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Revealed: WHO aspartame safety panel linked to alleged Coca-Cola front group
(www.theguardian.com)
this post was submitted on 17 Aug 2023
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We've studied this chemical literally more than any other food additive and there's still nothing definitive. Also mice are not a good stand-in for humans. They are really only used for acute toxicity and such.
My gripe is that swapping out sugars for fake ones doesn't seem healthy long term regardless of any direct impact aspartame itself may have. Just have less sugar imo.
Edit: didn't realise how controversial that soft opinion would be lol. Look, drink what you want but I'm going to stick with water unless it's a treat. I know it's not healthy for me to scratch the dopamine itch with sugary tasting treats all the time; fake sugar or not. My perspective is less about trying to say, diet soda is bad but that there must be better alternatives to suggest than just sweetener filled copies?
How do you mean?
I've heard of things like the sensation of sweetness being decoupled from satiation leading to a greater urge for sweetness in compensation, but at least personally that's not happening to me lol.
It's pretty acidic which sucks for your teeth for one but that wasn't what I was trying to say
Yeah I just really mean as a diet as a whole though. If you have an issue with sugar intake then you're probs drinking way too much sugary drinks. To suggest just swapping out sugars for fake ones I don't think is best choice to suggest for most people.
I think there's probably tons of other issues too just aside from the excess glucose. So fix the diet not the sugar.
Yeah I agree it's fine that a most of these chemicals are safe in moderation and well researched. My gripe is the hot swap fix-all attitude that people can take from it.
That makes sense. I'm coming at this as someone who drinks diet coke because they like it rather than to avoid drinking sugar.
Amusingly it's the fact that diet coke is relatively less sweet that makes me like it.
And even if it's true, it means you'll eat the sugar instead of drinking it, and then you'll be able to ingest less sugar before feeling full, plus you probably get some fibre with it as well which helps a lot.
I think what they mean is we shouldn't encourage people to drink what is essentially candy water. Doesn't matter if it has sugar or aspartame. It's still candy
Replacing an unhealthy habit with a less unhealthy habit is still unhealthy (written as I drink a Dr Pepper zero)
Why not though? The health impact of moderate diet soda consumption seems to be pretty negligible.
Diet sodas still aren't water, and they are pretty acidic. They eat away at your teeth, and aren't great at actually hydrating you. It significantly reduces the harm from drinking candy water, but it doesn't eliminate them