Why diet soda is (probably) bad for you, according to science

[Sgent]

http://www.vox.com/2015/9/11/9311253/diet-soda-weight

Diet sodas have long been marketed as weight loss tools. The idea is that they allow people to enjoy the sweetness of regular sugary soda, but without the calories and weight gain.

Scientists, however, are highly skeptical of the marketing claims. They all agree that regular soda is terrible for you and should be avoided. But they have serious questions about whether diet soft drinks, which tend to contain artificial sweeteners, are any better. The researchers I spoke to said they try to stay away from both types of drink and opt for water instead.

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Or it may be something about the artificial sweeteners in diet sodas themselves. Some researchers have wondered whether these sweeteners affect our gut flora — the bacteria in our digestive tracts that helps with metabolism (and many other critical bodily functions). Emerging evidence — albeit from research that's only been done on rodents — suggests the chemicals in artificial sweeteners cause disturbances in the gut, which are associated with metabolic disorders like diabetes and obesity.

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That’s not to say that loading up on beverages sweetened with real sugar is a good idea. The evidence is unequivocal: sugar-filled beverages have been linked to type-2 diabetes, stroke, heart disease, obesity, and ultimately, premature death. They're usually devoid of nutritional value, and deliver a mega dose of calories without any accompanying satiety.

[yeoman6987]

1. Shocking news - everything is bad for you

And even more shocking is that everyone will die no matter how perfect your diet is. When your time is up, you are gone and that includes diets of sprouts and beans. Fact of life.

[KittyWampus]

2. then there is stevia.

[Warpy]

3. Oh, I think the diet drinks are likely a lot better for you than the sugary ones

because there is simply so much sugar crammed into them. However, they're not nearly as good for you as plain water.

Being able to drink plain water is a relatively new thing, water was just too dodgy to drink through most of human history, contaminated with human and animal waste and carrying disease. However, we don't do the backbreaking work they did then, so we can't justify the calories in sweetened sodas or the weak ales and wines they drank. Diet sodas are a compromise for people who find plain water and nothing else boring.

[SheilaT]

4. It is my understanding that there's something

in the chemicals of the diet sodas that leach calcium from your bones. I think that perhaps one reason we have so very much osteoporosis is because we now have a generation of people (mainly women) who have been drinking diet soft drinks in large quantities for many years now.

I drink mostly plain water. And beer. And wine. And mixed drinks. But very rarely do I have a soda, maybe one every six months or so.

[REP]

6. Not diet sodas; dark colored sodas have phosphorus, which can harm bones of kidney patients

So can chocolate, beans, any high phosphorus food. But in normal, healthy people, drinking dark sodas won't melt bones.

[LostOne4Ever]

8. It not diet drinks, its the phosphorus in sodas in general

http://www.iflscience.com/health-and-medicine/how-does-coca-cola-affect-your-body-hour-after-drinking-stuff

[font style="font-family:'Georgia','Baskerville Old Face','Helvetica',fantasy;" size=4 color=teal]Further:[/font]

http://muscle-insider.com/content/sweeteners-do-they-cause-fat-or-calcium-leaching

[Thor_MN]

10. Phosphoric acid, not phosphorous.

The acid attacks the calcium and magnesium in the bones, the same way that acidic cleaners break down hard water deposits.

[denbot]

5. My Doctor told me to stay away from diet sodas because of their effect on gut flora

He said that for some reasons, the change in flora promotes diabetes.

[olddots]

7. I'll have three dozen of those jelly donuts

oh and a Diet Coke .

[underahedgerow]

9. You mean OTHER than the fact it's nothing more than toxic, rat poison based non-nutritive

cancer causing substances known to cause liver and kidney failure?

Yup, I'll take a liter of that please, no ice!

Who in their right mind intentionally drinks this shit? Seriously? Don't you know any better?

No offense of course.