Fizzy Drinks with apparently no catchs?

jumpguy

Hey all! I'm wondering what are the detrimental effects of fizzy drinks (such as Coke Zero, 7up Zero, Pepsi Max) with no carbs, fats, sugar, etc are. I know that they're acidic therefore not the best for the teeth. I was wondering though have the big drink manufacturers come up with the mother-of-all-drinks (Coke Zero tastes beautiful with no sugar, can't be true, can it?)

Just wondering because I often choose these as an alternative when looking for something sweet. If anyone would care to enlighten me, thanks.

Shelga

Although they have practically no calories, the catch (as I understand it) is that they contain artificial stuff which is bad news, like aspartame and other sweeteners. The reasons these are so bad though seem to be a bit murky.. for me anyway! I'm with you to an extent OP- I take robinson's no added sugar if i crave something sweet, but I do try to avoid it as your body in no way needs it and I am trying to stick to fresh non-processed foods.

Easier said than done though!

jumpguy

So it's the non-proven-yet-suspected-by-some long term effects? I guess I'll keep it to a minimum but I need some freedom somewhere in my diet for it!

I've pretty much given up on trying to eat ALL fresh, non-processed food. Until I can control the food that comes in and out of the house it's not gonna happen, especially with other people in the family. I'll eat as much as I can though. Also, I love breakfast cereal in the mornin or just when I feel hungry.

metamorphosis

Im not a fizzys fan at all at all. There's a lot of talk about them been bad but no 100% scientific proof afaik.

I did as google search and here are some links that might be of interest

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14556707/

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/artificial-sweeteners/MY00073

lgoring21

They banned coke zero in mexico..but never said what was the bad effects they had banned it for...there was another thread on this

jumpguy

I drank about 3 glasses last night and couldn't sleep for about 2 hours. I did the same the night before and couldn't sleep for ages. Can't believe I didn't realise the problem. Coke Zero apparently doesn't have zero caffeine! I'm fairly sensitive to caffeine and drinking about the same as you'd find in a cup of coffee before bed would be my problem.
So unlike 7up Zero (which has Zero caffeine), Coke Zero has caffeine. Gotta be careful with these "Zero brands".


Good to read though that the sugar substitutes have been consistantly proven safe. Also interesting that they've invented them. Sucralose being able to pass through the body with being digested (or atleast absorbed) is ingenious!

EileenG

A very large scale study in America found that people who drank one diet soda a day were more likely to be overweight than people who didn't. There are lots of theories why. One is that the taste of the sweetness tends to trigger an insulin response, so your body is more likely to deposit anything you eat as fat.

Another is that your body can't digest the sweeteners, doesn't know what to do with it, so it creates fat deposits to lock it away safely.

There is also a theory that when you eat or drink artifically sweetened things, you break the link between the taste of the food, and the calories coming in. So if your body is expecting a couple of hundred calories based on the taste, and doesn't get it, it doesn't automatically put up a "I'm full" sign when you have eaten what should be a meal's worth of calories.

Not saying don't have the odd one, but don't rely on them to help you lose weight.

jumpguy

Thanks for that! I'll cut down on it then. Knew it had to be too good to be true.

Not trying to lose weight, I'm within the healthy BMI range. Trying to shift some fat for muscle though and increase cardio, I've slacked off since about February as far as keeping myself fit goes with studying and there was no sports on at the time. Now rugby is starting and I'm trying to make up for lost time. Before I kind of ignored the diet part but now I'm trying to eat better. Going well so far, definetly notice a difference, I feel far less sluggish. Must be the better intake of nutrients.

eclectichoney

EileenG wrote: »

A very large scale study in America found that people who drank one diet soda a day were more likely to be overweight than people who didn't. There are lots of theories why.

Correlation does not imply causation however I have not read the stdy or how it was carried out, but it may even be spurious correlation. I imagine it can be difficult to isolate the influence of a single variable like diet soda, ceteris paribus, to produce a meaningful or definitive conclusion.

copacetic

eclectichoney wrote: »

Correlation does not imply causation however I have not read the stdy or how it was carried out, but it may even be spurious correlation. I imagine it can be difficult to isolate the influence of a single variable like diet soda, ceteris paribus, to produce a meaningful or definitive conclusion.

agreed. These 'studies' are worthless. The most likely reason that people who drink a diet soda a day are more likely to be overweight is that the rest of their diet isn't healthy. i.e you poll random people, the ones who never drink soda likely have a pretty healthy diet otherwise, hence they are less likely to be overweight.

If they did a double blind study with the same people drinking a diet soda a day for 6 months, then not drinking one for 6 months and keeping the rest of their diet identical, then at least the results would be useful.

EileenG

Agree effect does not equal cause, but it was one of those huge studies which tried to control for as many factors as possible. There are things (like hours of sleep) where you can find a relationship, but can't do a double blind study.

Anyone ever come across a study which found that diet drinks actually helped with weight loss?

jumpguy

Haha how confusing! Everything in moderation will have to prevail then!