grats on your weight loss!
I am kinda big into nutrition so if you want send me a PM if you have any questions
Reason diet soda is bad is because of Aspartame. Its a terrible ingredient in the soda
It is linked to cancer and heart disease.
Studies also show that people who drink diet soda have a higher chance for high cholestoral an dobesity and other major health problems including diabtes
I've been hearing that, too. I used to drink at least 1 can of diet soda a day, (actually, when I was in law school and not eating, I probably drank 6 cans of diet soda and 13 cups of coffee a day.. but that's another story). Anyway, I have maybe a can or two of diet soda a week now... no weight gain or loss.
But they say that for some reason, the artificial sweetner tricks your body into thinking it's had sugar so your body responds with the same types of cravings it would have if you drank sugar soda... increased appetite, desire for more sugar to maintain the increased glucose in your body.
Personally, I never saw that... I guess I just find it strange that they would find a link between gaining weight and diet soda.
And I think sweet n low (good old fashioned saccharine) is better for you than aspertame.
It's another myth, though oddly another of the few that when they found it was false they aired it on TV ... damn I watch too much TV sometimes. All my friends and I had a good laugh when they first made the cancer claim, even though we hated the taste of it still ... they said Microwave ovens caused cancer, proven wrong ... before that it was TVs, again proven wrong ... lately it's been cell phones, still no real link and will soon be proven wrong. They have to have something to make people afraid of, keeps you going to the doctor.
Aspartame: What You Don't Know Can Hurt You
Aspartame: What You Don't Know Can Hurt You
According to researchers and physicians studying the adverse effects of aspartame, the following chronic illnesses can be triggered or worsened by ingesting of aspartame
2) Brain tumors, multiple sclerosis, epilepsy, chronic fatigue syndrome, parkinson's disease, alzheimer's, mental retardation, lymphoma, birth defects, fibromyalgia, and diabetes.
Aspartame is made up of three chemicals: aspartic acid, phenylalanine, and methanol. The book "Prescription for Nutritional Healing," by James and Phyllis Balch, lists aspartame under the category of "chemical poison." As you shall see, that is exactly what it is.
What Is Aspartame Made Of?
Aspartic Acid (40 percent of aspartame)
Dr. Russell L. Blaylock, a professor of neurosurgery at the Medical University of Mississippi, recently published a book thoroughly detailing the damage that is caused by the ingestion of excessive aspartic acid from aspartame. Blaylock makes use of almost 500 scientific references to show how excess free excitatory amino acids such as aspartic acid and glutamic acid (about 99 percent of monosodium glutamate (MSG) is glutamic acid) in our food supply are causing serious chronic neurological disorders and a myriad of other acute symptoms.(3)
How Aspartate (and Glutamate) Cause Damage
Aspartate and glutamate act as neurotransmitters in the brain by facilitating the transmission of information from neuron to neuron. Too much aspartate or glutamate in the brain kills certain neurons by allowing the influx of too much calcium into the cells. This influx triggers excessive amounts of free radicals, which kill the cells. The neural cell damage that can be caused by excessive aspartate and glutamate is why they are referred to as "excitotoxins." They "excite" or stimulate the neural cells to death.
Aspartic acid is an amino acid. Taken in its free form (unbound to proteins) it significantly raises the blood plasma level of aspartate and glutamate. The excess aspartate and glutamate in the blood plasma shortly after ingesting aspartame or products with free glutamic acid (glutamate precursor) leads to a high level of those neurotransmitters in certain areas of the brain.
The blood brain barrier (BBB), which normally protects the brain from excess glutamate and aspartate as well as toxins, 1) is not fully developed during childhood, 2) does not fully protect all areas of the brain, 3) is damaged by numerous chronic and acute conditions, and 4) allows seepage of excess glutamate and aspartate into the brain even when intact.
The excess glutamate and aspartate slowly begin to destroy neurons. The large majority (75 percent or more) of neural cells in a particular area of the brain are killed before any clinical symptoms of a chronic illness are noticed. A few of the many chronic illnesses that have been shown to be contributed to by long-term exposure to excitatory amino acid damage include:
Multiple sclerosis (MS)
ALS
Memory loss
Hormonal problems
Hearing loss
Epilepsy
Alzheimer's disease
Parkinson's disease
Hypoglycemia
AIDS
Dementia
Brain lesions
Neuroendocrine disorders
The risk to infants, children, pregnant women, the elderly and persons with certain chronic health problems from excitotoxins are great. Even the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB), which usually understates problems and mimics the FDA party-line, recently stated in a review that:
"It is prudent to avoid the use of dietary supplements of L-glutamic acid by pregnant women, infants, and children. The existence of evidence of potential endocrine responses, i.e., elevated cortisol and prolactin, and differential responses between males and females, would also suggest a neuroendocrine link and that supplemental L-glutamic acid should be avoided by women of childbearing age and individuals with affective disorders."(4)
Aspartic acid from aspartame has the same deleterious effects on the body as glutamic acid.
The exact mechanism of acute reactions to excess free glutamate and aspartate is currently being debated. As reported to the FDA, those reactions include
5)
Headaches/migraines
Nausea
Abdominal pains
Fatigue (blocks sufficient glucose entry into brain)
Sleep problems
Vision problems
Anxiety attacks
Depression
Asthma/chest tightness.
Phenylalanine (50 percent of aspartame)
Phenylalanine is an amino acid normally found in the brain. Persons with the genetic disorder phenylketonuria (PKU) cannot metabolize phenylalanine. This leads to dangerously high levels of phenylalanine in the brain (sometimes lethal). It has been shown that ingesting aspartame, especially along with carbohydrates, can lead to excess levels of phenylalanine in the brain even in persons who do not have PKU.
Methanol (aka wood alcohol/poison) (10 percent of aspartame)
Methanol/wood alcohol is a deadly poison. Some people may remember methanol as the poison that has caused some "skid row" alcoholics to end up blind or dead. Methanol is gradually released in the small intestine when the methyl group of aspartame encounter the enzyme chymotrypsin
click link for FULL ARTICLE
but don't worry Kitten, god knows you won't read real data...cause you have all your "biological sciences" wherever they may be
