Diet Drinks / Zero Sugar etc - Good or bad in volume?

[anonymous-user]

Hi all,

After 8 years of putting a stone on every Christmas last year I had to take action and diet. I lost 4 stones in 6 months by basically doing my version of the Slimming World diet. The hardest thing at first was giving up alcohol totally (you don't have to on SW but I chose to). I used Becks Blue alcohol free beer as a substitute and I love it.

However I have now moved on to sugar free fanta and zero coke etc and now love these and can easily drink 2 litres per day, sometimes more.

Questions:

1 - People tell me they are bad for you as they have sugar substitutes added that are worse for you than sugar in the long term. Are they bad for you when drinking what I do (2 litres per day)? In a nutshell, if I keep drinking 2 litres a day will cancer, kidney failure, liver disease etc etc get me sooner than it might otherwise?

2 - Some web sites say no sugar / zero actually causes you to gain weight (???). Can this be true? Or is it simply that when I was well fat I'd order: "... 3 McDonalds.... oh and a large diet coke too please". So is the diet coke the cause of fatness or simply that fatties like me feel better when we pig out by drinking diet drinks?

3 - The fact I love the diet fanta so much suggests to me that maybe I am addicted to something in it !!!! Like I was alcohol. Am I addicted to something in them or do I just like them?

Anyone got any informed thoughts on the above? I did ask a dietician about (1) above but aside form telling me that volume would do me no good they couldn't explain why it was bad either.

TIA for your thoughts .

[ex1]

Aspartame is a sugar substitute used in many diet drinks and has been linked to neurological disease. Nasty stuff, especially in the volumes you are consuming.

[Funk]

I ditched booze a few years back and also drink quite a bit of diet Coke (or caffeine-free if I can find it) in lieu. I'd be interested to know peoples' views on your post too.

I have a SodaStream which I use a lot rather than buying sparkling bottled water but there's something nice about an ice cold diet Coke straight from the fridge...

Edit:

ex1 said:

Aspartame is a sugar substitute used in many diet drinks and has been linked to neurological disease. Nasty stuff, especially in the volumes you are consuming.

Regarding Aspartame, there doesn't appear to be any credible links at all; much of it seems to be made up about it being 'nasty stuff'.

https://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/Goodfood/Pages/the-tru...

If you have evidence to the contrary I'd be interested to read it.

Edited by Funk on Monday 1st January 11:18

[grumbledoak]

A compound wouldn't work as a sugar substitute if it wasn't triggering much the same response inside you...

[irocfan]

grumbledoak said:

A compound wouldn't work as a sugar substitute if it wasn't triggering much the same response inside you...

this ^^^ apparently the body does get to the point where it treats sugar subs the same way as sugar and it ends up having the same overall effect as if you had stuck with the real stuff.

There are also concerns about CO2 WRT to health IIRC

[caelite]

The 'diet drinks make you gain weight' isn't an entirely correct statement. However it has been argued that an after effect of many sugar substitutes lower blood sugar and increase appetite, indirectly leading to weight gain.

Aspartame, where a lot of the 'nasty stuff' rhetoric comes from is from several studies pinning it as a carcinogen, however the dosages where any effects where seen where pretty large if I remember right (5-10+ litres of diet coke a day or something to that tune). However the reality is that Aspartame is by far the most researched sugar substitute, due to its widespread usage, whilst many other substitutes claim to be healthier safer alternatives these claims tend to be unsubstantiated by actual research, and again play off the rhetoric that Aspartame is automatically 'nasty stuff'.

[Funk]

Anything in large quantities can be bad for you so perhaps moderation is the key.

[lost in espace]

It is maintaining your taste for sweet things, whilst it is not bad in itself. I am currently eating only eggs, meat and dairy. After a few weeks you have no desire for sweet things, most sweet things aren't food. I think of it like that, what is actually food?

[liner33]

Artificial sweeteners can alter the levels of microbiota in your gut and cause unhealthy balances and actually promote weight gain

If dieting a decent prebiotic and probiotic should be taken and any artificial or refined sugars avoided wherever possible.

I would say 2 litres of sugar free drinks per week would be too much , perhaps one can a week might be ok

Drinking water is a much better way to go and you quickly get used to it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=badct9jXJjo&t=...

Edited by liner33 on Monday 1st January 12:12

[popeyewhite]

irocfan said:

grumbledoak said:

A compound wouldn't work as a sugar substitute if it wasn't triggering much the same response inside you...

this ^^^ apparently the body does get to the point where it treats sugar subs the same way as sugar and it ends up having the same overall effect as if you had stuck with the real stuff.

There are also concerns about CO2 WRT to health IIRC

No studies exist that show the sweetener aspartame consumed in the recommended amounts is in any way dangerous. Effects on blood sugar and insulin are minimal, if anything. The effect on blood sugar and insulin is far greater and detrimental to health if people are overweight and make no attempt at switching to a calorie controlled diet.

[Joscal]

Water is very underrated. Why not just drink it?

[smn159]

MikeStroud said:

Hi all,

After 8 years of putting a stone on every Christmas last year I had to take action and diet. I lost 4 stones in 6 months by basically doing my version of the Slimming World diet. The hardest thing at first was giving up alcohol totally (you don't have to on SW but I chose to). I used Becks Blue alcohol free beer as a substitute and I love it.

However I have now moved on to sugar free fanta and zero coke etc and now love these and can easily drink 2 litres per day, sometimes more.

Admirable dedication if you can drink 2 litres of that foul st every day

[Pothole]

lost in espace said:

It is maintaining your taste for sweet things, whilst it is not bad in itself. I am currently eating only eggs, meat and dairy. After a few weeks you have no desire for sweet things, most sweet things aren't food. I think of it like that, what is actually food?

Fruit is mostly sweet and almost all food!

[Yipper]

Drinking 10 to 15 litres of fizzy acid every week is bad for you.

Give it up.

Switch to water.

[bitchstewie]

I'm sure there are lots of things where it's difficult to quantify exactly why it's bad for you, but it's pretty obvious that it won't be doing you any good.

This is one of those.

[caelite]

Joscal said:

Water is very underrated. Why not just drink it?

Water? Like out the toilet?

[Ultra Sound Guy]

It can affect different people in different ways! I stopped drinking ‘full-fat’ Coke many years ago and have never had any bad effects!
My daughter, however, has a (thankfully rare) condition whereby, if she drinks anything with artificial sweeteners, her body assumes it is sugar and she produces a large amount of insulin which results in a ‘hypo’ or VERY low blood sugar!

[gooner1]

caelite said:

Water? Like out the toilet?

You'd certainly lose weight but I wouldn't reccomend it.

[anonymous-user]

Ok thanks for all the views/comments here.

I'll wean myself off the fanta and on to water. In my old beer drinking days I used to drink huge amounts of water all day long as I like my pee to be nearly clear .... but that's a whole other thread.

Thanks for your thoughts.

[meehaja]

Ignoring the weight gain issues, diet drinks are still quite acidic I think, so bad for teeth, stomach and GI tract. I’m trying to cut it out, but as others have said, a cold can of Coke really hits the spot!