Contrary to popular belief, numerous recent studies have found that artificial sweeteners (found in diet coke for example) such as aspartame can:

– Stimulate your appetite
– Increase carbohydrate cravings
– Stimulate fat storage and weight gain

Artificial sweeteners like sucralose, aspartame and sucralose also tend to do the opposite of what they are marketed as doing. Several studies have linked consumption of diet sodas, which are loaded with synthetic sweetening chemicals, to cause weight gain rather than weight loss, which may come as a surprise to many people.

Examples of Diet Drinks

When taken at face value, diet soda seems like a health-conscious choice. It saves you the 140-plus calories you’d find in a sugary soft drink while still satisfying your urge for something sweet with artificial sweeteners like aspartame, saccharin, and sucralose. But there’s more to this chemical cocktail than meets the eye.

A study, published in the January 2013 issue of the journal Appetite, was done by a Brazilian research team with the Faculty of Medicine of the Federal University do Rio Grande do Sul. Rats were fed plain yogurt sweetened with either aspartame, saccharin, or sugar, plus their regular rat chow, for 12 weeks. “Results showed that addition of either saccharin or aspartame to yogurt resulted in increased weight gain compared to addition of sucrose (sugar), however total caloric intake was similar among groups,” the researchers write.

Artificial sweeteners have more intense flavour than real sugar, this means over time products like diet coke dull our senses to naturally sweet foods like fruit, says Brooke Alpert, RD, author of The Sugar Detox. Even more troubling, these sugar stand-ins have been shown to have the same effect on your body as sugar. “Artificial sweeteners trigger insulin, which sends your body into fat storage mode and leads to weight gain,” Brooke says. essentially it confuses your body.

Diet coke and other diet drinks are calorie-free, however this won’t necessarily help you lose weight. Researchers from the University of Texas found that over the course of about 10 years, diet soda drinkers had a 70% greater increase in waist circumference compared with non-drinkers. And get this: participants who wolfed down two or more soda drinks a day experienced a massive 500% greater increase. The way artificial sweeteners confuse the body may play a part, but another reason might be psychological, says Minnesota-based dietitian Cassie Bjork. When you know you’re not consuming any liquid calories, it might be easier to justify to yourself to munch down a double cheeseburger or extra slice of pizza.

Some more examples of Diet Drinks

Drinking one diet soda a day was associated with a 36% increased risk of metabolic syndrome and diabetes in a University of Minnesota study.

When you drink diet soda, you’re not taking in any calories—but you’re also not taking anything in that does your body any good, either. The best no-calorie drink is just plain water, which is essential for many of our bodily processes, so replacing it with diet soda is a negative thing.

Early studies on aspartame and anecdotal evidence suggests that this artificial sweetener may trigger headaches in some people.

According to a case study published in the journal General Dentistry. The research compared the mouths of a cocaine-user, a methamphetamine-user, and a habitual diet-soda drinker, and found the same level of tooth erosion in each of them. The culprit here is citric acid, which weakens and destroys tooth enamel over time.

Another recent study presented at a the American Academy of Neurology meeting found that over the course of a decade, people who drank more than four cans of soda a day were 30% more likely to develop depression than those who steered clear of sugary drinks. The correlation held true for both regular and diet drinks, but researchers were sure to note that the risk appeared to be greater for those who primarily drank diet sodas and fruit punches. Although this type of study can’t prove cause and effect, its findings are worth considering.

Don’t be fooled by advertising. These underweight, starving girls probably don’t touch Diet Coke.

Women over 60 are already at a greater risk for osteoporosis than men, and Tufts University researchers found that drinking soda, including diet soda, compounds the issue. Female soda drinkers had nearly 4% lower bone mineral density in their hips than women who didn’t drink soda.

In 2006, a study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that soda intake (all kinds, not just diet) was associated with low bone-mineral density in women.

Only one diet soft drink a day could boost your risk of having a vascular event such as stroke, heart attack, or vascular death, according to the researchers from the University of Miami and Columbia University. Their study found that diet soda devotees were 43% more likely to have experienced a vascular event than those who drank none.

All you ever wanted to know about Coke! 6 videos

Here is a great video to start you off with. Have a quick watch of an advert for Coke if it had to say exactly what Coke really is and what it will do to you

Next up is an experiment where an egg is put into a cup of Coke for a year. OK, a little extreme putting it in there for a whole year. Be interesting to see what happens over a shorter period of time but take a look as it is still interesting.

here is some facts about what’s in coke zero.

Staying with Diet coke. Here is a more in depth video from a few years ago but obviously still relevant. Aspartame is a sweetener that is used in thousands of different products. There is a lot of controversy regarding it’s safety. Quite frankly it comes down to who you believe. The companies making significant fortunes from selling it, or the so called conspiracy theorists. Regardless, are you willing to put your health at risk? Do you enjoy it enough to give yourself cancer further down the line.

Here are some interesting facts on coke. What I like about this is that he looks at only one coke a day. Quite often we think we are doing something in moderation but in reality, over time it really adds up. I love my coffee and I won’t have more than two a day generally however I am sure that if I added that up over a month I am not doing my poor body any favours at all. Have a listen.

Here is another video on what happens to your body when you drink a coke. Quite an interesting process of how the body tries to the cope with what you have just shoved down your throat.

Coke is the most valuable brand in history, and “Coca-Cola” is the world’s second-most recognized word after “hello.” However, the beverage itself is an absolute poison to the human metabolism. Coke is very acidic, it’s only one point higher on the pH scale than battery acid. Consequently it can clean surfaces equivalent to and often better than many toxic household cleaners.

I have always found it strange that it’s cheaper and easier to buy back home in Zimbabwe and other third world countries than it is to access clean water. Coke tries to convince consumers and entire nations that it is an “environmental company” when really it is linked to pollution, water shortages, and disease.

Unfortunately, people who consume soft drinks such as Coke apparently have a 48% increase in heart attack and stroke risk, compared to people who did not drink the coke or other sodas. A study published in the journal Respirology reveals that soft drink consumption is also associated with lung and breathing disorders including asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Still like coke?

The carbonation in Coke causes calcium loss in the bones through a 3-stage process:

1. The carbonation irritates the stomach lining.

2. The stomach adds the only antacid at its disposal: calcium. It gets this from the blood reducing the available calcium to the rest of the body which it has to replenish by taking it from the bones.

3. If it did not do this, muscular and brain function would be severely impaired. Obviously you end up with weak bones.

But, the story doesn’t end there. Another problem with most Coke is it also contain phosphoric acid (not the same as the carbonation, which is carbon dioxide mixed with the water). Phosphoric acid also causes a draw-down on the body’s store of calcium.

There are two ways that Coke softens your bones:

1. Carbonation reduces the calcium in the bones.

2. Phosphoric acid reduces the calcium in the bones.

Esophageal cancer was very rare two generations ago — now, it’s common. The basic mechanism works as follows:

1. Mechanical damage to cells is a huge risk factor for cancer. It’s why asbestos particles, for example, cause lung cancer.

2. All soft drinks cause acid reflux (stomach acid rising up past the esophageal valve). This is more pronounced when the body is horizontal (as in sleeping), but the sheer volume of Coke and soft drinks consumed by people in this day and age means the acid reflux is well past the danger point.

3. tomach acid dissolves tissue — that’s its purpose. The stomach lining does not extend into the esophagus, so the lower esophagus gets damaged by acid far more frequently in soft drink users than in non soft drink users. This results in a radical increase in cell mutations, along with a far higher level of free radicals.

So, now when you next have a coke or diet coke, you can do so with more knowledge that you are indeed damaging your body.

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Truth about Sweetners