My favorite sweetener.
Posted on 02/06/2008 1:17:35 AM PST by neverdem
Researchers have found a correlation between drinking diet soda and metabolic syndrome — the collection of risk factors for cardiovascular disease and diabetes that include abdominal obesity, high cholesterol and blood glucose levels — and elevated blood pressure.
The scientists gathered dietary information on more than 9,500 men and women ages 45 to 64 and tracked their health for nine years.
--snip--
But the one-third who ate the most fried food increased their risk by 25 percent compared with the one-third who ate the least, and surprisingly, the risk of developing metabolic syndrome was 34 percent higher among those who drank one can of diet soda a day compared with those who drank none.
“This is interesting,” said Lyn M. Steffen, an associate professor of epidemiology at the University of Minnesota and a co-author of the paper, which was posted online in the journal Circulation on Jan. 22. “Why is it happening? Is it some kind of chemical in the diet soda, or something about the behavior of diet soda drinkers?”
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
My favorite sweetener.
Glutamate occurs naturally in most foods and is available in large amounts in food you eat every day. It's nearly impossible to avoid it if you eat a balanced and varied diet. Your body cannot differentiate between the glutamate found naturally in foods and that in MSG. Your body creates glutamate naturally in much greater quantities than the average person consumes.
But MSG is what makes people want to eat more and more and more of something.
Your body handles glutamate in the same way regardless of its source. Glutamate has not been shown to have any impact on our metabolism.
Eating MSG and aspartame and HFCS means you are addicted to unhealthy chemicals.
Considering glutamate occurs naturally in almost all foods, and the fact that your body couldn't survive without it, you're going to have a hard time proving it is an unhealthy chemical. Aspartame is comprised of three components that are found naturally in food we eat every day. HFCS is made up of the same two chemicals as table sugar. If HFCS is evil then so is regular old sugar.
“The person fills his/her face with masses of food but has an order of diet coke on the side”
My son tends towards overweight. He works, spends his own money on food, goes out with friends, etc.
I have pretty successfully switched him to diet sodas, so that at least when he orders fast food, he avoids those empty calories. I am working on getting him to avoid the fries, and to switch to wraps when at McDonalds.
I suppose you might see him “stuffing his face,” but at least he’s stuffing it with a little less. Hopefully small permanent changes over time will help him get lighter.
With all due respect, I am sure your son will make it. I did not mean to insult.
I think a few of us were referring to those faceless tanks that take up three seats, eat as if there is no tomorrow, and then down everything with a diet drink.
It continues to boggle my mind. I can’t get use to that scene.
Heck, if I don’t take care of myself, I would have a weight problem too. In the morning I have a regular coke. (I live in the tropics, so I like something cold in the morning rather than a hot beverage.)
When I go to a restaurant, I rarely...almost never...can eat all that is served. And then I think about all those hungry children in India : ). What I can’t eat, I ask them to bundle it up, and I finish it at home the next day. But I see people stuffing their faces as if it were their last meal.
What do I have at my side? A good Manhattan cocktail and then a wine with my meal. No diet coke for me.
My best regards.
Again, I meant no insult to you or your family.
A Medical Mystery Unfolds in Minnesota
FReepmail me if you want on or off my health and science ping list.
Ditto that .....just tastes less sweet IMO.
But I do drink a lot of Diet Soda at work yet my recent heart scan, blood test says clean pipes, low cholesterol, perfect blood sugar etc ........I think there is something too the fat folks and diet soda connection as a common factor for folks that are just too fat.
Goobermint research funding drives such junk science conclusions IMO.
“Sodas are poison, diet or regular.”
So true. I haven’t drank them for 20 years, my health is excellent. I occassionally have Knudsens Spritzers, all natural, no caffeine or artificial sugar.
Hey, I have relatives who drink this all the time and aren’t fat - not even a little overweight - although they might be if they switched to regular pop.
“I switched from sugar in my coffee to sweet and low. Now I’ve developed artificial diabetes!” — Rodney Dangerfield
btt
My hypothesis is not , that you realtives have to be fat but that they are statistically less significant then those who are. ;-)
Bump for later read........
That and hydrogenated fats.
Eliminate high fructose corn syrup and hydrogenated fats, and you’ve just taken a huge step forward in avoiding a lot of health issues.
Technically, sugar IS a chemical. Pretty much everything is.
Nice Pic.
...”up here where LEGAL folk pay their OWN way.”
Good One! Perhaps a name can be given these magical mystical parts of the States.
I meant no MAN-MADE chemicals. I will take what God made.
I heard it adds 3 inches to the girth of your penis.
Now let’s see what the pre-market has on Coca Cola stock.
I drink the diet Code Red. LOVE LOVE love the stuff. Regular Mt. Dew is just too sweet, and I wish they still packaged the diet in 2-litres. I hate buying it by the 12-can pack, especially with our bottle return laws. Taking back empty 2-litres is easier.
No. "Equal" or other brands of Aspartame. There's nothing wrong with Splenda. I believe the complete aspartame warning might be, "Consider that it may not be a good idea to daily dose yourself with an artificial sweetener that was originally developed as a rat poison or that the US Army also looked at for use as a chemical weapon or that releases methanol into your system when metabolized...."
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.