I’v herd many different stories and opinions when it come to the health factors regarding these drinks, mainly Diet coke/Coke Zero.
I in the process of beginner weights (lifting for 9 weeks) and now I want to work more on cutting, so what I was wondering is, I usually consume around 600ml-1Lr of these drinks per day.
Are these drinks bad for you?
Aspertame is included in all of these drinks, which is the downfall. I don’t know the specifics, because frankly I don’t care, but I hear that it is toxic and has a long list of unwanted effects.
[quote]hackattack wrote:
I’v herd many different stories and opinions when it come to the health factors regarding these drinks, mainly Diet coke/Coke Zero.
I in the process of beginner weights (lifting for 9 weeks) and now I want to work more on cutting, so what I was wondering is, I usually consume around 600ml-1Lr of these drinks per day.
Are these drinks bad for you? [/quote]
That one isn’t about diet coke, but it’s still interesting, and I don’t think the differences between a coke and a diet coke are that much.
[quote]Tmmmey wrote:
hackattack wrote:
I’v herd many different stories and opinions when it come to the health factors regarding these drinks, mainly Diet coke/Coke Zero.
I in the process of beginner weights (lifting for 9 weeks) and now I want to work more on cutting, so what I was wondering is, I usually consume around 600ml-1Lr of these drinks per day.
Are these drinks bad for you?
That one isn’t about diet coke, but it’s still interesting, and I don’t think the differences between a coke and a diet coke are that much.
[/quote]
Coke contains lots of sugar, diet coke contains lots of aspartame.
Coke has over 40kcals per 100ml, diet coke has less than 1kcal per 100ml.
Diet coke is not that good for you, on the other habd it is probably better than normal coke. As with most things, exercise moderation and you’ll be ok.
I read somewhere that coke (and diet coke) was associated with reduced bone density and strength in women (but not in men) - does anyone know where I can find this? Since I read it my gf has not touched a drop of the stuff.
Link to pubmed - study abstract relating to Cola and reduced bone density in women. In case anyone is interested. The same result was not observed in men.
Just don’t go there…
I work for Coca Cola UK…
They are trying hard to sell the stuff to the staff as good for you… I’ll see if they have any of the blurb laying around the canteen tonight where they are trying to say how great it is.
It really is just chemical crap. If a case of concentrated coke syrup hits the concrete it eats it within half an hour…MMMM lovely and healthy stuff…
The diet stuff is awful really. Aspartame, phosphoric acid, e numbers for colouring. all chemical. The phosphoric acid used is delivered in glass lined tankers because it is so corrosive and the driver has to wear full haz-chem gear to unload it into the storage tanks.
As for the difference between diet and regular… A lorry load of diet coke weighs in at 28 tonnes (1000Kg). The same load in regular weighs 29 tonnes. 1000Kg more of pure sugar. Coke UK is the biggest buyer of sugar in the country…
Now tell me it is healthy…
I had a look round at work… they have replaced all those leaflets with healthy eating and get fit at work type stuff…
I’ll look around the house, see if I brought one home to show the wife and kids to demonstrate a prime example of major corporation bullshit.
Cheers thanks for the info, I had no idea
allmost makes me sick how much I enjoyed it lol
[quote]hackattack wrote:
Are these drinks bad for you? [/quote]
I get migraines. My neurologist told me to stay away from aspartame and I rarely get them anymore. It is odd to note that he mentioned a lot of his patients would drink a regular Dr Pepper and it would alleviate the pain. Caffeine helps migraines.
As for the aspartame:
http://www.newstarget.com/008797.html
As far as I’m aware, soft drinks in Europe are made with actual sugar, not HFCS as they are in the US. I would say that because of this European soft drinks are a bit less shit than their US counterparts 
As for diet drinks, maybe you can use them as a stepping stone to gradually wean yourself off of soft drinks once and for all.
This question gets posted a lot, and people always reply with the same unsubstantiated crap.
I’ve YET I read a convincing study that even comes close to suggesting that artificial sweeteners are bad for you. Aspartame’s purported “carcinogen” effects studied on rats are with obscene quantities. We’re talking hundreds of litres of diet soda per day for a person.
There are a few acids in most soft drinks that can, read CAN have a negative effect on bone density, but that’s purely a result of the acidic qualities. Take some calcium and you’ll be fine.
Diet soda is almost entirely water, with a few miniscule amounts of various sweeteners, coloring and flavoring agents added. It has virtually no nutritional content whatsoever.
As long as the rest of your diet is in order, drink as much of the stuff as you want.
The bone density thing is probably because soft drinks are acidic. And women are already at much greater risk for osteoporosis because of hormones.
Anyway, as always, moderation is key. Diet soda isn’t healthy by any means, but it probably won’t do any significant damage if your intake isn’t terribly high.
Personally, I probably drink too much. But it being my only bad dietary habit, I’m not particularly concerned.
Why wait until a final verdict comes in on this stuff? I suggest you find an alternative.
a semi-related story .
while riding my mountain-bike today , I saw a 250 pound(about 5’5’') woman using a riding-mower , with a bottle of coke in her hand . the lot she was cutting was a smaller then average sized city lot (less than a half-hour with push/gas mower) . wish I had a camera with me at the time .
heres my input as far as soda consumption goes . after I quit smoking , I gained about 20 pounds in the first year(hadnt begun lifting yet) . I joined a gym , starting with just Cybex machines , minimal cardio , and a little raquetball . based on info from here and else-where , I cut just a few things from my regular diet : fastfood , pre-pared entrees , and soda .
the 20 pounds went away like nothing . dont do much actual cardio anymore , but I havent gained much fat back . replaced the machines with real weights .
so in a nutshell , I think all soda is bad for the humans…period
Water is healthy and practically free by comparison.
As to actually bad for you, who knows yet? There seems to be quite a bit of conflicting information out there.
I saw this posted on a newsgroup a while back …
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Weekend/Story?id=3191903
The one part of this article that would worry me if I was in that position is the part that reads …
Sanchez says that Diet Coke helps her make it through her day.“I really like the fizzy of the diet soda. I really like the coldness and the taste and the sweetness,” she said. "If anything goes wrong, I will just grab a diet soda and it’s all better.
This may be a psychological addiction and not an actual physical addiction but it would scare the hell out of me!
Personally I wouldn’t worry too much about drinking it as long as it’s taken in moderation - you need to decide what moderation is for you though.
I know for myself as a diabetic that the full sugar drinks would be more damaging to my health than the occasional diet drink. For the sake of my health I have had to get my diet right and this has meant cutting back on sugars and high GI carbs. Sugars I can replace with artificial sweeteners but I use these only when I really feel the need for something sweet. I’ve found that if you can get yourself off these ultra sweet foodstuffs that after quite a short time you stop craving them because you can taste the natural sweetness in other foods much better.
Water really does taste pretty good when you don’t crave sweet stuff any more! Other than that, green tea is great and of course, milk.
Moderation in everything except laughter.