If you're familiar with the alternative health industry, you're probably familiar with the controversy surrounding particular artificial sweeteners like Aspartame (and more recently, Aceulflame Potassium, or Aceulflame K). Long story short, such chemicals mimic the molecules your braincells use to interact with one another, and in large quantities, substances like Aspartame can damage your brain. This is called neurotoxicity. If you want to avoid crap like this in your sodas, but don't want to start ingesting all that sugar from the regular sodas, then there is only one soda for you: Diet RC is the only soda on the market which uses neither aspartame or aceulflame potassium. It uses sucralose, an artificially manufactured chemical that is probably not great for your kidneys or liver, but hey. It's the lesser of two evils, man. Diet RC gets alot of flak for it's taste, but I've never understood this. It just tastes like cola to me, and besides, if you have a disliking for it, you'll get accustomed to it eventually if you stop drinking coke and pepsi. So Diet RC: Half the taste, none of the brain cancer. Plug your nose, think of your kids, and ingest your refreshing cola.
I wish I could support you on this one. I can't even stand the taste of regular RC cola. When I gave up diet sodas, I had a terrible headache for days. I also actually lost weight because the faux sugars made me crave real sugar. So, I was having cake and Diet Coke. Now, I drink water with a lemon. lime, or orange slice in it throughout the day now. It's cheaper and I feel better. Coffee works just fine for the caffeine pick-me-up.
Now that you mention it, I do remember reading that these substances, in addition to monkeying with your brain chemistry, also have a psychological effect when doing so, and are thusly addictive. So the proof is in the artificially sweetened pudding, as they say. Get on the youtubes, people. There's all kinds of maverick doctors and educated people talking about how bad these substances are for you, and what effects they are known to have. Yes. Another "classic" criticism of artificial sweeteners. Lol, however I have also seen this argument used to smear the dangerous up-and-comer in the artificial sweetener industry, the plant-based (for now) substance known as stevia. I imagine that Nutrisweet and Sweetolox or whatever the brands are called stand to lose quite alot of money if / when stevia takes ahold of the market. Needless to say, it doesn't have the dangerous effects as the brain chemicals. And hey. Whatchyagunnado? Real sugar makes you crave real sugar too. So complete abstinence like you say is of course the best road to take from all this, but... forgive me, Lord. Black coffee's great, but too much of it and it starts to taste blegh. When that happens, you can switch to tea for awhile or use caffeine headache pills rectally.
Um, what? Rectally? I have never, ever, wanted a caffeine pick me up that badly. I think I'd go ahead and deal with a bit of real sugar soda, or pretty much anything else, before I'd even think about going that route. Why can't you just take the caffeine headache pills orally? I'm sure there's a purpose behind doing it this way, but I think I'll take a pass on that.
I drink soda very rarely maybe once a every few years literally. Its good that they have a new soda that doesn't have those harmful chemicals in them but I would be concerned about the sucralose if a few years down the line they say that's bad for us too.
I never heard of that soda before! I am guilty of having way too much Diet Coke, and even though I know how bad it is, and not only for the sweetener, I keep on having that. I actually have been managing to lower my soda intake a little bit, but still I do drink it frequently. However, I have heard some studies on sucralose have also said that is not a healthy and good sweetener. I don't know what to think about sweeteners anymore, they all say they are bad, and yet you can find sweeteners everywhere... if they were so damaging for us, shouldn't they be forbidden to use?
Yea. Like I mentioned earlier in the thread, there's been talk about how diet soda's have an addictive effect. So yet more evidence for that claim here. To add to the pile: my mom drinks a boatload of diet soads per day, and she has for, god, years. Since I was too young to think twice about it. When she goes through the fast food drive through, she sometimes gets not one, but two large cups of diet "crack," as I've taken to calling it. I've been trying to talk her off of it for awhile now, but, you know, she unfortunately regards any information that I get from the internet as being 'far out there,' 'not to be taken seriously.' Ugh.
You know, on top of being absolutely disgusting, NONE of them are any good for you- and in terms of your health, the "lesser of two evils" really isn't good enough when it's something you don't *have* to have. Plus...RC? Does anyone even like the taste of their regular stuff? Ugh
Soda is a waste of money, in general. I'm not saying I'll give it up entirely. Every now and then- maybe once a month- a situation requires a soda. But, daily use is so costly and it isn't doing anybody any favors health-wise. To me, every bottled drink that is meant to be healthy tastes terrible. Vitamin water is gross. And, those drinks are costly when you can just carry a bottle of water around. Tea is also really cheap to make and tastes delicious. Here in the South, tea requires a lot of sugar, but I'll bet the carbs in sweet tea are still lower than in soda. Drinks can be half the price of an entrée in a casual dining restaurant.
Sucralose is not safe for you at all. Perhaps it does not harm the brain, but it is known to kill intestinal flora, which means those good guys you need to break down food and absorb nutrients will be diminished. This can lead do all sorts of digestive problems like gas, bloating, constipation, diarrhea, IBS and even lower your immune system as a large part of the immune system is in the colon. Soda will definitely have sucralose in quantities that will have significant harmful effects. Try other beverages like tea sweetened with stevia or monk fruit to avoid these unhealthy things.
I don't have anything against stevia health-wise. However, I don't really like the taste. I've never heard of monk fruit, DancingLady. Is it in commercial sodas? On the rare occasion that I buy a fountain soda, I cut the sugar by alternating the soft drink with the club "soda" button. Then, I'll squee*e a lemon or lime in to add flavor. It's especially refreshing in the summer.
I have read many articles about this over the years and quite honestly, I just don't want to take the chance with my body. I don't like artificial anything!! It is all chemically processed and can't be good for our bodies. I don't drink diet sodas and neither do my family members. I just don't feel in order to save a few calories it is ever worth risking your health. Just my thoughts, Danyel
LOL. The way you reviewed this product amused me. Diet RC's relatively new to me, which means I have yet to encounter it. It's never been sold in my country or it may have been sold in select stores and I'm simply not lucky enough to encounter it. I'm glad for this bit of information, though. I heard that Coke and Pepsi are trying to eliminate aspartame and add stevia instead.
I love this thread in its entirety. I have never seen a thread like this on any forum, unless it was first started by me. I always knew that there were other people in the world who were as on the whole food tragedy that is going on right now. But to read a thread that was started by one, on an important issue such as soda and aspartame, is great. Just to warn people, they think that they are slick and have changed the name of aspartame to Amino Sweet. I think they were not happy with the amount of people who were finding out what this poison actually does to the human body, so they changed the name of it to fool the masses.
Wow. So much hate for RC in this thread. Am I the only one who likes it? ) To me, it tastes like lightly-flavored root beer. Also, the negative effects of aspartame is, as far as I know, still inconclusive. There simply hasn't been enough time to study it as it hasn't been in the market long enough. Same with sucralose. As with all things, moderation is key.
Maybe that's why I don't like it, vennybunny. I am just not a fan of root beer. DancingLady, I tried Dole peaches sweetened with monk fruit by accident this week. I thought that by "no added sugar and no artificial sweeteners" the peaches would just be stored in their own juice. As much as I really wanted to like the monk fruit and the peaches, it still had a strange taste to me. I'm sure it is healthier than aspartame, though.
Ah, there you go. I love root beer. ) I'm making barbecue sauce with it right now. To each their own. Oh, and as far as sugar substitutes go, I would have to recommend Stevia to everyone in this thread. It's a natural 0-cal sugar substitute. You can even plant your own.
I used to drink diet RC cola because it was only one a few that used Splenda (sucralose). I think it was the first. I really loved the raspberry flavored one. It was hard to find too. I would make a special trip to Smart and Final because it was the only store that consistently carried it in my area. I haven't drunk it in years. I gave up soda for iced tea. Splenda is known to have side effects. DancingLady is correct. It didn't affect me though. It's also wreaking havoc on the environment.
Crap! I like to imbibe my carbonated, artificially sweetened beverages after gorging myself on heavier foods, like meat and bread. I've always thought it seemed to help with digestion! But thanks for the info, do you remember where you initially heard this? I mean, I knew this stuff was still pits for my teeth and bones, but I was limiting myself to a can per day. I will definitely check it out. What brands do you like?
