt to get his calorie intake under control.

[Ralin]

I've gotten used to the taste of diet Coke, so now anytime I drink regular coke the heavy syrup content really stands out and makes me feel like I'm just building up mucus in the back of my throat when I take a drink.

I grew up drinking Diet Coke because that was what my parents bought and I can't stand the taste of regular. I don't like most non-diet sodas in general. It's annoying how people always seem shocked that I prefer it.

[TheFeniX]

As to the posts right after mine... I've never understood why the idea of watering down strongly flavored beverages seems to make certain people want to puke, personally. I can understand it with things you're drinking for the caffeine content, the alcohol content, or something, because then you would be getting less of what you paid for. But for things you drink for flavor?

I prefer ridiculously strong tea. Like, almost as black/brown as cofee. But there are times I cut it by up to 80% with water and add some sweetnlow. And there exists a lot of teas like this. There isn't "Coke light" where it's cut like you do. So people are going to associate that with "watered down."

That said, the idea of mixing a carbonated beverage with something not carbonated (Whiskey aside) leaves you with a distinctly flat drink that is also watered down. I can forget about a half-full can of Diet Coke on the counter, come back and just slam it with no issue. But left-out iced Diet Coke (so there water AND no carbonation): No.

Not to mention the difference in bottling/canning or just the way addition of the CO2 is handled makes a huge difference. A well-maintained fountain drink system will produce soft-drinks with more active carbonation. For me this puts soft-drinks into a tier: Fountain > Glass Bottle (almost impossible to find these day where I'm at) > Plastic 20oz > 2L > Canned.

Given the opportunity, tasting the difference between a fresh fountain drink and fresh canned Diet Coke is easy.

I guess in the modern era we're so accustomed to everything having strong (artificial) flavors that we get dependent on it. Anything with a weak flavor is intrinsically disgusting to some people; I encounter this in daily life too.

My wife won't touch "weak" tea. I have friends who won't touch "strong" tea. I think it's more you're accustomed to what you drink a lot of.

I grew up drinking whole milk. When I switched to 2% when on my own: it tasted like waster. But healthy is healthy. Now, after.... 20 some-odd years: whole milk tastes like Dairy Creamer and I can almost feel my arteries hardening when drinking it. Regular Coke is strong. It's thick. Outside of maybe something like Mountain Dew, it's got to be one of the thickest drinks, but I might be misremembering Dew for something like SUUUUUUUURGE!. It is the most popular American soft drink, so it might make more sense that people associate anything smoother with "weak."

I look at it like coffee drinkers. They spend the first couple years blowing on their coffee, carefully drinking it so not to burn themselves. Then they end up like my wife and can drink flaming sterno.

I've limited my intake of soda (diet or otherwise) to 1 per day for the better part of a decade now, and I think I'm hitting the point where even that won't be enough, so I've decided to frame the argument thusly: on a given day, or for a given meal, would I prefer to eat my calories or drink them?

When I ask myself that question, I will most often forgo soda in favor of plain water. Yes, soda tastes better, but you know what tastes even better? Actual food. In fact, about the only liquid calories I now consume come from alcohol, and again, that's a conscious choice to drink my calories. In any case, I figure the fewer liquid calories I consume (soda, booze, juice, etc.), the higher quality of life I will ultimately enjoy.

This works if you never drink water or soda outside of when you're not eating. As per the OP, he drinks a lot of fluids during his day. If he can't stop doing that, I know I can't, and he won't drink water: some kind of zero calorie solution is his best best.

[Broomstick]

Better to drink water!

Uh, yeah - you know, we sort of covered that. Did you read the thread at all?

And welcome to SD.net, I see that is your first post.

[Raw Shark]

I awoke to the wet slapping sounds of Broomstick beating a noob about the face and neck. I rolled over and went back to sleep, sighing, "Tuesday..."

[Enigma]

I tried taking tea to work but it doesn't last long (love tea) and end up looking for something else to drink. I've tried water but it does nothing to relieve the hunger that builds while working. Maybe flavored water would work?

I'm still making adjustments. I've stopped drinking liquids during breaks and instead drink whenever I'm thirsty throughout the shift. For now, I'll stick to Diet 7up\Sprite while at work and drink more water at home.

Right now my entire calorie intake from breaks at work wobbles between 350 to 600. Still looking to reduce the high end of the caloric intake. Losing weight is a pain in the ass but a necessary one.

[biostem]

I tried taking tea to work but it doesn't last long (love tea) and end up looking for something else to drink. I've tried water but it does nothing to relieve the hunger that builds while working. Maybe flavored water would work?

I'm still making adjustments. I've stopped drinking liquids during breaks and instead drink whenever I'm thirsty throughout the shift. For now, I'll stick to Diet 7up\Sprite while at work and drink more water at home.

Right now my entire calorie intake from breaks at work wobbles between 350 to 600. Still looking to reduce the high end of the caloric intake. Losing weight is a pain in the ass but a necessary one.

If you have a water cooler at work that can make hot water, then just bring your own teabags and preferred sweetner...

[Edi]

I tried taking tea to work but it doesn't last long (love tea) and end up looking for something else to drink. I've tried water but it does nothing to relieve the hunger that builds while working. Maybe flavored water would work?

I'm still making adjustments. I've stopped drinking liquids during breaks and instead drink whenever I'm thirsty throughout the shift. For now, I'll stick to Diet 7up\Sprite while at work and drink more water at home.

Right now my entire calorie intake from breaks at work wobbles between 350 to 600. Still looking to reduce the high end of the caloric intake. Losing weight is a pain in the ass but a necessary one.

If you're using teabags, tea doesn't keep. The bags mostly have the crap quality leftovers in them, especially the cheap ones. It's a whole different story if you brew tea from loose leaves, preferably good quality ones. That stuff will keep for up to three days and will taste almost as good cold as it does warm. Some varieties of green tea flavored with the proper fruits and berries will actually taste better cold.

And if you don't like it as ice tea, all you need to do is nuke the mug of tea in the microwave for 50 seconds and it will be good as new. So it might be an idea to look into specialty tea shops in your area, or even just find generic loose leaf stuff.

[Enigma]

When I say it doesn't last long I meant that I drink it too fast. As for using mugs, open containers at work is a no no since it can be a hazard but when I had the tea it was in a thermos. (I do assembly work with various tools and use plastic\foam materials of various sizes. Mug could get knocked off the table and make a mess of things and create a potential tripping hazard.)

[Civil War Man]

If you are trying to lose weight, it's much better to cut out soda entirely and find an alternative drink than to switch to diet soda. Depending on what studies you look at, it seems that the general consensus is that switching from regular soda to diet at best has little to no appreciable effect, and at worst can actually contribute to weight gain by increasing cravings for sugary foods.

[Vendetta]

All you can really say from that is that switching your drink choice in isolation has a minimal effect.

The simple truth is that the biggest step you can make towards losing weight is to plan what you eat. Set a calorie target that you'll be able to stick to, not just for the duration of a diet but forever, and plan what you're going to eat to meet that target.

A big reason for this is that people are really bad at estimating their calorie intake, unless you actually sit and count it out you are probably underestimating the calorie content of what you eat, so set a target and plan what meets it in advance.

I also find it handy to shift calories earlier in the day. I have a really big (not very healthy, I admit) breakfast, a relatively smaller lunch, and then just soup and a banana for tea. (Chunky soups are good for being filling without a lot of calories).

[Skywalker4eva]

You're training your body to like sweets. Just try lemon water for a month and you'll get used to it.

[Esquire]

Well, points for a moderately-advanced thread necromancy skills, anyway.

As to the topic of the thread - I've read a couple of research papers lately which presented some fairly compelling evidence that the artificial sweeteners used in diet sodas can cause diabetes and/or various GI cancers; I'd be happy to dig them up again if anybody wants.

[Elheru Aran]

Well, points for a moderately-advanced thread necromancy skills, anyway.

As to the topic of the thread - I've read a couple of research papers lately which presented some fairly compelling evidence that the artificial sweeteners used in diet sodas can cause diabetes and/or various GI cancers; I'd be happy to dig them up again if anybody wants.

More legit than the whole "OMG Aspartame will KILL YOU" scare of the 90s, I trust?

[Sturmfalke]

Well, points for a moderately-advanced thread necromancy skills, anyway.

As to the topic of the thread - I've read a couple of research papers lately which presented some fairly compelling evidence that the artificial sweeteners used in diet sodas can cause diabetes and/or various GI cancers; I'd be happy to dig them up again if anybody wants.

I would be interested in that, thank you! I have replaced real sweets like chocolate etc. with diet soda, so I drink a couple of liters per week...

[Esquire]

Well, points for a moderately-advanced thread necromancy skills, anyway.

As to the topic of the thread - I've read a couple of research papers lately which presented some fairly compelling evidence that the artificial sweeteners used in diet sodas can cause diabetes and/or various GI cancers; I'd be happy to dig them up again if anybody wants.

More legit than the whole "OMG Aspartame will KILL YOU" scare of the 90s, I trust?

Naturally; the article is from Nature, 2014, and involves some fairly complex genetics, but the gist is that artificial sweeteners of several common sorts cause mutations in gut flora (fully transplantable in animal trials; not tried in human trials obviously) which severely impact glucose processing, leading to prediabetic and diabetic states in mice as well as in humans. The human trial was two-phased, with a small subset of volunteers from a larger clinical trial given high doses of artificial sweeteners to establish human biological plasuibility with immediate and very strong results; the rest of the trial had more usual dosages, and saw a corresponding rise in the same conditions. I'll dig up the cancer-link ones when I've got a chance, but some of them are cited in this paper, I think.

Sturmfalke, if you're interested in improving your health, by far the best thing you can do for yourself is walk 30 minutes to an hour a day; again, citations as soon as I can find them, but this paper used the Whitehall II study in London if you don't want to wait. Diet-wise, portion control (as a proxy for energy intake/expenditure balance) is the key, not simply cutting out whole categories of foods.

[Esquire]

That was easier than expected - forgot I had a copy saved. This one's from the International Journal of Epidemiology, and finds that sedentary behavior (sitting at a desk all day, etc.) has no significant health impact... as long as you walk 40 (+/- 20) minutes each day; the study population was British civil servants who effectively all use public transportation and walking to get to work. I'm extrapolating a bit, but the authors say as much in their Discussion section.

[Crown]

Now I'm seeing that diet soft drinks may be worse on your health than regular soft drinks. I cannot find any conclusive evidence whether or not they are harmful. So I have come here to ask, are they harmful? Is it a good idea to drink diet soft drinks? Any conclusive whether or not they are bad for you? Thank you.

From /r/fitness wiki FAQ's the answer is no.

In terms of weight loss (if that is your primary goal) it's a simple energy equation. If you are consuming less calories then you need, then you will lose weight, so if it fits your caloric total income for the day have whatever drink you want. I have cut out all process sugar simply because I have the control of a toddler so I've removed it all from my diet than risk a relapse while I'm losing weight, but given my huge caloric deficit in my day to day I could have a mars bar and can of (non diet) soda and still lose weight.

[Adam Reynolds]

Another option you could try is to use one of those sodastream products. It allows you to have slightly weaker soda, either in flavor or carbonation, as you make it yourself. In principle it is also cheaper, but I don't actually use it so I wouldn't know. It also has versions that are diet or regular, so you could try mixing the two if you prefer.

Personally the only thing that causes me to drink water properly is exercise. I also tend to rather like fruit juice as well, which at least has the excuse of being somewhat healthy otherwise. As well as being real sugar. I also probably don't drink enough liquids in general. What also helps me to drink water more is chewing gum, as it gives a nice flavor regardless of the lack of taste of water. It also stops me from snacking as often as another side bonus.

As a side note, with regard to corn syrup, Coke changed their formula to be closer to Pepsi at the same time as the corn syrup change. Which conveniently allowed them to change it back after the switch to corn syrup so that no one noticed the difference. Rather clever actually.

[Starglider]

I recently switched from orange juice to carrot juice at lunchtime. It's only 15% less calories but it's probably a better spread of vitamins; I still have orange juice with breakfast, diluted 50%. Unfortunately I like to have a can of Doctor Pepper in the evenings which is about 15% more calories than coca cola. Other than that I just have water and tea.