now that i dont drink alchohol and obviously my diet is clean i do tend to drink a lot of diet drinks like diet coke and coke zero as a treat (sad i know). Just wondering how unhealthy these actually are-should these really be removed if i am serious. Also I dont use it as a substitute for my water in take.

Thanks

Varying opinions on this. For me, I drink loads of them, and use them to replace water if I can't be bothered going to the tap (the fridge is closer). Has no ill effects on me.


To balance
"Can diet soda make me fat?

We already know about the link between soda drinking and obesity. But diet soda? Yup. Two years ago, a study at the University of Texas Health Science Center found that there was a 41% increase in the risk for being overweight for every single can of diet soda a person consumed daily.

And brand new research published July 31 in the medical journal Circulation shows that people who drink more than one soda a day- whether it's regular or diet- have an almost 50% increased risk for metabolic syndrome, which doubles their risk for heart disease and diabetes.

But how can something with no calories increase the risk for obesity and heart disease?

There are several possible ways.

* First the obesity connection. My own theory is that the sweet taste works in the brain to create a conditioned response, and the body responds as it usually does to normal sugar- with insulin, the fat storing hormone. Those circuits in the brain are pretty primitive and ancient, and they can't immediately distinguish chemical fakery- as far as your brain is concerned, sweet means sugar. It's entirely possible that physiologically, you would respond to aspartame in the same way as you would to table sugar. It's only a theory, but it makes sense.

* Second, sugar creates it's own cravings. Just as a taste of rum creates an unstoppable craving in an alcoholic, it's entirely possible that the taste of sweet- even if it's fake- creates the same cascade of cravings in a carb addict that regular sugar does, leading to overeating and binging and all the rest of the reasons people put on weight.

* Third, many people think that by drinking diet beverages they're "saving" calories and they subconsciously allow themselves to eat more, figuring it's not doing as much harm because overall their meal has less calories since they're drinking a diet drink. The diet drink gives them subconscious "permission" to eat more. This isn't conscious, but it's totally real.

* Then there's the heart disease connection. Aspartame is primarily made from three ingredients- aspartic acid, phenylalanine and methanol. Methanol- an alcohol- breaks down in the body to formaldehyde, a poison if there ever was one. Apologists for aspartame say that it doesn't create enough formaldehyde in the body to make a difference or cause any damage, but I'm not so sure. Exposing children to formaldehyde levels as low as .75 mg daily for several months has been shown to cause gradual toxicity. Plus, diet soda is frequently stored in hot warehouses, causing breakdown that went undetected in the original safety studies that looked at "ideal" conditions.


The bottom line: Soda is bad news, whether regular or diet. Period"

Point 4 is bollox, but the rest may be true. Interesting read anyway

"Facts are meaningless. You could use facts to prove anything that's even remotely true."

I think in moderation they are fine. I don't drink that much myself, maybe 2 or 3 cans of pepsi max a week.

My Story
Female Member of The Year '07!

i just drink sugar free squash / cordials

I drink around 2-4litres of it a day, am i worried? No, only about my teeth and the acid that may be damaging me somehow.
Hell i take tonnes of sweetners, im screwed.

Its in everything, squash... To mouthwash

My posts are all my opinion and based on current knowledge/understanding.

The sainsburys ones don't contain any aspartame, they use sucrolose - are these okay because I'm drinking a few of them a day?

I went for ages without drinking anything but water, for the past few months i've drunk between 2/4 litres of diet drinks a day.. can't say i've noticed a difference