Posted on 01/29/2011 10:05:27 AM PST by ConservativeStatement
February is “American Heart Month,” and our e-mail inboxes are filling up with information about all sorts of cardiovascular-related events, including a celebrity-studded game of Capture the Flag at UCLA.
Apparently, actress Jennifer Love Hewitt, singer Natasha Bedingfield, actor Ryan Kwanten and others will serve as captains of CTF teams that will compete for money to fund heart research at UCLA and UC Davis. CTF games will also be played in Washington, D.C., Chicago and Boston, according to a news release.
The part that caught my eye was the source of the research money at stake in these games – none other than Diet Coke.
(Excerpt) Read more at sun-sentinel.com ...
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Well, I’m old enough that I was actually a witness (via TV) of her valient play at Wimbleton. She had hustle and huge determination. I enjoyed watching her play, kind of the way I enjoyed watching Vitas Gerulaitis (and he dates me back to 1977, IIRC). I also enjoyed watching Ken Rosewall play, though it would wear you out just watching that man run down everything! Now THAT is dating myself.
Oops! Make that ‘Wimbledon’ ... need to slow down.
Aspartame is made up of three components that you regularly consume in a normal diet. How can these three components (phenylalanine, aspartic acid and methanol) be bad for you when linked together and used as a sweetener, but not be bad for you when consumed in much greater quantities individually in a normal diet?
Then there’s the phosphoric acid, which is bad for bone health.
Colas have no more phosphorus than similar quantities of orange juice. Is consuming orange juice also bad for bone health?
The Framingham study this article cites is fraught with bad science. The authors even state that they can't show causation, but go ahead and suggest it might be good to instigate public health efforts to decrease consumption. Nope, no agenda there. The authors also didn't bother to compare the effects of soft drink consumption with that of any other beverages or foods. Pretty shoddy work, but here it is.
Shhhhhh, you’re not allowed to make sense when it comes to Nutrasweet.
The reason I drink an average of two diet cokes per day is that I don’t want three.
I haven’t read the comments yet but usually there’s a comment from a member addressing the issue of watching a fat person drinking a diet coke while downing donuts or some such.
I am not fat, I am 6 feet tall and weigh around 190 lbs. I am exactly where I want to be weight wise and I don’t even try.
I prefer the taste of diet rather than regular cola.
(and you couldn’t pay me to drink a Pepsi, diet or otherwise)
Wasn’t the Framingham Study completely debunked?
For years I drank diet sodas on a daily basis, probably averaging four a day. My wacky sister-in-law constantly berated me and warned me that their constant consumption was bad for the body, and I always laughed at her and rolled my eyes.
Then, for an entirely unrelated reason, I stopped drinking them and switched to weak tea or weak coffee, or mostly just plain water. The only reason I switched was because I suspected that the carbonation in the diet soda was irritating my stomach, just like apple or citrus juice does if I drink more than a quick glass with a meal. That's the only reason I stopped drinking the diet sodas.
Within about two weeks, I not only realized that my stomach went back to feeling just fine, but I noticed a PROFOUND increase in energy, ability to focus, and general overall feeling of wellness. It was VERY surprising, and VERY marked. Now, I save diet sodas for special occasions. If I'm at a party or a social gathering, I'll drink diet sodas, and be fine. But I will NEVER go back to drinking them as a daily habit.
My wacky sister-in-law -- who is also very much a Tea Party conservative -- was most gracious when I 'fessed up to her that she'd been right all along.
When man starts messing with the way nature (God, actually) set up the chemistry for food and nutrition, watch out. Margarine and hydrogenated vegetable fats (essentially, man-mad "butter" or animal fat) was hailed as healthy at first, but is now understood to be crappy for your body when substituted for the real thing on a regular basis. I am convinced that artificial sweeteners are the same, and would also bet money that the egg-white craze is doomed to a bad end because without the yolk, the body will get incomplete nutrition (and domino-effect into completly screwed up metabolic results in the body) from an egg, one of the most complete wonderful and valuable foods on planet earth for good physical and mental health and smart eating. What you eat and drink EQUALLY affect mental and physical health.
There are no shortcuts to cheat the chemistry that nature (God, actually) ensures to work at maximum efficiency in our bodies -- not artificial sweetener, not hydrogenated vegetable oils, not egg-whites-only.
The artificial sweetener is not good for you either. For females, particularly teens, colas may not be good for bone development.
Take a look at the Pepsi logo - revised ca 2008 - it is subliminal advertisement for “The One” - I’ll never drink Pepsi again.
***
Yes, I refuse to buy any of their products.
Consuming 48 ounces or more a day of orange juice in place of water year after year would seriously screw with the body's metabolism! And that's about how much diet soda people consume.
Common sense.
The way I observe people, it looks like they're pretty much substituting diet soda for water. It's their main source of hydration. Twelve ounces is a cup and a half. Think in terms of a dog that weighed 120 lbs. You'd expect him to go through a fair amount of water a day; people are no different. Water's important. It's dumb to mess with it by substituting something else for water.
Two soft drinks I prefer: Coke Zero and A&W diet root beer.
Take a look at the label on a “Sam’s Cola’ diet root beer. Compare it to the A&W. The Sam’s is $.64 for a huge bottle. Doesn’t make good root beer floats, but then no diet drink would ... well, except diet creme soda which goes great with Cherry Garden ice cream or chocolate ice cream.
Thanks. I will check into that. I usually wait for sales then buy the A&W for 99 cents.
Aspartic acid is an amino acid. It raises the level of glutamate and aspartate in the blood. This results in a high level of those neurotransmitters in the brain. The excess glutamate and aspartate cause the death of neurons in the brain. According to research by Dr. Russell Blaylock, professor of neurosurgery at Medical University of Mississippi and the author of, "Excitotoxins: The Taste That Kills", free excitotoxins like aspartate and glutamate in the brain are responsible for causing serious chronic neurological disorders due to the destruction of neurons. His book cites tons of research on this subject and the sources of these substances in our diet, which include prepared foods and artificial sweeteners such as aspartame.
"Colas have no more phosphorus than similar quantities of orange juice"
You are confusing phosphorous with phosphoric acid. Phosphorous is naturally occurring in OJ and the calcium-to-phosphorous ratio determines how much of the calcium is absorbed.
Phosphoric acid is a mineral acid added to soft drinks and used as a rust remover (works great for that, BTW).
From the Washingon Post, April 26, 2008, Cola May Be Bad to the Bones: "Phosphoric acid can cause an imbalance in the body as the body seeks to neutralize the acid with calcium. If there isn't enough calcium in the diet, the body will take calcium from the bones.
"In a study that included more than 2,500 people with an average age of about 60, researchers from Tufts University found that cola consumption by women was associated with lower bone mineral density at three hip sites, regardless of age, menopause, total calcium and vitamin D intake. The women reported drinking an average of five carbonated drinks a week, four of which were colas. "
“Wasn’t the Framingham Study completely debunked?”
No, not with respect to cardiovascular markers, anyway.
What about Coke itself? In Australia its made with cane sugar (I stopped drinking it in America when “Classic” Coke changed its sweetener to corn syrup - simply because I didn’t like the taste - but it was never changed at all in Australia). The contents on the bottle are shown simply as: Carbonated water, cane sugar, caramel (150d) and food acid (338) and caffeine.
“In Australia its made with cane sugar “
Can you send me some?? :-) Man, I miss the real thing. I don’t like it made with corn syrup.
Not certain about this but I believe the ‘food acid’ refers to citric acid. That is not the same thing as phosphoric acid, and AFAIK will not cause deplete calcium. Citric acid is used as a preservative in canning foods, for example.
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