27-08-2005 19:46									#1
	Diet soda is hazardous to your health?? Get a bigger avatar today!

Someone has recently told me that diet soda is even worse for your health than regular soda, because there is an ingredient in diet soda, that if you drink it regularly over period of time, you could get cancer.


I drink a 20 oz bottle of diet soda three to four times a week. If I drink it this often, say over a period of decades, this means I'm at risk of getting cancer?

	27-08-2005 19:48									#2
	Full PM-box? Change here!

yes

artificial sweeteners cause cancer in lab rats

but then again, it's probably in REALLY high quantities

I never understood the point of diet soda... it tastes like ****... might as well just drink water

	27-08-2005 19:48									#3
	Support Apolyton or Terrorists Win

Living over a period of decades puts you at risk of getting cancer.

But yes, saccharine is well known for causing cancer in the lab. I'm not sure, but I think Splenda does too.

	27-08-2005 20:42									#4
	Support Apolyton, buy Civilization III: Complete

Yea, it's the aspartame that's dangerous.

	27-08-2005 21:23									#5
	Get a bigger avatar today!

Artificial sweeteners give you a sweet tooth, too - not a good idea if you want to lose weight. Drink water instead.

	27-08-2005 21:50									#6
	Get a bigger avatar today!

I have never heard aspartame is a carcinogen. However one theory I heard is it breaks down under high temperature (something around 40°C) it breaks down and forms a chemical that causes brain damage.

	27-08-2005 22:05									#7
	Remove this text

quote: Originally posted by Sava yes artificial sweeteners cause cancer in lab rats but then again, it's probably in REALLY high quantities I never understood the point of diet soda... it tastes like ****... might as well just drink water

Maybe its the fack that regular sodas on average (per 12 oz) contain around 32 to 40 grams of sugar. It is one of the leading causes of obesity and can lead to diabetes. So if you love the taste of soda and are overweight sometimes the only option is to drink diet. I'm not even close to overweight and I drink diet. Ingesting that much sugar when there are better options is not exactly the best thing to do. Diet soda has 0 calories and 0 grams of sugar. While Diet soda is still not exactly healthy by any means its still far better than regular. I would recommend just getting used to water, though.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dy...-2004Aug24.html

	27-08-2005 22:25									#8
	Support Apolyton, buy GURPS/ Alpha Centauri

There's no conclusive evidence that artificial sweeteners on the market today are harmful to people. A lot of environuts like to bash them, though.

	27-08-2005 22:38									#9
	Support Apolyton, buy Civilization 2

quote: Originally posted by mitch Maybe its the fack that regular sodas on average (per 12 oz) contain around 32 to 40 grams of sugar. It is one of the leading causes of obesity and can lead to diabetes. So if you love the taste of soda and are overweight sometimes the only option is to drink diet. I'm not even close to overweight and I drink diet. Ingesting that much sugar when there are better options is not exactly the best thing to do. Diet soda has 0 calories and 0 grams of sugar. While Diet soda is still not exactly healthy by any means its still far better than regular. I would recommend just getting used to water, though. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dy...-2004Aug24.html

	28-08-2005 00:15									#10
	Support Apolyton

great -- contradictory claims between Zopperonia and Boris

	28-08-2005 00:20									#11
	Support Apolyton, pre-order Civilization IV

I'm with Boris. There is nothing conclusive that artificial sweetners, whether aspartame or splenda are harmful. There is speculation and theories, but none have been proved.

	28-08-2005 00:29									#12
	Avatar Enlargement: We've got the solution

So the results in lab rats are not conclusive, Imran?

	28-08-2005 00:30									#13
	Increase Your PM Length

From the wiki article linked above:

quote: A large body of scientific evidence suggests that aspartame, even in amounts many times greater than typical consumption, is safe and not associated with adverse health effects. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has investigated claims of ill effects since 1982 and maintains that there is no reasonable evidence of possible public health harm and no consistent or unique patterns of symptoms reported with respect to aspartame that can be causally linked to its use. [8] The American Cancer Society argues that since aspartame is broken down into these components before it is absorbed into the blood stream, aspartame in its initial form does not have the opportunity to travel to target organs, including the brain, to cause cancer [9]. The American Heart Association concludes that extensive investigation so far hasn't shown any serious side effects from aspartame. [10] Scientists at the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology believe that even daily large doses of the high-intensity sweetener aspartame, also known as NutraSweet, had no adverse effect on study subjects' health and well-being[11] The National Cancer Institute argues there is no evidence that the regulated artificial sweeteners on the market in the United States are related to cancer risk in humans.[12]

	28-08-2005 00:32									#14
	Support Apolyton, buy Alpha Centauri

Ok, Imran, from that article then, we can conclude that only lab rats given aspartme are prone to cancer, but has no effect on humans?

	28-08-2005 00:32									#15
	Got spare money?

Saccharine was thought to be a carcinagin, but a review of the studies discovered that the rats used in the studies had a predisposition to cancer. Saccharine is now considered non-harmful. It is 300 to 500 times sweeter than sugar.

Aspartame is made by combining two amino acids we normally eat, but they are linked by a molecule of methyl alcohol. However, fruit contains several orders of magnitude more methanol than what you would drink in one soda. The methanol is insignificant as a risk factor. Aspartame is 200 times sweeter than sugar.

Sucralose is 600 times sweeter than sugar and is made from a modified sugar molecule. The usual suspects are out and about disparging sucralose, but I don't credit them with saying anything intelligent.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sugar_substitute

	28-08-2005 00:33									#16
	Avatar Enlargement: We've got the solution

Well, FWIW, the article doesn't say that.

	28-08-2005 00:36									#17
	Increase the size of your Attachments

I'm looking forward to Nutrasweet's Neotame. It's 8,000 to 13,000 times sweeter than sugar.

	28-08-2005 00:38									#18
	Suffering from ads?

Mmmmm, sugar of lead.

	28-08-2005 00:56									#19
	Support Apolyton buy from Amazon

aspartemene is not hazardous. My aunt just sent one of those annoying chain emails saying it is. But I had to send her the snopes.com page on it and show her there is no scientific evidence saying aspartamene is dangerous.

	28-08-2005 02:00									#20
	Re: Diet soda is hazardous to your health?? Support Apolyton buy from Amazon

quote: Originally posted by MrFun I drink a 20 oz bottle of diet soda three to four times a week.

I drink that much everyday, and I'm still....arrrrggggh.

	28-08-2005 03:00									#21
	Put an end to popups!

The thing that's bad about diet soda is that it can be unhelpful in losing weight, despite the lack of calories. Apparently artificial sweeteners "trick" the body into thinking that sugars are coming into the system, so it gears up to process them, but then they don't actually come, and the body gets an increased craving for sugars as a result.

It's best just to drink water anyway.

	28-08-2005 04:05									#22
	Support Apolyton, buy Alpha Centauri

quote: Originally posted by Boris Godunov There's no conclusive evidence that artificial sweeteners on the market today are harmful to people. A lot of environuts like to bash them, though.

Enviro-nuts bash anything that doesn't consist of living in a one-room shack without electricity and being a Vegan.

Splenda:

	28-08-2005 04:16									#23
	Avatar Enlargement: We've got the solution

quote: Originally posted by Dis aspartemene is not hazardous. My aunt just sent one of those annoying chain emails saying it is. But I had to send her the snopes.com page on it and show her there is no scientific evidence saying aspartamene is dangerous.

Care to post the link?

My understanding was that aspartane turns toxic under high temperatures and may have been a cause of Gulf War syndrome.

	28-08-2005 04:27									#24
	Support Apolyton, buy Call to Power 2

gulf war syndrome . I have heard that sarin is the suspected cause of that. not diet soda.

	28-08-2005 04:27									#25
	Lose 30 kilos (of popups)

quote: Originally posted by Smiley Care to post the link? My understanding was that aspartane turns toxic under high temperatures and may have been a cause of Gulf War syndrome.

http://www.snopes.com/toxins/aspartame.asp

http://www.acsh.org/healthissues/ne...ssue_detail.asp

	28-08-2005 04:29									#26
	Avatar Enlargement: We've got the solution

I think that the acidic crap in high volumes going down the pipe has the potential to create more gastreointenstinal damage, which is more of a risk, than the artificial sweeteners have on the body itself.

	28-08-2005 04:38									#27
	Tired of ads?

*snicker* Gulf War syndrome!! I wonder if people who postulated that realize that a LLLLLOOOOTTT of people drink Coke, even in the ME.

	28-08-2005 04:41									#28
	Inflate your Upload Space

quote: Originally posted by Imran Siddiqui *snicker* Gulf War syndrome!! I wonder if people who postulated that realize that a LLLLLOOOOTTT of people drink Coke, even in the ME.

The story behind it was that soldiers left the diet soda in the back of a jeep or tank, where it was heated to really high temperatures for a long period of time. Subsequently it was re-chilled and then consumed.

	28-08-2005 05:01									#29
	Full PM-box? Change here!

One other thing to mention about diet drinks is that even though your body doesn't process the energy, I think things like yeast or athelete's foot can still process the artificial sugar as an energy source.

	28-08-2005 05:07									#30
	Support Apolyton, buy Galactic Civilizations: Deluxe Edition

Diet drinks should be compulsory for dieting