[MOVSM]

Try to stay away from all soda. I know, it's almost impossible.

The article mentions that people are switching to bottled water, teas and energy drinks. While (unsweetened) water and tea are good, energy drinks use the same sweeteners as the soda.

Industry rebuttals are problematic--they consistently downplay the effect of both sugar and artificial sweeteners, just like tobacco industry consistently downplayed the dangers of tobacco.


PepsiCo focuses on ‘guilt-free’ beverages, yet more research casts a pall over diet soda

Quote:

Published: Apr 29, 2017 3:35 p.m. ET
This study comes to some alarming conclusions about these beverages

Diet soda is getting more bad publicity. PepsiCo said this week that its latest quarter was boosted by “guilt-free” products such as diet soda and bottled water, as consumers move away from sugary drinks, but more research is casting a pall over artificially-sweetened beverages too.

Artificially sweetened beverages may be linked to an increased risk of stroke and dementia, according to a recent study by the American Heart Association’s peer-reviewed journal Stroke. The researchers looked at 2,888 people over the age of 45 (with a median age of 62) for stroke risks and 1,484 people over the age of 60 (with a median age of 69) for risk of dementia. After adjustments were made for age, sex, education, caloric intake, diet, exercise, and smoking, they found that diet soda drinks “were associated with an increased risk of ischemic stroke, all-cause dementia, and Alzheimer’s disease dementia.” (The study cites correlation rather than causation.)

Diet soda sales have tumbled as consumers, turned off by studies on artificial sweeteners, have switched to bottled water, teas and energy drinks, instead. And this not the first study that has made a connection between diet soda to other serious medical issues. Several recent studies have linked diet soda and cardiovascular disease and showed a correlation (if not a causation) between cancer and aspartame. The beverage industry says people who are overweight and already at risk for heart disease may consume more diet drinks in an attempt to control their weight and the Food and Drug Administration has ruled that artificial sweeteners are safe.

The beverage industry highlights the safety of artificial sweeteners. “Low-calorie sweeteners have been proven safe by worldwide government safety authorities as well as hundreds of scientific studies,” Lauren Kane, a spokeswoman for the American Beverage Association, told MarketWatch, on behalf of industry, including Coca-Cola KO, +0.33% and PepsiCo PEP, +0.57% Research shows that diet soda can be a useful tool as part of a weight management plan, she added. “According to the National Institutes of Health, the likelihood of developing stroke and dementia are related to age, hypertension, diabetes and genetics,” she said.

Americans now drink more bottled water than diet soda or traditional soda. Bottled-water consumption in the U.S. hit 39.3 gallons per capita last year, while carbonated soft drinks fell to 38.5 gallons, marking the first time that soda was knocked off the top spot, according to data from industry tracker Beverage Marketing Corp. But soda is still more expensive, racking up $39.5 billion in retail sales versus $21.3 billion for water, industry research group Euromonitor found. “In 2016, bottled water overtook carbonates to become the leading soft drinks category in off-trade volume terms, an astonishing milestone a decade in the making,” Euromonitor concluded.

There has also been a backlash against sugary drinks. Soda and sugary drinks may lead to an estimated 184,000 deaths among adults every year, a 2015 study by researchers at Tufts University published in the American Heart Association’s peer-reviewed journal Circulation. The study analyzed consumption patterns from 611,971 individuals between 1980 and 2010 across 51 countries. Sugar-sweetened beverages consumption may have been responsible for approximately 133,000 deaths from diabetes 45,000 deaths from cardiovascular disease 6,450 deaths from cancer, it concluded. (The American Beverage Association published a lengthy rebuttal.)

[Repo]

It only takes a couple weeks of completely avoiding sweets to lose the craving fortunately. That is why diet products can be dangerous. Even if the ingredients were fine they still fuck up your cravings. Better to just cut it all out.

[Simeon_Strangelight]

All artificial sweeteners are toxic - some like Splenda, Sucralose or Aspartame are so toxic, that they are qualified as high-grade carcinogens. Gulping down white sugar is 100 times more healthy than this crap.

[DJ-Matt]

I barely drink soda, but when I do it's this stuff, probably the "best" for you out there in moderation:



Actual cane sugar, kola nut extract, and other natural ingredients.

Makes for an excellent mixer with booze.

The price of $1.50 a can also helps keep your consumption down.

[kinjutsu]

My diet is clean except for 1 soft drink.
A while ago they introduced it in Canada and i loved it. Then they stopped selling it...i would travel to the states to acquire it.
Fast forward to a a few years ago and they started selling it in Canada again, but by this time i was already eating a very clean diet.

[MOVSM]

(04-30-2017 02:16 PM)Repo Wrote:  

It only takes a couple weeks of completely avoiding sweets to lose the craving fortunately. That is why diet products can be dangerous. Even if the ingredients were fine they still fuck up your cravings. Better to just cut it all out.

IDK--when I first went on the no sugar, no starch diet it took me a month to get cravings under control, but I would have cravings a year later. It is easier now, but during the end of year holidays, it may take me 2-3 months to start eating clean again.
To paraphrase a famous quote, sugar is a helluva drug.

[The Beast1]

Here's a million dollar idea i'll pass onto the food and beverage industry for free!

Use less sugar.

No seriously! Reformulate the beverages to contain less concentrated amounts of sugar!

I don't know about you guys, but i've been experimenting with less sweet and more savory dinners and desserts at parties. People so far have really enjoyed it!

The era of super sugar is over and it's time to embrace a more well rounded taste pallet.

[LateBloomer85]

(04-30-2017 08:50 AM)MOVSM Wrote:  

Industry rebuttals are problematic--they consistently downplay the effect of both sugar and artificial sweeteners, just like tobacco industry consistently downplayed the dangers of tobacco.

The comparison of how the tobacco industry downplayed the dangerous nature of tobacco, to the food/sugar industry's defense of sugar is spot on. Scientific evidence continues to mount about the multitude of negative impacts that sugar has on our health. Yet the food/sugar industry continues to come out with their own "studies/evidence" that show there is no such linkage. Here's a good example of such propaganda: http://annals.org/aim/article/2593601/sc...tic-review

Naturally, the authors of this article have links to the food/sugar industry: https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/19/well/...sugar.html

As the article MOVSM linked mentioned, it appears that there is a link between sugar consumption and strokes and dementia. This hits close to home for me, as one of my family members has late stage dementia.

Unfortunately, soda is the last unhealthy part of my diet that I have not been able kick. I've lost more than 45 pounds over the past year, by eating a low carb, high protein diet. Despite this weight loss, I'll go through 2-3 week periods where I won't drink any soda, and then I'll "relapse" and drink it again for a few weeks.

This article just serves as a further reminder that I need to summon enough will- power to permanently kick my soda habit.

For anyone interested in a good book that goes into the science behind why sugar is so bad for you, I recommend "Grain Brain" by David Perlmutter. This book also discusses why most kinds of wheat and carbs are also bad for you.

[Stallion]

This must be an American thing... I can't even remember the last time I had soda/CocaCola/whatever (Spanish guy here). 15 years ago as a kid? With a cocktail I can get it, but on it's own?

Once you stop drinking it, you realize it didn't even taste that good, and the smell of it wants to make you puke.

Everyone knows energy drinks are shit, why would you even think about drinking them?