Sprite/Coke Zero how bad is it?

[danilo]

I hardly drink coke/sprite or any carbonated drinks... but every once in a while I get an urge for a Sprite Zero, which to me tastes just as good as regular Sprite. All it says in the nutritional facts are that it has 35mg of sodium per can.

Are these bad for you?

BTW I'm trying to eat pretty clean, I work out 5 days a week right now, going to be cutting to 3 days a week for strength training as I want to gain about 3-5 lbs and then go on a fat burn to 'cut' up.

 

[why]

Not really bad for you. I don't drink soda anymore, but when I did it was usually always Sprite Zero.

Some people will say the Aspartame is bad for you.

35mg of sodium is very little.

 

[j]

I don't know if it's bad for you. Cherry Coke Zero tastes pretty good IMO. There's something missing, it tastes a little "thin" and a little chemical to me, but it's still pretty good and doesn't jack up my blood sugar like the real does.

 

[chronoaug]

I'm not a big fan of normal coke zero, but i like vanilla coke zero a lot. Sprite zero is ok. As J said, they taste a little off and not as satisfying as a normal coke, but they get the job done and don't let you drink your calories which is really tough on diets.

 

[Toiletduck]

I drink coke zero

 

[redgrail]

The aspartame and acesulfame-k in diet sodas may be carcinogenic and may cause dna-protein crosslinks. This is controversial. However, at the very least, the approval process was significantly compromised by people with vested interested in the products.
In addition, artificial sweeteeners do mess up the insulin response system of the body, which may cause you to store additional fats.
It's not exactly healthy - I don't think anyone would call drinking essentially a soup of artificially produced chemicals healthy - but it may be better than consuming soda sweetened with sugar if you're trying to loose weight.
Just be aware of the potential health risks and exercise moderation.

 

[j]

Yeah, I've mentioned the aspartame thing here before. These have less aspartame than the old Diet ___ type of drinks, and they don't give me a stomachache like those do. Even so, with the amount of ethanol I tend to ingest, I don't think a few mg of aspartame is really my biggest worry.

 

[kwilkinson]

Originally Posted by j

Yeah, I've mentioned the aspartame thing here before. These have less aspartame than the old Diet ___ type of drinks, and they don't give me a stomachache like those do. Even so, with the amount of ethanol I tend to ingest, I don't think a few mg of aspartame is really my biggest worry.

Don't the diet and zero drinks give you gas?

They're so bubbly, at least Diet Coke is, that I'm burping for like an hour afterward.

 

[east hastings]

Originally Posted by redgrail

The aspartame and acesulfame-k in diet sodas may be carcinogenic and may cause dna-protein crosslinks. This is controversial. However, at the very least, the approval process was significantly compromised by people with vested interested in the products.
In addition, artificial sweeteeners do mess up the insulin response system of the body, which may cause you to store additional fats.
It's not exactly healthy - I don't think anyone would call drinking essentially a soup of artificially produced chemicals healthy - but it may be better than consuming soda sweetened with sugar if you're trying to loose weight.
Just be aware of the potential health risks and exercise moderation.

Is the insulin response different than blood sugar? Because, I thought that recent studies still showed that artificial sweeteners have no effect on blood sugar.

 

[SantosLHalper]

Cherry Coke Zero is pretty damn close to the real thing, especially if it's icy cold. It's much closer to the real thing than Diet Dr. Pepper, which I used to hold up as the gold standard of "tastes the same" diet drinks. Coke Zero isn't quite there, but much more passable to me than Diet.

As for the chemicals, they can't be good for you. There are some studies out there about people who drink 1 or more diet drinks a day, which is a category that I fall into - it's not good. If I didn't need the caffeine and some sweetness (artificial or otherwise), I would just drink water.

 

[redgrail]

Originally Posted by east hastings

Is the insulin response different than blood sugar? Because, I thought that recent studies still showed that artificial sweeteners have no effect on blood sugar.

It depends on which sweetener. You're talking about. Zero products contain both aspartame and acesulfame-k (aka acesulfame-potassium). The ace-k has a bitter taste in addition to the sweetness (that you don't notice because of the other ingredients) and it will affect the secretion of insulin. Aspartame will not. However, it is rare that a diet soda product contains ONLY non-bitter sweeteners (I haven't seen one, but I guess they might exist). Your blood sugar won't go up - but the body is "tricked" into releasing insulin into the bloodstream nonetheless.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9...?dopt=Abstract
is a study on this phenomenon. I'm not sure, but you might have to pay or be associated with a university to see the full study, however.

Still, this is probably the least of your worries since aspartame and ace-k are both believed to have induced relatively large brain tumors in lab animals...

 

[redgrail]

PS - love the GY!BE avatar.

 

[tiecollector]

Drink them in moderation. I try to drink sodas with cane sugar instead of high fructose corn syrup (hfcs) but I'm drinking a pepsi right now. What I do is pour half the can out and then drink the rest. I drink a half a soda every 2 or 3 days just so I don't go crazy and I love the taste. I used to drink a 6 pack a day pretty much.

Regulating your insulin is the key to staying young. Advanced Glycation Endproducts (AGE) really messes you up.

I haven't really studied aspartame and the like because I hate the taste so I never drink it. Any of that artificial stuff can't be good for you to do in large quantities regularly though. If you want one every once in a while, don't worry about it.

Remember with all these artificial things that they tell you are safe... after several years there is almost always something found wrong with them. Trans fats, aspartame, hfcs, you name it....

More aspartame articles
http://www.mercola.com/article/aspartame/index.htm

 

[FLMountainMan]

Originally Posted by redgrail

It depends on which sweetener. You're talking about. Zero products contain both aspartame and acesulfame-k (aka acesulfame-potassium). The ace-k has a bitter taste in addition to the sweetness (that you don't notice because of the other ingredients) and it will affect the secretion of insulin. Aspartame will not. However, it is rare that a diet soda product contains ONLY non-bitter sweeteners (I haven't seen one, but I guess they might exist). Your blood sugar won't go up - but the body is "tricked" into releasing insulin into the bloodstream nonetheless.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9...?dopt=Abstract
is a study on this phenomenon. I'm not sure, but you might have to pay or be associated with a university to see the full study, however.

Still, this is probably the least of your worries since aspartame and ace-k are both believed to have induced relatively large brain tumors in lab animals...

Thanks for this. Pretty useful to have a resident chemist or whatever.

 

[maacone]

The cancer link was debunked. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12155793/