To quote what the original poster asked:

Thats why I posted an article I recently read.

And I also said with most things in life moderation is key. If one must drink a diet soda drink maybe 1-2 a day. No need to over do it just because it says diet on the package (or low fat or low cal whatever).

What??????????

LOL

I found this online concerning aspartame and brain cells. Says the claim that it kills brain cells, causes MS etc is all false:
http://www.snopes.com/medical/toxins/aspartame.asp

Well no I haven't come to a CONCLUSION but it's a question I have.....since I started thinking more about health and nutrition and less about crash dieting I tend to look at ingredients and stuff and think of them more critically.

I don't know anything about that stuff on the Diet Coke label....but just looking at it, I feel better putting mineral water or plain iced tea in my body!

But then again I really never really LOVED it, I just drank it because it was "diet." For me it was kind of a mindless habit I guess. I used to really go through that stuff!

About the time I started reading/questioning my consumption of Diet Coke, I came across a timeline about how it got approved, it turned out some questions about brain tumors kept it off the market until the mid 80's, it was actually one of my least favorite politicians ever, Donald Rumsfeld who called in some political markers to get this approval and had some financial gain from it - when I found that out, I never touched another one, LOL!

Actually I don't know how when we had so many people harmed by Vioxx, hormone replacement therapy etc. people could think "well, it wouldn't be approved if there was any danger to it."

Also I don't know if this has come up yet but both my dentists (regular and pediatric) said that diet soda harms the teeth almost as much as regular soda.

K8-EEE -- Sorry if I was confusing! The conclusion I was talking about was related to this statement:

You seemed to imply that there was a relationship between weight and drinking diet coke. My point was that if lots of skinny people drink it too, then people of all sizes drink it, and there's no relationship between weight and whether people drink Diet Coke. And, if there's no relationship, then there's nothing to point to for a cause -- there has to be a relationship first before we can determine causality...

The issue of whether it's bad for us or not (healthwise) is a whole 'nother issue...


Amen!

Yeah those are two different questions for sure.....

But it is an interesting aside that I didn't know until my dentists told me, that overdoing the Diet Coke is like "a constant acid attack on your teeth" and a "recipe for cavities." Just FY everybody's I! I knew it about the sugary soda, of course, but apparently the phosphorous (I think that's what it was) and acidic qualities of Diet Coke is just as bad as the sugary stuff on the teeth....

My daughter still drinks it despite my disapproval - and the dentist told me these tips to minimize damage

1 - One a day MAX --
2 - Drink it all at once, don't nurse it for long periods of time
3- Drink it on the rocks so as to water down the offending chems somewhat
4 - Brush your teeth if possible afterwards, or at least rinse with water

Heck when I was 16 I considered Tab and cigarettes an after school snack so I'm going along with this compromise LOL....

Well, they know that smoking causes cancer....but cigarettes are still on the market. People are even saying second hand smoke causes harm $$$$ JMHO


.

Well the other thing is, corporate & political interests did wage a huge campaign fighting getting that cancer link out there, WAY after they knew that to be true....

It's funny to see those old smoking campaigns, "My Dr. Smokes Charlestons" or whatever...they really made them seem almost medicinal in nature!

I go through a 12 pack in a day or two. I tried Splenda for awhile but it gave me really bad headaches. Or maybe missing the aspartaime did that. I personally think there is something addictive about Diet Coke, though I realize that's not factually based.

Caffeine can be addictive and gives some people withdrawal headaches if they quit cold turkey. That's why I stay away from turkeys . I love my caffeine.

I have read that diet soda mimics the insulin response of drinking regular soda and that people who drink a lot of diet soda have difficulty losing weight.

Also...add me to the anti-Aspartame camp. That stuff is poison and I can attest to this first-hand. I had severe neurological reactions to Aspartame when I was drinking it regularly. I won't ingest any chemical sweeteners now.

I drink Diet Mountain Dew like crazy, and it helps keep me happy while counting calories. I used to be a regular Coke addict, and I replaced it with Diet Mountain Dew. Yes, aspartame is probably harmful (if they're going to prove it, though, I wish they'd hurry up and actually do so), but being obese was harmful too. I won't lose weight if I have to deprive myself of things I like, so I drink diet soda, I eat sugar, I eat refined carbs. My body could certainly be healthier if I didn't do those things, but I've lost 105 pounds and run a half marathon, so I must be in reasonably good shape. Bring on the diet soda! (Oh, and yes, I drink tons of water too).

To the OP, are you consuming enough water? Even to make up for any caffeine in diet sodas? Caffeine can cause mild dehydration which will stall metabolism. I would consider diet soda a "treat" and try not to drink too much.

Jennie -- Actually, the recent research suggests that the dehydration effects they thought caffeine causes are actually not so -- when you drink caffeine there is still a big net liquid gain (though people may experience a diuretic effect when they first start drinking caffeine, our bodies quickly adapt).

A lot of places that used to caution against caffeine are now moving to count caffeinated beverages as water (though it's a slow change, it seems).

Though, there may be other reasons people want to avoid caffeine and/or the additives in sodas!