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What Is the Relationship between Diet Soda and Health?
The relationship between diet soda and health is complex because there are many opinions about what best defines a person's health. On the one hand, people who are already unhealthy because of excess consumption of sugar may become healthier when drinking diet soda. Unfortunately, many studies have also shown that the chemicals in diet soda make it an unhealthy choice as well. As such, the relationship between diet soda and health depends on an individual's state of health. It is usually best to think of this product as unhealthy in a relative sense and to try drinking alternative products that may be healthier.
One of the reasons many people claim that there is a positive relationship between diet soda and health is because of obesity. Generally, if a person is consuming a large amount of non-diet soda, then switching to diet soda can help promote weight loss. This is a good solution for people who are obese if soda cannot be given up overall due to cravings, caffeine addiction, or other problems. On the other hand, weight loss is not always synonymous with health, and so diet soda and health may not be related at all in this sense.
Another connection between diet soda and health is highly negative, because there are some doubts about the long-term effects of some of the chemicals used to make diet soda. Artificial sweeteners are generally assumed to be safe, but most people believe that it is better to use natural alternatives. Even natural alternatives, such as sweeteners derived from the stevia plant, may not be entirely safe due to processing. Whether or not consuming chemicals is actually dangerous depends on which studies one believes, but when these chemicals turn out to be dangerous, they often cause serious problems like cancer. Many people choose to minimize risk by sticking with natural products that have been used for a long time.
The connection between diet soda and health also depends on how much of the product one drinks. For people who drink diet soda very rarely, there is little risk of suffering a decrease in overall health from the product. It is primarily people who drink large amounts of soda on a daily basis who must worry about the chemicals in soda. As a surrogate for less healthy alternatives, diet soda can be very healthy, but it is usually better to slowly make a shift towards healthier beverages. The healthiest drink of all is, of course, water, and drinking water instead of soda can result in great improvements in health.
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![Drinking water is a healthier alternative to diet soda.]()
By: anyaivanovaDrinking water is a healthier alternative to diet soda. -
![Diet soda may be the right choice for people who already consume too much sugar.]()
By: Liv Friis-larsenDiet soda may be the right choice for people who already consume too much sugar.
Discussion Comments
Is diet soda healthy if I am drinking moderate amounts. I am talking about 3 or 4 12 ounce cans per week?
I understand why diet soda is bad for you but I really like drinking soda and if I have to drink a little it might as well be diet, right?
@backdraft - I couldn't agree with you more. I don't even think that diet soda is useful as a diet aid. When it comes to soda we should think about it as an all or nothing proposition. Either drink soda or drink no soda at all.
The problem with diet soda is that even though it has no calories it keeps the body craving sweet things and especially sweet drinks. You don't need to wean yourself off of regular soda, you need to teach yourself to like water again. That is all you ever need to drink. No soda, no juice, no energy drinks or Gatorade. Just water. Drinking diet coke obscures that fact.
There are people who believe that diet soda is better for their health because it contains fewer calories. This might be true if calories were the only thing that effected your health. The truth is that diet soda is filled with chemical sweeteners that probably affect your health more than any calorie ever did.
I cannot believe how many people guzzle diet soda from morning until night and then wonder why they have headaches, feel lethargic, have mouth sores and generally feel unwell. If you are going to drink chemical sludge all day it is going to make you feel bad. Diet soda is a huge myth. Might as well drink regular, or better yet, drink no soda at all.
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