Diet Coke Versus Regular Coke (Coca Cola)

[blitzkrieg]

Which is the worst, from a scientific perspective? I have read mixed information, ranging from "Diet Coke is bad/the worst because of artificial sweeteners and that it can change the gut microbiome in a negative way" and that "Coca Cola regular is bad because of its high sugar level and the body's response to control that?"

What would your choice be out of the two in an effort to minimize the health risks associated with either of these drinks?

 

[Outdated]

When artificial sweeteners started being more commonly used back in the 90s I instinctively avoided them, I've always had a bit of a thing about chemical additives in foods and will avoid them where ever possible. Some of those early sweeteners proved my point and they were soon banned in Australia because of health concerns. Quite a lot of US products are illegal for commercial sale in Australia because of the chemical additives used.

Coke is the only soft drink I drink, I don't like any of the others at all. So if a fast food place only sells Pepsi I'm not going to eat there. But it has to be the original Coke, or as original as we're allowed to have these days, they're not allowed to put the coke in coke any more.

If offered a Coke Zero I'll drink water instead.

[Edit] Yes, this is perception bias and not science, but perception bias is how we maintain lessons learned in life so you can throw all the scientific jargon you like at me and I'm still not going to drink it.

 

[Raggamuffin]

I don't like all these Zero drinks. They taste bad with all those sweeteners in them.

The fact they felt like needing to invent chemicals that are huge multiples sweeter than sugar is beyond me.

Mind you, the food industry in general is pretty toxic. You could take three quarters of the foods in a supermarket and they'd all be highly processed and full of chemical additives and flavours and bulking agents.

As for the fizzy brown, I've never been a huge fan. But I radically cleaned up my diet this year, after spending most of my adult life eating my feelings with these ultra processed poisons that fills the brain and taste buds with all manner of feel good.

The less bad food you eat, the less you start to crave it.

Ed

 

[Outdated]

You could take three quarters of the foods in a supermarket and they'd all be highly processed and full of chemical additives and flavours and bulking agents.

This is just one example, I grew up with Mum making her own jam, we had a variety of fruit trees in the back yard. The whole point of making jam was that it was a way of preserving fruit so that you could still have fruit in winter. If you paid attention when bottling the jam and did it properly jars of jam can last for many years, even decades.

You won't find a jar of jam in the supermarkets that doesn't have preservatives added. Why?

 

[Magna]

It's been years, but I recall reading something that sounds made up about Diet Coke. That the artificial sweetener exposed to heat (e.g. sitting in a hot warehouse during the summer or in hot climates, etc) converts to something like formaldehyde to the point that people who drink it incessantly don't decompose the way a person normally would.

Maybe that's not correct? Maybe it's an urban legend? Maybe there's information out there that will say the opposite and that it's in reality a health drink....

 

[velociraptor]

I like the odd Zero soft drink and prefer them to the sugary ones now. I try to limit myself to one per day and I am making an effort to drink more water (bleh).

 

[Shamar]

Which is the worst, from a scientific perspective? I have read mixed information, ranging from "Diet Coke is bad/the worst because of artificial sweeteners and that it can change the gut microbiome in a negative way" and that "Coca Cola regular is bad because of its high sugar level and the body's response to control that?"

What would your choice be out of the two in an effort to minimize the health risks associated with either of these drinks?

One time my boss saw me with a Coke and nachos for lunch. He said that junk was going to kill me. I replied yes, but look at all the money they can save on embalming.

 

[Misty Avich]

Often the people who criticise me the most about drinking coke or scratching the inside of my ears with a q-tip are actually smokers, drinkers or drug-addicts. Pot calling the kettle black, I'd say. And I think cigarettes and weed are more harmful to your body than putting q-tips in your ears, and, well, we don't sell alcohol to kids but we sell coke to them, so it can't be all that bad.

Note: Not aimed at the OP lol, just giving my two cents.

 

[Dillon]

I mainly drink zero sugar sodas due to the extremely low calorie count and have stayed on them for 3 years now. During that time I’ve weighed at 170 but dropped and stayed at 155 or less as I’ve noticed not consuming the heavy sugary sodas and makes me eat less so it has it’s benefits.

That said though if we want to talk about which one is healthier we can’t just assume that one brand of soda is “healthier” than the other based on the ingredients itself but the amount or dosage of the soda consumed at a time. There’s always talk about how diet or especially the zero sugar sodas do more harm than regular sodas because of the aspertame but people don’t take into account how many bottle or cans you would have to drink to cause any minor health impacts. You would have to drink at least 20 cans a day where each can is 12 ounces with 100-200 milligrams of aspertame in each can. Assuming you are gulping down that many cans a day you’ll be absorbing 3,500 milligrams of aspartame into your body each day.

To me not one food or drink is inherently bad for an individual so as longer it is taken in moderation. I can say off topic here that I’m not a fan of chocolate because of its texture because I don’t consider it unhealthy as I’m not going to sit down and eat and entire bag of Reese’s peanut butter cups that contain 60 pieces in each bag. I do like ice cream and I will eat a whole pint in one sitting of just plain vanilla while watching tv and feeling bloated afterwards.

Geez I’m not only veering off topic but now I’m making myself hungry lol

 

[FilterFreq]

I really like the "healthy sodas" (I realize that's not only an oxymoron but also borderline deceptive), that have been cropping up lately like Ollipop, Poppi, etc. Even though they use a mixture of stevia and sugar, most of the carb content comes from fiber (chicory, I think), and it seems like a pretty good alternative to me. Although, I'm kind of addicted to them now so it's probably a relationship that has to end soon anyway

With that said, just some lemon in a sparkling water can made a great soft-drink alternative. There's really no such thing as a 'healthy soda', and there's a lot of downsides to both sugar and sugar alternatives. Pitting the two against each other is like asking what kind of venomous snake you'd rather be bitten by!

 

[Xinyta]

As a ex-soda drinker. If I had to pick between regular and diet. I'd pick regular any day of the week, over diet.

Anything 'diet' or 'zero' has a caveat to it. A nasty, chemical lab, artificial sugar induced caveat. Though regular soda isn't too much better for us. But hey. Everyone likes what they like.

Personally glad to be off the stuff myself, though.

 

[Xinyta]

I really like the "healthy sodas" (I realize that's not only an oxymoron but also borderline deceptive), that have been cropping up lately like Ollipop, Poppi, etc. Even though they use a mixture of stevia and sugar, most of the carb content comes from fiber (chicory, I think), and it seems like a pretty good alternative to me. Although, I'm kind of addicted to them now so it's probably a relationship that has to end soon anyway

I really never really got into those newer 'healthy' sodas. Mostly because they came out after I kicked the stuff. So the idea of anything 'soda' is a hard no for me.

The Big Food industry will not take me alive. Not that my health matters to them anyway.

 

[NB79]

i can't stand the taste of diet coke compared to normal.

 

[Metalhead]

Old school CocaCola that contained cocaine as an ingredient. That is how we party here on Autism Forums.

 

[AspieChris]

Sweetener in Diet Coke is Aspartame. It shuts off the signal from the stomach to the brain that says you’re too full to eat more.

Many people suffer from food addiction, and it can be just as strong as alcohol or tobacco. The only real difference is that one’s stomach can only hold a finite amount of food. Also… cheese has been proven to create a similar effect in the brain as heroin (obviously much weaker).

So….. how do you feed your food addiction another double bacon cheeseburger when you’re too full to eat more???? Diet Coke!

Go into any McDonald’s. Obese people drink the most Diet Coke.

No thanks.

 

[vergil96]

I choose regular sugar, because I'm wary of artificial additives. But I try to avoid sweet drinks altogether, they're not healthy. I drink tea, coffee and water.

 

[Judge]

Love Coke, but seldom drink it any more. Can't stand Diet Coke.

 

[vergil96]

Love Coke, but seldom drink it any more. Can't stand Diet Coke.

It tastes a lot worse, doesn't it?

 

[Judge]

It tastes a lot worse, doesn't it?

Actually most "diet" drinks taste bad to me. Though on occasion I'll have something like Fresca.

 

[Aspychata]

l love Fresca. l spent most of my mom days making everything from scratch. Now l buy ready made which is horrible in general. But l have thrown in diet coke to certain other drinks knowing it's a chemical bath.