For the past 15 years or so, I’ve gone thru two 8 packs of Coke Zero per week sometimes less, sometimes more, but most of the time, it’s 2.5 to 3 per day. They are the small plastic 12 ounce bottles, in my defense. My co-worker told me today that drinking that much soda per day is very unhealthy. Seriously? It’s not the ONLY thing I drink. I drink lots of milk, water, etc during the day too. I could see if Coke Zero were the only thing I drank. And I could being unhealthy if it were non-diet Coke.
The only health risk that I believe in from soda is that the CO2 can combine with calcium in your body so that the calcium is not available to help keep your bones strong. This might be of concern if you are a woman at risk for osteoporosis.
36 ounces of Coke Zero has 105 mg of caffeine, according to the Mayo clinic site; an 8-oz cup of coffee can have as much as 200 mg, so that should not be a problem.
The artificial sweetener is not a problem, and if anyone tries to tell you otherwise, ask them to provide a reference to some reliable research (not something they “heard” or “read on the internet”). I have yet to see any research that supports any of the claims against either aspartame (unless you have phenylketonuria) or sucralose.
Note: I am not employed by the soft drink industry. But I do drink a fair amount myself (probably over 50 ounces a day, not all caffeinated).
Roddy
Diet soda (and other soda) is very acidic. It can slowly rot away the enamel on your teeth, resulting in cavities. Ask me how I know how
Three is probably not too excessive, but it’s getting there. I would really avoid going any higher than that, and limiting yourself to one or two would be even better. If you drink one, drink it somewhat quickly. If you finish a soda in 15 minutes, your teeth are less affected than if you slowly sip it over the course of an hour.
Been drinking, nearly exclusively, at least a gallon a day of diet cola, for approaching 30 years now. Water has always given me heartburn, which I finally found a good, non-prescription counter for, but I still can’t stand drinking it. I load my VeryLargeDrink cup with ice, to the top, and pour in diet cola.
I’ll let you know when the kidney stones kick in, but so far I’ve not had a problem, nor have I ever been dehydrated.
There are some studies that indicate that people who drink diet soda do gain weight, but the causation hasn’t been established, AFAIK. There could be many factors.
I lost 60 lbs in 6 months while drinking diet soda and other Aspertame sweetened drinks.
[aside]I find it interesting that the calls for “cite” are based on a premise that a chemical agent is okay (short and long term) by default. I don’t shun additives, but I don’t think that the absence of studies proving causation–particularly to complicated biological phenomena where causation to a single or small set of elements would be difficult to establish–means that the default answer is “they’re safe until you prove otherwise.” While I think the FDA is a crucial part of the information chain, I don’t have that kind of faith in its freedom from industry pressure or omniscience.
Again, though I like granola this isn’t an anti-additive screed nor is it going down the kooky “only natural (?) products are safe” route. Absolutely not. It’s merely saying that I find it odd that on a board dedicated to rational analysis the default presumption that a marketed product causes no ill effects because no study has found them often justifies the out-of-hand dismissal of concerns.
Not so. The FDA has set the Acceptable Daily Intake (ADI) for aspartame at 50 milligrams per kilogram (mg/kg) per day of body weight (Aspartame and Cancer Risk | American Cancer Society) but rodent studies have found just 20 mg/kg/day to be unsafe:
And free radical superoxides, hydrogen peroxide and hydroxyl radicals are formed during normal cellular respiration. Should we avoid breathing? The dose makes the poison - it’s possible to die from drinking too much water, too, but no one is suggesting we all stop drinking water.
Sorry, that’s a little snarky, but as Snarky_Kong says, data like this typically involves concentrations that far exceed normal consumption/metabolism before the risk becomes significant to any level. By the time a lot of research results hit the mainstream media, it’s been diluted and distorted to imply much more significant results than what the research actually showed.
I’m not about to go off on a research study to determine what we know about aspartame, but I caution you that blanket statements like this should be avoided when discussing scientific fact.
ETA: I see you’ve posted a cite - interesting. Thank you. I still would have preferred that to be your initial approach to the discussion, because a lot of people like to throw out “facts” and there’s a lot of misinformation out there
…and having read your cite, the FDA recommended guideline for aspartame is 50mg/kg, and 200 mg/kg causes damage to rats…again, that’s a much higher concentration than normal dosing.
Assuming a 65kg human (adult), the FDA guideline allows 3250mg of aspartame per day.
A can of Coke Zero has 58mg of aspartame per 240 mL (so about 80 mg per can).
You hit the FDA limit after consuming about 40 cans of Coke Zero per day.
Now, that isn’t to say that there might not be a risk, but you gotta admit, 3<<40 cans.
