Question from Bob: If diet soda has no calories, why is it bad to drink it?

Answer from Martha: Glad to see that guys are also reading this blog! You have posted a great question that my clients frequently ask me.

 Here are some of my thoughts on diet soda:

1. I would not tell you that you have to totally avoid diet soda. My concern is for people who are drinking several a day - and drinking little or no water. In general, we drink too much soda and too little water. In 2005, Americans consumed 2 1/2 servings a day of soda (regular and diet). Regular soda contains approximately 9 teaspoons of sugar. While diet soda obviously does not contain sugar,  it contains other ingredients including artificial sweeteners, sodium, phosphoric acid and other preservatives.

2.  While artificial sweeteners have been approved as safe for human consumption by the FDA, many health experts still recommend consuming them in moderation.  While the majority of people consume these ingredients without any problems, a small percentage of people have reported symptoms when consuming these sweeteners, especially aspartame. I think the key word is moderation. I personally consume artificial sweeteners - but try to limit my servings to about 2 a day. This is just my opinion because as I said previously, they are approved as safe by the FDA.

3. Some studies  have suggested that artificial sweeteners may actually contribute towards weight gain. The suggested mechanism for this is that the body may learn to predict caloric intake by the taste and texture of certain foods. When artificial sweeteners are consumed, our body sends the appropriate sweet signals to the brain but never receives the sugary calories (as would be predicted by the sugary taste of the diet soda). So the body then sends out signal increasing the appetite in search of higher caloric foods. However, this theory is not agreed on by all health experts.

4. Have you ever poured soda on a car (probably not!) ? When I was a child, this was a common prank from kids in my neighborhood. The soda actually erodes the enamel on the car. While I do not recommend you pour soda on your car to test this theory out, here is another experiment to try.  Put a nail in a glass of soda and in a few hours, the soda will erode the nail. Think what it is doing to your gastro-intestinal tract. Personally for me, soda is the worst culprit in terms of bringing on pain from my reflux.

6.  Lastly, dentists are concerned about the acid in regular or diet soda wearing away at the enamel of your teeth.

Bottom line, an occasional diet soda is fine, but make water your beverage of choice.

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