Diet Coke Is Great

[michael94]

yum

 

[Sunny Jack]

Many health-deleterious things are, sadly But moderate consumption would probably be okay. There was a thread here about a month ago with a study saying aspartame wasn't as bad as thought, in moderation. I'm still afraid of it though, for hair reasons.

 

[michael94]

There are reasons to suspect the aspartic acid portion of aspartame may have negative effects but yes I think it is very over-blown. Everything has to be taken in context ( I hate having to use this phrase but it's true )... you are not just drinking an aspartic acid solution. I think our bodies can be very intuitive about what it does and does not want, but that also requires us to be honest. Lies both explicit and implicit destroy our intuitive powers.
Anyways...A lot of people who might say "diet coke is bad" would also suggest that some food is harmless because it contains no overt carcinogens. But as is often the case, one's stomach acid and bile production may be insufficient to digest certain foods properly. And then what happens? These foods rot inside your intestines creating way more carcinogens than people would ever deem acceptable to ingest.

Maybe a craving for diet coke is a craving for phosphoric acid, co2, caffeine and phenyalanine ? Especially in a form that requires little to no digestion?
Thanks for the response Jack

 

[Such_Saturation]

Prob feels good by raising stress hormones with the fake sweetness signal.

 

[Hugh Johnson]

Why would anyone drink coke when you can drink OJ?

 

[michael94]

Prob feels good by raising stress hormones with the fake sweetness signal.

maybe. Anyway I made sure to post in the proper forum lol

 

[Tarmander]

So is crack! Blows Diet Coke out of the water to be honest.

 

[Queequeg]

everything I heard about aspartame is that it is nasty stuff and that the FDA initially had banned it. I personally can't stand the taste of Diet Coke, so I guess my body is telling me that the stuff is an excitotoxic poison that can lead to seizures and brain damage. Actually Ray says the same thing.

 

[Tim Lundeen]

The aspartame breaks down to methyl alcohol, which is highly toxic. Dr. Woody Monte on the Dangers of Aspartame!

 

[michael94]

The aspartame breaks down to methyl alcohol, which is highly toxic. Dr. Woody Monte on the Dangers of Aspartame!

Dr. Mercola's website is highly toxic

 

[Fractality]

Have you tried real sugar coke? If so, why do you prefer diet?

 

[Marg]

verything I heard about aspartame is that it is nasty stuff and that the FDA initially had banned it. I personally can't stand the taste of Diet Coke, so I guess my body is telling me that the stuff is an excitotoxic poison that can lead to seizures and brain damage. Actually Ray says the same thing.

I think it tastes horrid and leaves an awful yucky aftertaste.

At the office, lots of women would just consume diet coke all day, and one friend had this stuff for breakfast instead of coffee.

Now that some anti-sugar lobbying groups have been successful in adding taxes to what they term "sugary drinks", they are encouraging the consumption of "diet" sodas in their mistaken and illogical notion that consumption of this poison will make people "healthier."

 

[michael94]

Now that some anti-sugar lobbying groups have been successful in adding taxes to what they term "sugary drinks", they are encouraging the consumption of "diet" sodas in their mistaken and illogical notion that consumption of this poison will make people "healthier."

Have you tried real sugar coke? If so, why do you prefer diet?

The aspartame breaks down to methyl alcohol, which is highly toxic. Dr. Woody Monte on the Dangers of Aspartame!

Would you like me to provide a contrarian view on this issue or will my keystrokes be wasted? I have 70gb of anime to watch and Sunday is one of the few days I don't have to go anywhere .. . l o l. .

 

[michael94]

Forgive the attempt at self-deprecating humor above it was not meant seriously and not even very truthful either ( I have lot's of free time )... I'll write my full thoughts on Aspartame this weekend. This little molecule is a very interesting subject.

 

[michael94]

Source is John E. Garst - I believe his insights are worth considering

Second, those people critical of aspartame fail to understand or simply ignore decades of science supporting the safety of this sweetener. Not only have there been many safety studies (aspartame is perhaps the most studied substance known), there has been nothing published that withstands scrutiny sufficiently to question aspartame safety ever. Studies expressing contrary facts were poorly designed (Soffritti et al) or errant in their conclusions (Trocho et al (Alemany)); these papers are open to serious scientific criticism, some of which is now known, but has not even been reported yet. In short there is NO scientific concern by FDA or other world’s regulatory agencies about aspartame; in fact the Europeans Food Safety Authority (EFSA) just again confirmed its safety. (You might be able to find my comments about why these papers are rejected posted to other antiaspartame blogs I have written-or write).

Third, the critics just don’t understand or prefer to neglect the vital importance of folate biochemistry in aspartame processing. Certainly there are people who are sensitive to aspartame; the internet is full of people at least claiming they get sick immediately after using aspartame, etc. And headaches seem a consequence in some people. But a strong case can be made that any sensitivity to aspartame (headaches included) stems from any of a wide range of personal nutrition or biochemical issues that center mostly on the vitamin folic acid (folate), its frank deficiency, folate enzyme abnormalities, or the consequences of either, including accrual of homocysteine. (Walton’s paper on aspartame failed to understand or appreciate the role of folate in the very issue they studied, depression; patient folate status now known to be associated with depression was not only unmentioned, but their experiments were also totally uncontrolled for folate issues.)

Critics continue to scream their concern about aspartame, because they also fail to understand that these same factors facilitating personal sensitivity to aspartame may well underlie susceptibility to many disorders associated with these folate issues, but that they instead attribute to aspartame. Aspartame is degraded to the all-natural substances phenylalanine, aspartic acid, and methanol even before absorption. Both amino acids are abundant in the foods we normally eat at higher doses. People with the genetic condition phenylketonuria are unable to tolerate the vital, essential amino acid phenylalanine and are warned to avoid aspartame-containing products on the label. The other constituent of aspartame is methanol.

While methanol isn’t really very toxic itself, some people are uniquely sensitive to methanol’s oxidation product formate. Formate and its removal is the real medical concern from methanol poisoning. However, low methanol and thus formate intake is also vital. That is because formic acid is recycled by the folate-B12 vitamin systems to methyl groups that perform two main functions. They detoxify the real excitotoxin homocysteine (Wikipedia: homocysteine) producing methionine or they form methylene groups that convert uracil to thymine. Uracil incorporation into DNA occurs in the absence of thymine; that causes unstable and breakable DNA and cancer not evident with thymine replacement. These folic acid transformations are absolutely vital to life and why folate and B12 are vitamins and why methanol at low doses, like those found in fruit juices or aspartame, is just as vital.

Aspartame is perfectly safe used as directed, but still some people may show varying degrees of sensitivity (headaches, etc). These arise not from aspartame, but from the user’s underlying biochemistry. Some are ultrasensitive (allergic) to formate (perhaps from childhood insect stings). But most sensitive people are deficient in folic acid (a vitamin), have genetic folate abnormalities (called polymorphisms; Wikipedia: Methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase), or have high blood homocysteine (Wikipedia: homocysteine). The latter may be the most potent excitotoxin and many people have high blood homocysteine most frequently because of folate issues. Other factors include ethanol (which strongly inhibits folate enzymes and that explains why it raises formate concentrations; fetal alcohol syndrome, etc.) and antiepileptic drugs. ALL aspartame “symptoms” may be seen as a direct consequence of underlying personal issues residing in formate sensitivity, whether through allergy, folate or other issues. None have anything to do with aspartame safety. But this formate sensitivity “straw that broke the camels back” issue is why aspartame-associated symptoms disappear after ceasing use. The bigger question is whether people who show aspartame sensitivity are still fundamentally at risk from many folate-associated diseases? That includes MS, lupus, diabetes, many cancers (brain and breast cancer) and other problems. Perhaps aspartame sensitivity is a marker for innate susceptibility to many diseases and cancers?

aspartame has been extensively studied; adverse claims have been consistently disproven the latest in August in New Zealand. Anti-aspartame arguments fostered by internet conspiracy theorists, who profit from books, detoxification kits, etc., all predate 1998. In 1998 folate vitamin supplementation was mandated for cereal grain products, because of population-wide deficiency. [Reread the web controversy arguments and note all criticism of aspartame in that article originate before 1998. The reader should also be informed that all questions raised about aspartame approval stemmed from the now well-known folate deficiency in the Sprague-Dawley rats used in the earliest studies and more recently by the strongly repudiated Soffritti (Ramazzini) studies, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20716760.]

Any disease connections, like this supposed new study raises, with diet drinks most likely reside in personal folate deficiency or related underlying biochemical issues (see http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2592326/pdf/0541545.pdf or http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2329900/pdf/0540036.pdf). These personal problems are often mistaken for arguments against aspartame. But such arguments are like saying it was the ‘straw that broke the camel’s back, not the tons of cargo already there.’ I didn’t see this forty year-old known folate issue even mentioned, much less-controlled, did you? That makes this poor science, doesn’t it? Why do we pay for garbage science? But worse, in this case that added ‘cargo’ could well involve both folate issues and the caffeine in diet Pepsi. Caffeine generates two equivalents of formate during degradation compared to one from aspartame’s methanol. But both caffeine and aspartame require folate for detoxification, so again any issue with ‘diet Pepsi’ likely reflects personal health problems with folate or folate-related biochemistry, not the soft drink itself.

You must realize that methanol is converted to formaldehyde and formate, both of which are SUBSTRATES for and are recycled to methyl groups by the folate (and B12) vitamin systems. In contrast ethanol is converted to acetaldehyde and acetic acid. The acetic acid is rapidly oxidized for energy, but acetaldehyde is actually a powerful INHIBITOR of the folate process. In fact rodents given ethanol actually start excreting formate, Relationship of alcohol metabolism to folate deficiency produced by ethanol in the rat. - PubMed - NCBI, clearly indicating that inhibition. Also note the human connection, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18034701 . There is a strong connection between ethanol and cancer, The burden of cancer attributable to alcohol consumption. - PubMed - NCBI.

 

[michael94]

I think Dr. Woody Monte's theory of protecting against Methanol with Ethanol is incomplete in light of the evidence John E. Garst has highlighted.

 

[chrismeyers]

Heh I wonder what it says about you that you actually enjoy the taste. Its like rancid and artificial to most people. I would explore that angle a little more.

 

[Tim Lundeen]

When John E Garst says "While methanol isn’t really very toxic itself..." I have to laugh. There is a reason that bottles of wood alcohol have a red skull-and-crossbones on them, and why they warn you that you can go blind when you drink it (not to mention the long-term chronic damage, which Monte documents and supports). Garst's stuff looks like it comes from an industry shill. Note that he discounts the real source of methanol toxicity, which is that alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) converts it to formaldehyde, which is highly toxic. Formaldehyde may be less toxic for some people, but it affects everyone. Read Monte's book, While Science Sleeps, for more... https://www.amazon.com/While-Scienc...99538642&sr=8-1&keywords=while+science+sleeps

 

[michael94]

Heh I wonder what it says about you that you actually enjoy the taste. Its like rancid and artificial to most people. I would explore that angle a little more.

That is a very apt point and I am certainly not promoting one go out of their way to consume aspartame. We all have very different physiological requirements at any given time as evidenced by the wide variety in food/beverage preference among the population. If diet soda disgusts you then do not touch it with a 10ft pole

When John E Garst says "While methanol isn’t really very toxic itself..." I have to laugh. There is a reason that bottles of wood alcohol have a red skull-and-crossbones on them, and why they warn you that you can go blind when you drink it (not to mention the long-term chronic damage, which Monte documents and supports). Garst's stuff looks like it comes from an industry shill. Note that he discounts the real source of methanol toxicity, which is that alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) converts it to formaldehyde, which is highly toxic. Formaldehyde may be less toxic for some people, but it affects everyone. Read Monte's book, While Science Sleeps, for more... Amazon.com: While Science Sleeps eBook: Woodrow C. Monte: Kindle Store

Formaldehyde is an important part of human metabolism, as is formic acid. There are lots of things that are benign/useful at small, occasional doses and toxic at larger ones. Drinking lots of diet soda all the time is probably not good but that's not an argument. I could make someone feel like their heart and head are going to explode just by giving them a caffeine dose 3-4x what they usually take. The entire field of not just traditional but also herbal/"natural" medicine is built on the utility of useful toxins. If something does X amount of damage to the body but prevents 2x then that toxin becomes medicine. It is tempting to dump aspartame into the 'always toxic' category, I used to, but given the information I've come across that doesn't appear to be correct.

Endogenous formaldehyde turnover in humans compared with exogenous contribution from food sources - 2014 - EFSA Journal - Wiley Online Library

Here is the article I took John's comments from: Aspartame and Formaldehyde (or not…)

 

[Luann]

I like diet soda because of its higher salt amount and sometimes it does taste better than regular Pepsi.