Is Diet Coke really bad for you?

[chrisdhal]

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If you put a bottle cap in a glass of diet Coke overnight it will dissolve. There will be nothing left. True story.

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As noted, BS. See Snopes.

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On a related note, I bought a 2L bottle of wine tonight for $5. Instead of first unwrapping the top, I put the cork screw right through the wrapping and screwed right through the cap. $5 wine is not corked, it is capped. I know that now.

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Screw tops actually do a better job of keeping air out than corks. The only reason higher end wines don't have screw tops is because people think only cheap ones have them. There are some, however, that are starting to switch.

Oh, and if DC were bad for me I'm sure I'd be very dead by now. I drink a lot of water (at least 64oz a day), but I also drink a ton of DC. It's like crack and the Splenda version is even better.

[mmmmmbrother]

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Sorry for not getting back to you with my symptoms.

First of all...I have spinal stenosis. Those symptoms are lower back pain, numbness after standing for
a while and neck pain. Occasional hand tingling.....really no big problem.

But here were my ASPARTME symptoms: ALL MS / ALS symptoms!!!!

1. Muscle twitching@!!
2. Dizziness (not related to sinus pressure)
3. Feeling like I was in a psychedelic scene of a bad horror movie
4. Problems swallowing...very scary!!!!
5. Muscle contractions that made my whole body contract!!!!
6. Hoarse throat
7. Sporadic finger twitching

When my spine doctor tested my strength he said I was "a bull", which was a good sign against
neuro-muscular disease....he asked my about Diet Coke and I had been consuming high amounts.
I stopped and my symptoms disappeared in two weeks. I still want to sue Diet Coke for the scariest
two weeks of my life!


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oh there's more

[ChoicestHops]

Im not for sure what the deal with aspartame is, but it's in everything from gum to diet drinks. Ive never had any problems with it.

When I was a kid I remember being at church and everyone would drink tea during the Wednesday night deal, and the pink Sweet and Low sugar packet's had the red warning label on the back saying "aspartame is proven to cause cancer in lab rats" or something. I couldn't understand why anyone would drink it with that warning.

[ChipWrecked]

Yes, if you drank 1500 glasses of tea a day you might have yourself a problem there. That's about what they were giving the rats.

[bishopstrt]

I can't tell you how many dumb women I know who drink diet coke and reach for those sweet and low sugar packs at restaurants like they can't control their weight any other way. I mean how many calories could be in one teaspoon of real sugar?

[trying2learn]

i don't know about the bottle cap story, but this IS true -

if you have berilium copper golf clubs (ping made them in the late 80's/early 90's) and you set them in a bucket of diet coke for a couple hours, you will get all of the corrosion off, and clean them up shiney and new without almost any scrubbing whatsoever. it's some powerful stuff.

[Cosimo]

Note that some people think MSG is evil, yet some studies show it to be safe. It is theorized that mycotoxins from mold in the 'brewing' vats is what induces Chinese Restaurant Syndrome (rather than the MSG itself) and this is something that obviously will not be present in every dose of MSG. Are they right? Who knows? Likewise, some blame Morgan Spurlock's sluggishness during Super Size Me on MSG; others on afflatoxins.

Also, individual responses to these chemicals will vary. Just because you don't have MS doesn't mean that Aspartame will never cause it. Even then, some conditions (like heart disease) are asymptomatic until a catostrophic event occurs.

So where's the truth? There is none. Pick who you want to believe, or go hunt facts for yourself.

[KingOtter]

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Anything that tastes that bad can't be good for you.

Diet Coke is nothing but an invention to make fat people feel better about themselves.

For example:

300lb fatty pulls up to McDonalds drive-thru:

"I'd like to order 3 Big Macs, a supersize fry, 2 apple pies, and ummm... a DIET Coke."

Who do they think they're kidding?

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I used to make those jokes, too. But now I do the same thing. Well, okay, I just say 'I'd like a number one with a Diet Coke' without all the extra pies and stuff.

I was on Atkins for a while so I started drinking Diet Coke (caffeine free at the time). Well, I'm not on Atkins anymore, but I still drink the Diet Cokes, because if I'm going to have a McDonald's meal, the last thing I think I need is 400 more calories from my drink.

There were recent news articles saying that people who drink diet sodas are more likely to have eating problems, or eat poorly. Well duh.... it's because most of them probably went on diets, and fell off the wagon, but never went back to the sugar sodas.

Plus I drink a lot of sodas a day. Up to 5 or 6. Since 22 oz of Coke (about 2 cans) has roughly the same number of calories as a Snickers bar, I think I can do without that pressure on my waistline (roughly equivalent to eating 3 candy bars a day). But I like the caffeine.

KO

[BigBaitsim (milo)]

I am currently in the early stages of a weight-loss prop bet, but I long ago started drinking Diet Coke and now am so used to it that I find regular Coke nasty. In fact, I don't like the new stuff with Splenda because it tastes "too real."

Up until last month I was one of those Big Mac and Diet Coke people, but as pointed out, since a Big Mac and fries is around 1000 cals, why add 400 for no damn good reason?

Since I drink about a four a day, I would likely weigh MUCH more had I been drinking regular as opposed to diet all these years.

[Stuey]

My conclusion on artificial sweeteners.

You can find positive and negative arguments showing them to be harmless or deadly. Who should we believe? It is very hard to pick what information to believe as clearly some people can tolerate huge amounts of the stuff with zero problems. A small percentage of people seem to have adverse reactions to them however. Now these people could be blaming their problems on the sweeteners when other factors are at play. But when dealing with my health I simply ask myself do I need to consume this?

I don't need them and there might be a risk so I avoid them just incase. Don't make it more complicated than it needs to be. If you find it hard not to consume these products you should realize it is probably because they contain something your body has become dependant on which is as bad as them being harmful imo.

Edit to add: People saying they get used to the taste of diet coke and then prefer it to everything else should think about why. Drink water you won't like it at first but maybe if you stick with it you will prefer it to everything else worth a try works for me.