I think I’ll pretend I didn’t see the following story until another group of experts announces that the exact opposite is true:
"People who drink diet soft drinks don’t lose weight. In fact, they gain weight, a new study shows.
"The findings come from eight years of data collected by Sharon P. Fowler, MPH, and colleagues at the University of Texas Health Science Center, San Antonio. Fowler reported the data at the annual meeting of the American Diabetes Association in San Diego.
"’What didn’t surprise us was that total soft drink use was linked to overweight and obesity,’ Fowler tells WebMD. ‘What was surprising was when we looked at people only drinking diet soft drinks, their risk of obesity was even higher.’"
(Nod to the friend who sent me the link.)
Of course, this kind of thing is probably why the diet-soft-drink industry chooses advertising slogans such as "Just for the taste of it."
JIMMY ADDS: Actually, there are a couple of theories I’m aware of that may explain this. The first is that most folks who drink diet cokes think that they are saving more calories than they actually are and thus give themselves liberty for too much extra calorie intake, resulting in more net calories (e.g., "I didn’t drink that 180 calorie glass of Coke–I had Diet Coke instead–so it’s okay if I eat this 300 calorie piece of cake").
Another theory that may play a role is that most artificial sweeteners still have a very high glycemic index–higher even than sugar–and this may result in your brain thinking that you’ve just drunk a whole mess of sugar. The brain then gets ready to digest sugar and causes the insulin spike that inhibits weight loss.
My own conjecture is that the former conjecture may play a larger role than the latter. I lost a great deal of weight over a long period of time while drinking diet coke the whole time. The diff was that I had cut out almost all carbohydrates out of my diet and so wasn’t giving my body much to generate an insulin spike, even if the Nutrasweet in the diet coke was giving me a bit of one.
It’s kinda funny (to me anyway) that McDonald’s (et al) sells diet soft drinks…
“I’ll take a Big Mac, Large fry (super size)… and oh yea… a diet coke.”
Well, it does help cut down calories–there’s no denying that. So if I want my monthly Filet O’ Fish fix (without cheese! Cheese on fish is yucky anyway!), then sure, I’ll go for the diet cola (albeit a small one–just enough to help wash it down.) 😉
Cola of any sort isn’t health food, tho. I’d keep them down to one or two servings a day, if one drinks it at all. (Actually, one typical can is about two servings).
I have to say that I am not a big fan of diet drinks. To each his own…
I have never consumed diet sodas because it just doesn’t seem like a good idea – for the most part I simply order water where ever I go.
Now I have seen a study which seems to indicate that rats which consume diet sodas will loose their ability to feel full after consuming regular sugar, thereby eating more. I couldn’t find the original study, but here is a reference to it.
Take a look at this:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,159579,00.html
>>>
Fowler points to a recent study in which feeding artificial sweeteners to rat pups made them crave more calories than
animals fed real sugar.
“If you offer your body something that tastes like a lot of calories, but it isn’t there, your body is alerted to the possibility that there is something there and it will search for the calories promised but not delivered,” Fowler says.
Perhaps, Bonci says, our bodies are smarter than we think.
“People think they can just fool the body. But maybe the body isn’t fooled,” she says. “If you are not giving your body those calories you promised it, maybe your body will retaliate by wanting more calories. Some soft drink studies do suggest that diet drinks stimulate appetite.”
<<< I also found this link http://lowcarbdiets.about.com/od/advicecolumn/a/sweeteners.htm
I once switched from diet sodas to regular. I made no other changes in my diet.
I lost ten pounds.
Needless to say, I’ve never gone back to diet sodas.
Of course, that could just be my metabolism, which is already a bit strange (can’t absorb Tylenol).
I know of all sorts of folks who’ll get a hurkin’ big taco salad or hamburger for lunch & a diet soft drink. And then they complain how they can’t seem to lose weight! Always thought it was silly. Moderation is the key. Lurker mentioned a monthly Filet O’ Fish & I had to laugh ‘cos I do the same thing! But I eat healthfully (most) of the rest of the time.
Slightly OT . . . has anyone seen that commercial showing the construction workers that has the voiceover saying “Some guys eat 5 hamburgers a week . . .”? Sheesh, man! It should say, “Some guys are just askin’ for heart disease!”
The jury may be out on diet sodas, but regular (full sugar) sodas are definitely one of the most unhealthy things you can put in your body on a regular basis.
I would lay odds that losing weight after switching to regular sodas (like Kay Cee relates) would have to be the result of other factors. A coincidence, a fluke, whatever you would like to call it.
That’s the problem with anecdotal evidence.
More anecdotal evidence:
I switched my daily Super Big Gulp(tm) from regular pop to diet. Everything else stayed the same. I started loosing weight (oddly enough – I lost 1 lbs a week, which when you determine the number of calories in 44 oz of Coke vs. Diet Coke is almost exactly right on).
I later changed my diet even more to loose more weight, but I’ve kept up the diet pop. However, my wife has said that the carbonation inhibits vitamin up-take (she studied biology and biochemistry in school).
My lovely wife switched to diet drinks and splenda in her tea at the beginning of the year or thereabouts. She had already been doing Weight Watchers meal bars and Lean Cuisine meals. No real changes except the diet drinks and probably fewer LC meals.
Lost 30 pounds (or more) so far.
We are both quite pleased… 🙂
Except she keeps buying new clothes! This getting thin thing is costing a fortune as she has moved from size 12 to right at a size 6.
“Except she keeps buying new clothes! This getting thin thing is costing a fortune as she has moved from size 12 to right at a size 6.”
Tim, if your wife doesn’t mind the look of loose clothing, I’ve found that it’s not necessary to buy new clothes yet even though I’ve had a similar amount of weight lost to date. Eventually I’ll have to, of course, but I plan to use safety pins and promote the “baggy”-look as a hot fashion trend as long as possible. On the other hand, new clothes to show off the weight loss is the reward of sticking to the diet. 🙂
One suggestion: I’ve read that it’s a good idea to toss out one’s “fat” clothes as soon as they are officially deemed to “no longer fit.” That way it becomes an expensive prospect to put back on the weight.
anyone who loses that kind of weight deserves a new wardrobe!
Way to go, Tim Johnson’s wife!
Aspartame in “diet” soda is converted into methyl alcohol (rubbing alcohol) by the workings of the liver. Which is why anything with Equal or aspartame is toxic to the body and shouldn’t be taken into the body. Stick to water with lemon or green tea.
Medical statements made in blog comments have not been verified by the FDA.
Just so ya know. 🙂
Umm, yeah. Aspartame can convert partly to methyl alchohol (wood alcohol) when over-heated. Never cook with the stuff, never leave diet pop in a hot vehicle in the summer, especially in Iraq.
But the liver? Where’d that factoid come from?
I lost 20 lbs when I switched to diet pop from corn syrup pop.
It seems I was wrong about aspartame being converted into methyl alcohol by the liver.
“The sweetening agent aspartame hydrolyzes in the GASTROINTESTINAL TRACT to become free METHYL ALCOHOL, which is the metabolized in the LIVER to formaldehyde, formic acid, and CO2.” (Medinsky & Dorman 1994, p88)
(Caps my emphasis.)
By the way formaldehyde is one of the components of embalming fluid and formic acid is the toxic component of an ant’s sting.
Other references: Monte WC. Aspartame: Methyl alcohol and the Public Health. Journal of Applied Nutrition 1984; 36:42-54
Stegnik ID, Filer LJ Jr. Aspartame: Physiology and Biochemistry. New York, Marcel Dekker, Inc. 1984
Thrasher JF, Broughton A, Micevich P. Antibodies and immune profiles of individuals occupationally exposed to formaldehyde. Six case reports. American Journal of Industrial Medicine 1988; 14:479-488
If you need more, e-mail me.
Dr. Eric,
Thanks for the links. I am an inveterate skeptic when it comes to seemingly alarmist claims. Remember the Alar scare?
You are correct that aspartame is converted to methanol in the digestive tract and that this, in turn, is metabolized into formaldehyde and CO2. These are cumulative toxins and their long term effects on humans are not known.
In all fairness however, this is also true of fruits, vegetables, red wine & liquors. The “hangover” associated with heavy drinking is probably linked to the metabolization of methanol.
I wouldn’t call diet sodas a health crisis at this point. Saying that aspartame is “toxic to the body” is a little misleading. We would have to eliminate fruits and vegetables from our diets also, by that logic, not to mention whiskey. I canna do it, Captain!!
The ethatnol in wine/whiskey etc. prevents the conversion of the methanol into formaldehyde (Leaf 1952, Liesivouri 1991, Roe 1982.)
“Aspartame is made of phenylalanine (50% by weight) and aspartic acid (39%), both ordinary amino acids, bound loosely together by methanol (wood alcohol 11%.) Similar amounts of methanol in many fruits and vegetables, LOCKED UP IN COMPLEX PECTIN MOLECULES, and always paired with ethanol ITS NATURAL ANTIDOTE, are not usually released by human digestion and so are HARMLESS.
But the readily released methanol from aspartame is within hours largely turned by the liver into formaldehyde and then formic acid, both potent, cumulative toxins.
“Red wine contains twice as much methanol as does diet soda as an impurity, about one part in ten thousand. It is the natural conversion by the body of this methanol into formaldehyde and formic acid that is the main cause of the well known ‘morning after’ hangover symptoms: headache, nausea, weakness, impaired memory, irritability, anxiety, ‘brain fog’, body pains–the same symptoms as aspatame victims.”
(Caps my emphasis.) Jones AW. Elimination half-life of methanol during hangover. Pharmacol Toxicol. 1987 Mar; 60(3): 217-20.
The other thing is that God made fruits and vegetables in their natural state to be eaten at a certain time of year (in season) and one will never get toxic (except in rare cases of food allergies or sensitivites) from eating them. The commonly known (and seldomly followed) 5 servings a day of fruits and vegetables will not cause any adverse effects (except in the previous caveat.) Plus eating these in a balanced diet will not cause weight gain and will control food/sugar cravings. The problem is that most of us have been conditioned to get sweets for a reward and develop a psychological addiction to them (ie. comfort foods [including carbs which are complex sugars.])
I might also add that folate (folic acid) in vegetables and fruits helps humans eliminate toxic products from methanol. Ian Calder, FRCA. Hangovers: not the ethanol–perhaps the methanol.BMJ 1997 Jan 4; 314(7073)
Dr. Eric-
Thanks! While I am not sure we should be freaking out over aspartame, I agree that it is a concern.
Question: is Splenda any better?
Aspartame is poison, period. Diabetics who ingest it are **more likely** to go blind.
What people don’t know is that aspartame was originally invented by the Unites States government as a bio-chemical warfare agent.
Hmmmm. Now it is a “safe” food additive?
I use Stevia extract. This is a herbal sweetner that the artificial sweetner companies successfully demonized. It is 600 times sweeter than sugar, and it is safe.
All of the diet foods in Japan contain Stevia. There is no such thing as aspartame there.
Kara PLEEEEze-
This is the kind of alarmist tone that just is not helpful. If aspartame is poison, then I have been drinking poison since the early eighties with no ill effects.
Of course, there is this third arm that has started to grow…
The jury is still out on Splenda. Some of my patients have been complaining of stomach and mouth ulcers since using Splenda. As for Stevia, it is a wonderful product, all natural. If you need the sugar fix drink it in tea form. You can get Stevia tea from http://www.liferising.com from Dr. Guo. The Guo family has been practicing medicine (TCM and later western/TCM blend) for over 7 generations (that’s longer than there’s been an America!!!) He also has sugar balance cookies that curb sugar cravings and tender green tea (freshly cut before the leaves mature) which also help with weight gain.
From scanning various websites (MDs, DOs, nutritionists) it seems that Splenda is chlorinated sugar (chlorine will KILL YOU!) Splenda’s own company has run tests showing that Splenda causes reduced Thymus glands and enlarged livers and kidneys. 27% of the Splenda you eat is absorbed into the body and no one knows how having a chlorocarbon in ones body will affect ones health.
My family and I will not ingest Aspartame or Sucralose or Xylitol, period.
Tim J. sez: “What people don’t know is that aspartame was originally invented by the Unites States government as a bio-chemical warfare agent.” Well, my sister-in-law (who always speaks as if she knows) sez it was invented as an ANT POISON. (Probably an urban legend garbled out of the “formic acid” reference.)
Sorry, I misattributed that quote to Tim j. It was actually KaraLynn.
Diet Soda Dilemma good article on soft drink that true soft drink give u fatness but alcoholic drink bring you week because alcohol is very dangerous for health specailly for lever
diet soda dilemma nice article can u tell me that diet wine came or not because i search lot but i can’t find it one site its says that red wine has low sugar either than white wine
My life’s been pretty dull these days. Such is life. I’ve basically been doing nothing.
Males should be allowed to go shirtless at home only – Or vary with places for another persuasive speech topic
I’ve just been letting everything wash over me. I’ve pretty much been doing nothing. I’ve just been sitting around not getting anything done.
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Jimmy
The above comments from 2007 all appear to be spam/advertising.
– the real Leo
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hey just throwin this outthere. I learened in my chemistry class that the sweetener or some component in diet sodas turn into something that very closely resembles formaldahyde at 105 degrees faranheit.