Friday, 10 July 2009
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Can People Stop Mentioning Cancer When I Drink Diet Soda?
Cancer is never a good thing to throw around lightly. Even when people are serious, though, I still don't like telling people I prefer diet soda to regular and then having them say, "Yeah, but that stuff will give you cancer."
I'm not so naïve as to think companies wouldn't market something that could be harmful to your health. I mean, hello, we have cigarettes in this world. Still, they come with a warning label on the package. Moreover, the FDA and others have independently researched the effects of aspartame (artificial sweetner) extensively. According to trusty Wikipedia, a safety report in 2007 concluded aspartame "is safe at current levels of consumption as a non-nutritive sweetner." Of course, some doubt the viability of the government-endorsed research.
A lot of this controversy about aspartame and diet soda stems from older studies on the effects of aspartame on rats. While apparently no report has been substantial enough to warrant restrictions on the compound's consumption, some scientists suggest there should be more research into possible links between aspartame and brain tumors and lymphoma.
Then again, other foods also have traces of carcinogenic substances that must be monitored for safe levels of toxins. Peanut butter, for one, is often "contaminated" with traces of aflatoxin, a by-product of a mold that affects the peanut plant. Combine that with the fact peanut butter is pretty fattening, and you may think twice before spreading Skippy on your jelly and bread.
What do you make of the "diet soda gives you cancer" debate? Are possible links between aspartame and cancer enough to make you stay away from diet drinks?
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- From: awinnerisyou@hardestlevel
- Name: Joe Justice
- About Me: I will meditate and then destroy you.
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Comments (83)
People tells me all the time aspartame is bad
But isnt coke in general is "unhealthy" - even their vitamin water
so if i were to pick between coke and diet coke - i'll go for the diet coke
haha
i find sugar substitutes kind of addicting
i guess that' bad
well I don't really like the taste that aspartame or any other sweetener gives off. i think its really nasty. but i wouldn't really stay away from diet stuff despite the cancer stuff if the sweeteners tasted better. and i don't drink soda anymore unless there's nothing else.
It's my body and I intend to destroy it however I please. Throw some whiskey in that Diet Coke!
Wha eva! I do wha I want!
@TrishaJustTrisha@xanga - I agree. Cancer is inescapable these days. Based on our enviroment and food/water ingredients, it will get you if something else doesn't first.
I hate diet coke and any sugar substitutes. taste like crap to me.
Everything gives you cancer these days...
I don't think most people drink it enough to develop cancer from it.
People shouldn't drink too much soda anyways it's not good for you, diet or not.
In whatever perspective you look at it, diet soda or soda in general has no beneficial values other than satisfying our taste buds. We all complain that regular soda causes us to be fat, so we switch to diet soda. What's the use? You're still consuming sugar regardless. As for the cancer theory in diet soda, I am still unsure about that. But many studies have shown that soda has no health benefits similar to what laytexduckie and xplodinglastbullet reported. Also, if you still want a full mouth of teeth by the time you're 70, I would suggest taking in less soda. Studies have also shown that soda deteriorates teeth's enamel. Hence, the squeeky feeling on our teeth after we finished a "nice" can of soda.
H2O all the way :D.
I always tell people that I know a billion things that cause cancer and only two that cause diabetes... sugar and your genetics.
THANK YOU for writing this!!!!!!
I'm a diet soda junkie. I'm not too worried about it giving me cancer. However, I am a little concerned about my yellowing teeth...
yes, Diet Coke is unhealthy....says the person smoking a cig, dropping G'z Up, with their egg roll in hand.
For some reason, I just can't stand the taste of regular coke. it actually makes me sick....
if you really think about it, two of those in a can is almost like eating a medium order of fries. and we've seen some people drink more than that in one sitting.
it's disgusting
tbh, cancer is something no one can control, you can be that person that smokes 80 cigerettes a day and not get cancer or any other problems, or you could be that unlucky one that does smoke and get cancer..no body really knows the actual causes of cancer because everyone has it in them its just whether or not it actually arises. everything can get cancer even plants, yes i agree that obviously most skin cancers can be cause by the sun etc, but diet coke? really taking it a bit to far now, ...
yes i may sound like an idiot or harsh, but having someone close to you in your family suffer from cancer, that is perfectly healthy gives you a different perspective on it.
I though it was saccharine that caused cancer in rats. It has been shown that it doesn't cause cancer in people, though.
In any case, I'm allergic to aspartame, and diet drinks with saccharine are rare, and I really don't care, so I stick with the sugar and the high fructose corn syrup.
It's not that I don't drink carbonated beverages because "it will give me cancer." It's because I can't stand the taste of artificial sugars. Sucralose I can tolerate, but Ace-K and Aspartame have got to go.
it is unsettling that there have been studies on rats that say that
but yes, i wish people would stop telling me that i will get cancer from my diet soda. it sure beats getting fat off sugar. i have been drinking Zero for so long now i don't like the taste of normal coke. people complain Zero has after taste, but now i think normal coke has aftertaste because of the sugar in your mouth starting to break down in the saliva, which is a problem that diet sodas don't have.
just like smoking, if i choose to drink it, let me be. at least there is no second hand smoke from diet soda, so stop heckling me already
all hail diet sodas!!
I hardly ever drink soda but when I do its always a diet brand. Ontop of that anything that needs to be sweetened i will poor splenda in it! Can give me cancer? So can that asshole up the block smoking down wind. lots of things cause cancer...There are NO proven connections to cancer and artificial sweetners so i will use it all I want!
@laytexduckie@xanga - What study is this?
@QuantumStorm@xanga - http://www.comcast.net/news/badeaupov/635/toomuchcolacanleadtoparalysis/
The study was done by the International Journal of Clinical Practice by Dr. Moses Elisaf.
@laytexduckie@xanga - The article notes a single case where a farmer drank 4-10 liters on a daily basis as the reason he exhibited muscle paralysis (assuming no other medical factors played into the situation). That's hardly surprising that drinking in excess would cause health problems, but how many people do you know drink 4-10 liters (1-3 gallons roughly) of soda on a daily basis? Just drinking several liters of WATER is enough to kill someone with hyper-hydration, and there are far more numerous cases of hyper-hydration deaths... but we do not avoid water just because of that.
Moderation is the key, don't you agree?
Come on, stop kidding yourself. I'm a nutrition major & I absolutely LOVE questioning my professors about these kinds of things...they always get so flustered whenever I bring up research that doesn't agree with what the FDA tells us or what the food pyramid supports. They may tell us that it's safe in small amounts, but do you really want to put something artificial into your body? I don't see aspartame growing out of fields with the daisies. If we aren't meant to consume something, I don't think we should, & this also goes for cosmetics like lotions, soaps, etc that can have 100+ ingredients.
Your liver has to filter all this crap out, because it's still foreign to the body. When the liver becomes too overloaded with artificials, heavy metals, etc., they begin to spill over into the rest of the body. This is when disease begins. Tumors for example, are the body's way of trying to enclose toxins. As you get more & more overloaded, more & more tumors form (taking the form of cancer). Scientists who have biopsied tumors have found traces of heavy metals, like gold & aluminum & other toxins in them (read Surviving the Toxic Crisis). Not everyone gets cancer obviously, but depending on your genetics your body manifests disease in different ways. MS is another "man-made" disease...I've read many case studies when people with MS have had their symptoms disappear completely when they stopped eating aspartame.
One thing that bothers me is when people who are sick keep complaining that nothing is working, yet they refuse to try any remedies outside of Western medicine (aka pills). Your doctor is not God...many times they get little to no training in the areas of nutrition or toxicity...not to mention pharmacists know more about drug interactions than they do.
In my opinion, if you are going to drink soda at all, real sugar is best. Because artificial sugar tricks your body into thinking it's real it actually makes you crave carbs more...in the long run it can make you gain more weight than real soda. No soda is best though. Once you go off soda for a few weeks, it starts to taste really disgusting when you drink it again anyway. I haven't had it for months & can't stand the stuff anymore..all I can drink now is water.i think i've only drinked one diet soda.. i think that if you drink or eat anything too much is always bad for you..
if you put a steak bone in coke itll disolve in two days.
@QuantumStorm@xanga - I do agree and yes I do know that you would have to drink that much to get just a little bit of the muscle break down. But overall, when I stopped drinking a soda for the first time a while back, I noticed that I got less headaches. So of course, we should keep it in moderation. :)
@xplodinglastbullet@xanga - exactly, but the fact that they put high fructose corn syrup in nearly everything, thats not organic or all natural, it's hard to consume it only in moderation if you really think about it.