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Coca Cola :ZERO: how healthy is it ?

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Chmpocalypse

Blizzard
I dont think there is an actual problem with drinking them unless you get side effects (headaches and caffeine addiction)

Source

There seems to be a pretty big correlation between those who enjoy diet soda are more likely to not have healthy eating habits.

Are you familiar with the concept of "correlation is not causation"?
 

jmdajr

Member
Are you familiar with the concept of "correlation is not causation"?

Yes.

The reason these people are probbaly fat is because they started off drinking regular soda first, and now they are on the diet version to try to get off of it. And they are probably enjoying the diet soda with a Large pizza hut pizza.
 

Oversoul

Banned
Yes.

The reason these people are probbaly fat is because they started off drinking regular soda first, and now they are on the diet version to try to get off of it. And they are probably enjoying the diet soda with a Large pizza hut pizza.

I love that one episode of Rock's Modern Life where an obese character orders some huge ass menu full of shit and then adds "..oh, and a diet coke because I want to stay in shape".
 

oti

Banned
off the top of my head, i can prolly think of at least 100 substitutes for milk

Oh man there's like Coconut CHOCOLATE Milk but it costs 3€ - THREE EUROS - for one litre. Hey look man, I'm a student, not Beyoncé. But I want to try it. So hard.
 

jmdajr

Member
I hate shit like this. Just because a scientist accepts money from a company, doesn't make them a shill. I take loads of money from big pharma, but my results are my results, I'm not going to manipulate it if they don't like how it looks, it doesn't work that way.

Coca-Cola is trying to manipulate not just public opinion but policy and political decisions. Its tactics echo those used by the tobacco and alcohol industries, which have also tried to influence the scientific process by funding apparently independent groups. It's a conflict of interest that flies in the face of good practice."

Marion Nestle, a professor of nutrition, food studies and public health at New York University, told The Times: "In my opinion no scientist should accept funding from Coca-Cola. It's totally compromising. Period. End of discussion.


Anyhow, how do you feel about scientist's paid to deny global warming?

You absolutely can be a shill.

also

Coca-Cola Chief Scientist Steps Down Amid Obesity Research Controversy

However, newly uncovered emails show that the research done by GEBN were influenced by Coca-Cola. In fact, the emails between James Hill, GEBN president and University of Colorado professor and Rhona Applebaum, chief health and science officer for Coca-Cola, show that the research funding aims to stress the importance of diet and exercise and change Coke's image of being a health hazard.
 

spekkeh

Banned
Diet coke is like lager or cheap wine. Life's too short to be drinking piss versions of the good stuff. Go quality or go bust. If you're afraid you're drinking too much coca cola, moderate or work out more, but don't settle for Zero.

I occasionally drink Zero if I've already had something bad that day
 

Makonero

Member
I love that one episode of Rock's Modern Life where an obese character orders some huge ass menu full of shit and then adds "..oh, and a diet coke because I want to stay in shape".

I love the Frasier episode where he's trying to lose weight for a contest and is aghast that he actually gained weight. "I don't understand! I added a salad to every meal!"
 

Davey Cakes

Member
Diet coke is like lager or cheap wine. Life's too short to be drinking piss versions of the good stuff. Go quality or go bust. If you're afraid you're drinking too much coca cola, moderate or work out more, but don't settle for Zero.

I occasionally drink Zero if I've already had something bad that day
Piss versions of the good stuff?

Coke Zero IS the good stuff.

Diet Coke is the "piss version" of Coke Zero, though. Same with Diet Pepsi being the "piss version" of Pepsi Max. Unless you're getting it from the soda fountain.

"Go quality." There's nothing quality about regular Coke. Maybe if you were talking about Mexican Coke...but otherwise, I don't think there's anything inherently better about sugar soda. It doesn't really taste that much better than diet, especially after you're already used to diet.
 

jmdajr

Member
If your going to fucking kill yourself...

At least drink Mexican Coke. Otherwise HFCS version is not worth the damage.
 
This thread really is a re-run of all the previous ones. it's a fascinating glimpse into not wanting to let go of a belief.


Yes, Diet Sodas might eventually turn out to be unhealthy when new science emerges, but you can make that argument for just about anything. "It's only healthy until it isn't, and so I am gonna use that sthick to not have my belief system challenged".
But right now it is the most well-documented nutritional substance in existence.

Since stress, lack of sleep and a host of other reasons are clinically linked to overweight and poor health, spiking insulin levels, increased appetite and low blood sugar, I think condemning diet sodas (and thus make people stressing over it) is bad.


If you feel personally that diet sodas are bad because you experienced that on your own body, it might be a self-fulfilling prophecy. You have a perception on something, and the mind pre-emptively creates a response to simulate your perception. We need some solid studies that prove it, because everything so far has been debunked or failed to accurately create a link.
There are websites like this, Sweet Poison, dedicated to spreading the word of how dangerous it is. The author got "Aspartame Poison" in 1991 and made a book about it; http://www.sweetpoison.com/


I don't think coming to the defense of artifical sweetners is the same as saying that its a substitute for water. Nothing will beat water.
It's just that it is a pick your poison.
But if that opinion is uninformed- Like with a lot of the GMO debates- AFAIK GMO-Threads on GAF goes the same way as diet soda threads, as acupuncture threads, chiropractor threads.
On one hand you have people who are not willing to engage with anyone if they cannot prove it with links, and on the other you have people who tell how they feel, what they saw, and what they have heared.
And that's how a lot of these threads go down.



There are so many things human beings shouldn't do. Things we do because it causes a change of state, and causes endorphins and thus good feelings. It feels good to drink alcohol, to drink unhealthy caloric drinks, to stress off when smoking, to trip out of your mind doing drugs.
But we all know that most people aren't like that.
So I believe it's about picking your poison. If you have a unhealthy thing(s), then try to counter it in other areas of your life and moderate the damage.
 
D

Deleted member 17706

Unconfirmed Member
The small insuline spike helps to get your body out of it's catabolic state and kickstart your metabolism.

You really seem to like the word "kickstart." What do think "kickstarting" one's metabolism actually mean in real non-buzz word terms?
 
As soon as I saw a diet soda thread I knew it would be a clusterfuck of "artificial ingredients are bad for your health" and "aspartame will kill you" with nary a piece of evidence to be found.
 

Kinitari

Black Canada Mafia
If your going to fucking kill yourself...

At least drink Mexican Coke. Otherwise HFCS version is not worth the damage.

Are you saying that HFCS is somehow -so much worse- for you that it's better to just have table sugar? As far as I understand the difference between HFCS and other sugars is essentially inconsequential - the big problem is that HFCS is cheap and thus is used in a lot of things. But if sugar cane was cheap and used in a lot of things, it's not like it would be better.

Further, if you want to choose between diet and non-diet soft drinks, and don't mind diet - have the diet. It's markedly better for you in every measurable way than a sugar filled drink.
 
Diet soda will give you cancer.

Dick cancer.

From peeing out all that deadly asparaguspertame.

Jk op it's healthier than regular soda
 

Shpeshal Nick

aka Collingwood
Man, wish that was the case for me. It has this lame vanilla aftertaste for me.

Weird thing - for me, pepsi max is the best cola diet drink, while coke is the best sugar cola drink.

Not weird. I'm exactly the same.

When I first tried Coke Zero at launch, I actually liked it. I could barely tell the difference. But it didn't take long for that to change.
 
Is that the new trend? Being defensive about artificial shit in your food and drinks because science?

Maybe you'd like something natural like arsenic, uranium, mercury in your beverage?

Whether something is natural or artificial has zero to do with how safe or dangerous it is.

ZERO.
 

SURGEdude

Member
Yeah this thread is basically a shot for shot remake about the last one

OP asks question
General consensus about diet soda being bad
Diet soda advocates/Aspartame lobbyists? chime in
Everybody fights
I drink hot cooca

Aspartame lobbyists? This thread is wacky.
 
Maybe you'd like something natural like arsenic, uranium, mercury in your beverage?

Whether something is natural or artificial has zero to do with how safe or dangerous it is.

ZERO.
Very true.
So, with this knowledge, is Coca Cola Zero Healthy?
Or is it just "not dangerous" because a test showed nobody died from it?
 
Very true.
So, with this knowledge, is Coca Cola Zero Healthy?
Or is it just "not dangerous" because a test showed nobody died from it?

Is apple juice 'not dangerous' when there are certainly people with diabetes because of their love for apple juice?

If someone overweight reduces their sugar and calorie intake by switching from soda or juice to diet soda, if all other things remain equal, the preponderance of evidence points to their health and life expectancy improving.
 
Is apple juice 'not dangerous' when there are certainly people with diabetes because of their love for apple juice?

If someone overweight reduces their sugar and calorie intake by switching from soda or juice to diet soda, if all other things remain equal, the preponderance of evidence points to their health and life expectancy improving.
you described less harmful. Not healthy.
 

spekkeh

Banned
Piss versions of the good stuff?

Coke Zero IS the good stuff.

Diet Coke is the "piss version" of Coke Zero, though. Same with Diet Pepsi being the "piss version" of Pepsi Max. Unless you're getting it from the soda fountain.

"Go quality." There's nothing quality about regular Coke. Maybe if you were talking about Mexican Coke...but otherwise, I don't think there's anything inherently better about sugar soda. It doesn't really taste that much better than diet, especially after you're already used to diet.

Normal sugar gives a much fuller bouquet and aftertaste than the hollowness of artificial sweetener. Kind of like alcohol free beer more so than lager come to think of it. There's no punch to the sweetened water. Zero is better than Diet due to the caffeine though.
 
you described less harmful. Not healthy.

'Healthy' is largely a marketing fiction. Everything is unhealthy depending on how you use it or how much of it you consume.

There's no good evidence that drinking diet soda is harmful. There's no evidence that you can harm with Coke Zero any more than you can harm with water itself.
 
'Healthy' is largely a marketing fiction. Everything is unhealthy depending on how you use it or how much of it you consume.

There's no good evidence that drinking diet soda is harmful. There's no evidence that you can harm with Coke Zero any more than you can harm with water itself.
Awesome. Good for people who love that stuff.
Turns out it's just as healthy/ unhealthy as water.

I'll just drink water though.
 

WolvenOne

Member
Quick two cents.

I've done a lot of my own research on this, and in general artificial sweeteners are fine so long as you're not taking them in great excess. Carbonation is similarly fine so long as you're not consuming carbonated drinks in great excess. Water and only water is indeed healthier, but compared to soda sweetened with sugar diet drinks are going to be a vast improvement for most people.

Also, no the whole, "will probably give you cancer," notion, isn't really supported in the research. It's indeed possible, but to significantly increase your chances of getting cancer you'd need to be drinking very large amounts of diet soft drinks on a daily basis for decades.If you drank non-diet soda like that, you'd probably become both diabetic and dangerously obese long before that happened. What's more, statistically I think red meat is more likely to cause cancer at this point.

Despite all this, yes water is healthier, I'd rate it like so.

Water -----> Diet Soft Drinks -----------------------------> Non Diet Soft Drinks.

I'd advise not to let perfect become the enemy of good. If you're drinking a lot of sugary soft drinks, diet soft drinks are going to be a huge improvement.
 
I use it as my base for my nigthtly whiskey and cokes. That's really the only time I drink any soda. I go through 3 water bottles a day. I consider myself healthy enough to splurge on 0-calorie cola once a day.
 

Enco

Member
Full fat soda is disgusting.

Zero is a good alternative.

There's no need to take the piss and have it 5x a day though.
 
I drink Coke Zero erry day. It's like the only soda I drink (though, I just learned about Sprite Zero and it's cool, too). Dunno if it's healthy, but I like the taste! And the zero calories is a nice benefit. It's either coke zero or water if I need a drink.
 

Gorger

Member
Love cola zero. I always have some in the house and drink several glasses every week. I hate drinking water with food, but I always fill a bottle before bed. So during meals I stick with either milk, cola zero, sugar free lemonade or beer. I haven't had a cup of coffee in 15 years, but usually drink several cups of tea during the day.
 
I hate shit like this. Just because a scientist accepts money from a company, doesn't make them a shill. I take loads of money from big pharma, but my results are my results, I'm not going to manipulate it if they don't like how it looks, it doesn't work that way.

Outright fraud can happen (e.g., Wakefield, Seralini, etc.), but it's very, very rare.

I think the more important thing is for people to recognize that there are biases on all sides of scientific work rather than simply industry-only studies being tainted - we actually have research on research about this topic. There's absolutely bias inserted into studies from funding source, and there are also plenty of financial conflicts of interest on the "other side" (e.g., organic lobby groups promoting anti-GMO research, law firms hoping to cash in on anti-vaccine movements, etc.). But there's also non-financial conflicts of interest - no one likes finding out the work they've been doing for 20-30 years is a pile of rubbish, everyone wants studies that produces sexy scientific headlines so they can nab prestige, and everyone wants to get good grants money because it greases the wheels for tenure. Most bias is researcher degrees of freedom and largely unconscious rather than blatant manipulation.

That's the reason to do replication studies and focus on assessment of the literature as a whole rather than that one study so that the biases flatten out - yet whenever this topic comes up it's the same 5-6 basic science research articles getting passed around and around and very little emphasis on the meta-analyses that examine the outcomes of interest directly.
 

Oversoul

Banned
You really seem to like the word "kickstart." What do think "kickstarting" one's metabolism actually mean in real non-buzz word terms?

You really seem to like focusing on that one word. Let's be friends!

But come on, the answer to your question is already in the words you quoted.
 

Freshmaker

I am Korean.
I just think that it is funny that some soda addicts want to justify their addiction with "Blabla but it isn't unhealthy" - it clearly is and it doesn't matter which kind of soda.

Yeah citing research studies that have found nothing to prove that it's unhealthy is silly nonsense.

When it comes to what I think is bad for your health I really am.
And if I'm 100% wrong that is fine no problem you all enjoy your soda nothing wrong with that.
But for me soda is one of the worst things you can drink for you health (No shit that you can drink stuff that will make you deadly ill, but you get my point).

Fruit juice is worse for your health. 2% milk is far worse.
 
D

Deleted member 17706

Unconfirmed Member
I hate shit like this. Just because a scientist accepts money from a company, doesn't make them a shill. I take loads of money from big pharma, but my results are my results, I'm not going to manipulate it if they don't like how it looks, it doesn't work that way.

You might not.
 
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