I’ve been a lover of diet soda—Diet Coke® in particular—for years. Memories from my childhood include sipping it from a big cup loaded with ice while scarfing down fast food or a bag of chips. Though I’ve long given up my fast food habit, improved my food and fitness habits, and have lost and kept off more than thirty pounds since high school, Diet Coke® has remained a staple in my life. While I drink it for the taste of it (I love it’s bubbly sweetness), I also enjoy the emotional lift it gives me (especially since I’m not a coffee drinker). It’s also a calorie-free snack I look forward to. Although I don’t credit Diet Coke® for my weight loss success, my intake has gone up (and is currently at an all-time high) as my weight has gone down.
I know I’m not alone in my love of Diet Coke®. I recently learned that my friend Tracy Minucci, a NYC-based hedge-fund trader, and I share more than our passion for the Yankees. On our way to our first ballgame together, I pulled out a bottle of Diet Coke® from my purse and explained that I bring one with me whenever I go to the stadium since they only serve Pepsi® there. She then pulled one out of her bag—well, not really, but she may as well have! “We’re soul sisters!” she said, and admitted that before every game, she gets her own bottle at a deli across the street from the stadium. Although Tracy used to think it would help her keep her weight down, she now drinks it for the same reasons I do.
I also have those friends who know me so well, like Cheryl Harris. Whenever we go out for lunch or dinner, Cheryl usually takes care of ordering Diet Coke® for the both of us.
But with every sip, I feel pangs of guilt and wonder if my habit will lead to health problems down the road. And because so many people turn to diet soda, especially to lose weight, I was prompted to research and write about the topic; please check out my latest MSNBC.com column: Dieting? Why you should ditch the diet soda: http://bit.ly/cZ96Dv.
Michael F. Jacobson, PhD, executive director of Centers for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) suggests Americans skip diet soda altogether, citing concerns about ingredients such as phosphoric acid (that can promote dental caries and weaken bones), artificial sweeteners such as aspartame and acesulfame-K (that may be linked to increased cancer risk), artificial colors, and caffeine. Emerging research also suggest links between increased diet soda intake and metabolic syndrome (a cluster of symptoms that increase the risk for heart disease), kidney problems, preterm delivery, weaker bones, and other adverse health effects.
Believe me, I want to curb my intake especially since as a registered dietitian I preach moderation and would strongly encourage any client or consumer to cut back if they drank several cans a day as I typically do. Zari Ginsburg, one of my BFFs, and I recently decided to set goals and check in with each other to reduce our intake (her daily vice is a 20 ounce diet Dr. Pepper®).
Interestingly enough, as I write this blog, I have a head cold. To hydrate and heal, I’ve been drowning in good old water and have only had 3 sips of diet coke in the last 3 days. Is this just the beginning of the end of my daily soda fix? I’ll check back with you and let you know.
Do you drink diet soda? Do you think diet soda is the devil? Have you, or do you want to, kick the habit? Would love to hear your story…..
Sources:
Artificially Sweetened Beverages: Cause for concern. Journal of the American Medical Association, December 2009: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19996404
Fueling the Obesity Epidemic? Artificially Sweetened Beverage Use and Long-Term Weight Gain, Obesity, 2008:http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18535548
Non-Nutritive Sweetener Consumption in Humans: Effects on appetite and food Intake and their putative mechanisms. American Journal Clinical Nutrition, January 2009: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed
I’ve never liked the taste of artificial sweeteners and therefore have never been a diet soda drinker, but I did drink regular soda fairly often up until a year and a half ago. I gave it up when I was diagnosed with PCOS and decided to go off all the whites cold turkey. I now occasionally have an Oogavé or Izze soda, but they are an occasional treat. I’ve lost 65lbs since I changed my lifestyle.
Three Reasons to Rethink that Diet Coke You’re About to Drink:
1. Your body gets confused by artificial sweeteners
2. You’re “Infantilizing” your taste sense
3. Long term health effects unclear
more here: http://bit.ly/7nCWT6
I don’t understand why you’d criticize someone ordering a diet drink with their cheeseburger and fries. People are aware that diet soda won’t cancel out the calories of a bag of chips but it can save several hundred more. It’s a stupid and condescending argument.
I’m a Diet Pepsi addict. (Note: Pepsi is sweeter than Coke and wins in blind taste tests.) This contradicts everything I deem important: organic food, stevia as a sweetener, reducing use of plastics, drinking tap over bottled water. Environmentally and health-wise Diet Pepsi is a horrible choice.
Having said that, the only times in my adult life I gave it up were when pregnant or nursing. Even after 2 years, I would still have an occassional craving for it. I joke that the only way I’ll ever stop drinking diet soda is if I can switch to red wine in similar quantities!
Wow is it the cold or are you coming to your senses! Bravo. I recall “I’ve read the research and I’m not convinced” but you sound ready to dump the junk. Well done.
I appreciate your opinion, but in no way was my intent to be condescending. As an overweight child and teen, believe me I ordered many a diet coke with my Whopper with cheese and French fries. But some do think that if they have a diet soda, it doesn’t matter much what else they eat. My purpose in writing this article was to share recent research on the topic of weight and diet soda. I hope the article helps people at least think about whether it’s worth potential risks to consume diet soda; more importantly, this article was written for those who consume high levels of diet soda each and every day to at least provide information and perhaps help them think twice about whether they’ll drink it at all, or if they’ll really make an effort to curb their intake.
Very nice post!
Yes I drink more diet soda daily than I care to admit. I have just lost 20 lbs. on WW and I am satisfied with my weight, however I would like to be able to break the “diet soda addiction” as I call it. I have tried this several times unsuccessfully and generally felt awful when not drinking the soda. Any suggestions?
Elisa, very nicely written. I found this via your Twitter post along with the WebMD article you cited. I hear so much in the news about artfifical sweeteners as a cause for obesity that it is easy to count this as fact.
As a dietitian, I want to follow the science and based on the WebMD article that connection has not been established. The article did paraphrase the two researchers who were interviewed, Popkin and Mattes, “concede that use of no-calorie sweeteners probably does promote a preference for sweeter-tasting foods. But they conclude that it’s not clear whether that affects weight gain — and they say calorie-free sweeteners could help people control their weight, if used instead of higher-calorie sweeteners.”
Bottom line, it’s the total diet that matters and all things in moderation.