Wow wow WOW....... check this out guys:

http://www.thatsfit.com/2008/01/04/g...regular-sodas/

Kinda makes ya not wanna drink coke, yea? Whoa. Scary stuff.

'Course, this shouldn't come as a surprise... unnatural things are, well, unnatural for our bodies. No wonder science has found that preservatives and whatnot aren't exactly great for our health, and are linked to many problems. Anyhoo, I'm not a big soda drinker myself, but I used to be...boy am I glad I quit that habit!

I drink pop once in a while, but I prefer juice Now i know why - Thanks for posting.

Ew, yeah, that's a good reason for me to stay away from soda indefinitely... thanks for sharing...

I drink nothing but water or water with a bit of cranberry juice

I'm not trying to be contrary just to be contrary, but... so who is this Brian White? A faceless blogger? No M.D. or letters suggesting he is a nutritionist or scientist of any kind. Apparently he also doesn't bother to read/edit his own stuff before posting. I quote:

"Since sugar is not present in most diet soft drinks, gout of not a concern." (emphasis added by me.) Nice sentence there Brian.

Frankly anybody who is still wasting calories on regular soda is a mystery to me, but take this whole article with a grain of salt. (Although Brian probably has a blog entry about that as well )

Not sure about that article. I had attacks of gout as early as 26. It's usually caused by foods high in purines (you can google it). I only remember that peas, lentils and beer were high in purines. It was the worst pain I ever had in my life - worse than any earache or toothache. I had it in my toe and couldn't put a shoe on or even barely walk. Very very odd for a woman of 26 to have a gout attack - don't know what I was doing wrong - but that was 30 years ago and I haven't had an attack since - maybe because I discovered diet soda??

http://arthritis.about.com/b/2008/01...a-does-not.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uric_acid

These sources also mention soda as a contributing factor to gout; I'm sure others do too. Good point though; I always research stuff, can't be too careful about what others say. I have an inquisitive mind But this does appear to be true.

and plus remember, that no one said soda is the sole cause of, but rather, one of the causes, a contributing factor, if you will.

And you are exactly right...diet soda is not a cause, from this and other sites I've been visiting tonight. Definitely a better choice.

Since he doesn't actually site the research, it's hard to guess whether there is a direct link or whether it is a correlational coincidence. Perhaps people who eat a lot of high purine foods (and thus are more prone to gout), also tend to drink a lot of soda - doesn't mean there is a causal link. Sort of like increased ice cream consumption is correlated with drowning deaths (no causal link of course, both happen more in summer).

there are direct links..take a peek at the other links I gave. I'm reading others now, so if you need to see those too, just holla! Point is, soda is not good for us, it could cause gout, amongst other horrors hahaha, and besides, we just don't need it. If you must drink soda, from what I've read, diet is safe Chug-a-lug!

Ahhhh! I hate soda with a passion...and drink about 64 ounces a day. So that means about 900 calories everyday goes toward pop...about 1100 for food.

Run away from soda because it is ADDICTIVE. Not just the caffeine...I'm addicted to the whole package. The delicious sugary taste, the burn, how it tastes with certain foods, etc. I'm so physically addicted to this stuff, if I go one hour from waking without drinking my Mountain Dew, I get a migraine. If I go 4 hours, I get the shakes. If I go 8 hours, I have nausea. I know this is from the caffeine withdrawl. It's truly painful experience.

One time I tried caffeine pills so I could give up the soda and all those extra calories. And that works until you get addicted to the caffeine pills which are extremely expensive. Yeaaaah....I have an extremely addictive personality. If I ever get brave enough to go cold turkey again (know darn well how sick it's gonna make me), I will never drink pop ever again. I'm not just the kind of person who can have 1 a day.

If you really wanna be scared out of drinking pop, KEEP READING. lol.

One time I had extreme tachycardia (fast heartbeat) and such an irregular heartbeat, I had to go to the ER. The doctor kept asking if I had done methamphetamine or crack cocaine...he thought I was OD'ing and said I was at risk for stroke. I told him about the caffeine and he said that probably did it. Out of nowhere my usual amount of caffeine was just too much for my body. The doctor said he had seen it happen before...people's hearts just randomly freakout due to the amount of caffeine they drink.

So DON'T DRINK IT! lol I hate it with a passion but I just can't stop.

WOW that is too scary girl! You know, when I quit smoking, I had to give up coffee cause I associated it with lighting up, and so here I was, going through cigarette and caffeine withdrawals at the same time yeeesh! I was miserable LOL, but I did it. When I met James he was a lot like you...always had a dew in his hand. But I do the grocery shopping, so I just quit buying it, and he quit on his own. I've even tried to reward myself with a soda (yes I know, not a good reward but to me it was), and I take around two or three sips, and I can't stand it, way too sweet. Keeps me wired for hours lol!

CherryBlossom - Diet Mountain dew has the same caffeine, why not switch to diet?