Please do not eat/drink diet related products...

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Artificial sweeteners not being broken down isn't a bad thing. That's why they don't make people fat; the body can't process them as glucose.
As far as I know, the reason most people are up in arms about artificial sweeteners is that they're suspected to cause cancer. I don't know if there's any evidence to back this up (and also, almost everything causes cancer to some extent lol), but I do know that because artificial sweeteners are such a new thing, we know almost nothing about the long term effects.

Diet anything tastes terrible. I know skim milk isn't diet, but even that tastes nasty. I just eat regular food.

Some people are more sensitive to these fake sweetener substances than others. I quit a longtime diet soda habit some time ago. I was not drinking it for the diet, but because I found regular soda to be entirely too sweet to handle. Now I drink water, unsweetened tea, and acv. Turns out I like a more bitter drink

I believe that fake sweeteners affect NT people as well, the majority of the US uses these products (among other things) yet the majority of US is getting fatter by the day.

I know this will not sit well with a lot of people but I don't see how eating some aspartame can be any more dangerous than stuffing your face with real sugar. Being overweight will certainly lead to your death while the affects of artificial sweeteners are not yet even proven unless you count lab mice, and do you know how much of this stuff they give those rats? Proportionally, humans would have to eat their body weight in Aspartame each day to get the same amount those lab rats get.

But heart disease and diabetes are killing thousands of people every day. So keep on scoffing the artificial sweeteners. Unless you cook everything yourself with all natural ingredients you are likely putting these same chemicals in your body anyway ON TOP of all the real sugar you are kidding yourself is better for you.

Instead of eating/drinking diet products, why not just consume LESS of the REAL THING?! I mean, instead of drinking 1 diet sodas a day, why not just 2-3 REAL sodas a week? Common Sense 101.

Don't just distrust synthetic things for being synthetic, plenty of things from this earth that you can eat can kill you. Furthermore, almost all of the synthesized junk in our food is just a copy of something found in nature.

That said there are still some things all people should avoid. Mainly partially hydrogenated oils (also known as mono and di-glycerides), High fructose corn syrup(it makes you hungry), and aspartame(for some people more so then others, of course).

I'm not 100% on aspartame tbh. But you really have to keep an eye out for the two others, they're calorie dense and can profoundly change your body for the worse in high doses.

Last edited by Darkword on 22 Apr 2010, 4:23 pm, edited 2 times in total.

In regard to the posts about the evil compositions of artificial/man-altered sweetners. I am no expert and what I've read is purely on layman's terms. But as I understood it, and recall, Sucralose is created by whatever means leaving the sucrose bonded with chlorine. I probably need not tell any of you just how wicked a substance chlorine is to the human body. But to derive that evil substance in free form from the sucrose apparently takes enormous heat to cause the reaction. Whatever the body does to the substance is apparently insufficient to unlock the molecules. I'm assuming it's the chlorine bond that prevents absorbtion. Chemistry was never my strong suite and if someone is compelled to correct me I understand. I'd love to better understand it all myself. And there's nothing inherently dangerous about a substance we all ingest regularly that has chlorine in the compound composition along with another element that's just as volatile and dangerous in free form. Shame that I never clicked with chemistry. It's actually pretty fascinating stuff.

As for aspartame I recall reading a fear mongering website testifying that though aspartame as a whole is harmless, the body breaks it down into base chemicals that are harmful to at least some degree. I regretfully forget what the suppossed chemicals were. Feels like they were 'tanes' of some sort. But it was a fear mongering, sensationalistic site and I wouldn't take anything from such as gospel. Again, if someone possesses hard data on how it's noxious I'd love to hear it.

I always felt the media harping on aspartame causing brain tumors was a bit over the top. But the headache phenomenon is something I can attest to. Where the truth lies is, like most things, probably closer to the middle. I'd definitely say sugar is the way to go. But in this country it almost seems like artifical sweetner are the lesser evil when nearly everything is either deep fried or processed. I'd like you guys to check out the new Double Down offering from KFC. Just when you thought it could get no worse.

Relating to this topic of conversation, if anyone is interested in reading an excellent book, I would highly recommend this one:

http://www.amazon.com/Defense-Food-Eate ... t_ep_dpi_2

It's a well-researched book on the "nutrition" industry as well as the food production industry.

In all honesty we would all be better off never drinking ANY of them, LOL, but this is not a bad compromise. Sodas contain other chemicals aside from whatever sweeten them. They corrode our tooth enamel. I think I read once that a coke can be used to clean corrosion on battery poles (whatever those are called) and can also remove paint.

I still love me a cold diet coke.

I have grown up on artificial sweeteners: saccharin. Sweet N Low, Equal, Splenda, Truvia- I have had it all since I was a toddler. In my last will/testament I have donated my body to science so they can determine what decades of artificial sweetener really does to a person after I pass.

I almost never drink any sweetened stuff, so that's not a problem for me. Though now I'm worried about my brother. I just gave him a large bottle of diet Pepsi and a bottle of diet Sprite because he likes them. Maybe I shouldn't have. I feed my own family only natural foods and we never eat "reduced" anything. Whole milk, real butter, WW bread...etc. Maybe I should tell my brother to quit that stuff, too.

Sucralose is used in Diet Rite and some other brands.

Personally I avoid sucralose though; it's really awful stuff. Technically as it's made out of sugar it's also not artificial.

Oddly enough, I have no issues with aspartame or saccharin, I just hate diet products.

Or just drink water? It's what I do. Oh I have a glass of juice once in a bluemoon.

There was also a study on how diet coke actually made people gain weight. I find it ridiculous how overweight people would drink 2 litre bottles a day of this stuff and not exercise. Oh it's diet it'll make me thin - no, eating a healthy balanced diet with regular exercise can make you lose weight.

Whether or not sweeteners are bad for you they're just as addictive as sugar.

Although I've probably damaged my body enough with pain killers, prescription drugs and alcohol so I can't really talk.

Moderation is key.

On paper your post is good as gold. Common sense would trump the entire issue. But the reality is we live in a society where everything you eat that isn't homemade *and often that's as bad* is deep fried, processed, or has some other evil attached to it.

I like an ice cold diet Cokewhen thirsty. But I love an ice cold Mt. Dew. I drink nothing other than those two but on rare occassion. I try to drink water. Just never works out for the long term. I cannot stand drinking plain milk for the lingering nature of it. The tannins in tea make me sick. Juice is almost as bad as just drinking full calorie soda.

So I've got soda or diet soda as my options. Whenever I try limiting myself to just diet soda I get sick from lack of either fructose/sucrose or caffeine. But I'm stuck with those and wish I weren't.

All too close to home what you said. It amazes me every time someone orders the extra large fast food meal with extra large fries/onion rings and the diet coke on the side. Even they ultimately realized the inanity of such and simply state they prefer the taste of diet. Maybe, but good grief.

Sucrose isn't evil. It's caloric energy in as pure a naturally occurring form as egg is for protein. Moderation is the keyword that we as Americans cannot seem to grasp. Egg is equally potentiate for evil on the body by way of cholesterol if eaten in quantity or over often.

Moderation. A word I could use for other things myself.

Australians seem to have a problem with moderation too. I have good self control over how much I eat. Actually I think my daily calorie intake is a bit under, but it works for me. I don't gain or lose weight.

Sweet & Low (saccharin) is supposed to be safe. All of the studies saying otherwise were distortions promoted by the company trying to move people to Equal (aspartame).

Splenda (sucralose) is supposed to be safe, but I hear otherwise. When I have products with Splenda in it before I go to sleep, my dreams are borderline psychotic in nature.

I've moved to Truvia (stevia) and have had not ill effects.