SubscribeThe Food and Drug Administration (FDA) calls aspartame, sucralose and acesulfame potassium safe. They may be safe in small quantities but consider portion sizes. A portion is 8 ounces and you usually get 1 to 2 portions per day. How many soda drinkers drink 16 ounces of soda per day? Diet soda has a negative image these days. I did a Google search for “diet+soda” (see below for complete list). The top 15 items were mostly negative. 11 of the top 15 items were negative. I am not sure if the chemicals in diet soda are harmful by themselves but I would rather have the sugar over the chemicals. I don’t think soda is harmful if you drink less than 3 gallons per year.
1. Aspartame Facts – familydoctor.org?
2. News for diet soda
3. Sugar Crush: Why Diet Soda Sales Have Crashed
4. Artificial sweetener aspartame is safe in diet soda, European review says
5. Beer, Diet Soda Sales in Mystery Decline
6. Diet soda – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
7. 7 side effects of drinking diet soda – Health – MSN Healthy Living
8. Diet Soda Doesn’t Help You Lose Weight | TIME.com
9. Diet Soda Sales Lose Their Fizz | Video – ABC News
10. Does Diet Soda Really Cause Weight Gain? What Experts Say
11. Diet soda: Is it bad for you? – MayoClinic.com
12. New study is wake-up call for diet soda drinkers – CBS News
13. Images for diet soda
14. Diet soda news, articles and information: – Natural News
15. Diet Coke: Home
There are concerns and studies showing a correlation between diet soda and obesity, diabetes and heart disease. The Internet has amplified fears. Sometimes the raising the alarm is a good thing and sometimes it is fear mongering for attention. I do my best to eat and drink organic products but I am healthy and I can afford organic food.
The stevia plant is the current sweetener of choice by the diet fad gurus. Stevia is regulated by the FDA under “Generally Recognized as Safe” (GRAS) which means the rules of approval bypassed the FDA under the GRAS rules. Hmmm, we went from aspartame that was approved by the FDA to stevia that was not approved but is used under the GRAS provision. I can’t say which is better. I can say that if you have to choose between the two, moderation may be the best choice.
I am a regular reader of Slashdot. They were recently bashing diet pills that are approved by the FDA. I am a believer in things that are approved by the FDA. Congress and big business may push laws through that affect the FDA but I think the FDA does the best they can to look out for our safety and well-being. The diet pills are called Qsymia and Belviq and must be prescribed by a doctor. If that is what it takes to get you started, by all means, go visit your doctor and ask for a prescription and a weight loss program. Going from a dormant lifestyle to a healthy one has to start someplace. If it takes a pill to get you started, take that pill and get started on your way to good health. I am sure your doctor will want you to move to natural alternatives as soon as possible anyway. The cynical people will tell me the doctors want to make money by selling prescriptions but I think it is the patients that want to take a pill to solve their problems.
Don’t take my word for this. Read as much as you can to make informed decisions. It seems like life is a pendulum. If you are extreme in any one thing, you seem to swing the other way and be extreme again in something else. Do the Google search for diet soda and read the links. I am singling out diet coke because they made the list. Contact diet coke and ask them about healthy soda drinking habits. I bet they will give you good answers. They don’t want you to die; they want you to buy soda.
Research and moderation is key. Get started. There is no time like the present.
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