I've been testing many combinations of various compounds for 10 years and I can recommend this particular set:
L-Phenylalanine or L-Tyrosine 1000 mg
Vitamine C 1000 mg
Vitamine B6 200 mg
Gingko Biloba 60 mg
Guarana 200 - 600 mg

take this in empty stomach. if you want an extra boost, add: Vinpocetine 5 mg

these are all available at many vitamine stores in the US (no prescription needed).

- technoshaman

Sorry, but I like nutrasweet and I'm not giving it up. I dont think I use tons of it and I dont bake with it, so for now, I think I'll stay securely in denial. Anyone care to join me?

8-)

I knew it is in sugerless gums that I chew when I don't have time to brush my teeth after lunch. I've been wondering what to choose instead but I still chew them.

I think the above set of compound is far better in effect to get over addiction of dietsoda kind. but for chewing gums I still haven't found alternatives.

I did a PubMed search on aspartame, and found two relevant articles--"Aspartame: review of safety", and Cytotoxic effects of methanol, formaldehyde, and formate on dissociated rat thymocytes: a possibility of aspartame toxicity." Both indicate that your Diet Coke habit is perfectly safe. (Which is a good thing for me, since I drink plenty of it, myself.)

Hi ell. Thanks for the links. I'm feeling a bit better now. I think the great thing about blogs is that someone like you can quickly post something to my blog that helps bring what was making its rounds on the mailing lists into perspective. I had no idea that PubMed even existed until I saw your post. Thanks! I said, "If what this page says is true," hoping that it would spark a debate... I think it is healthy to question authority at every turn, but to be able to track down the facts and make our own decisions. I don't think that the "fear-mongering" sites will go away and I think that open discussion is the best way to resolve these issues...

Anyway, I will read the PubMed articles and let you know if I stop drinking Diet Coke. ;-)

Those links that ell provided should not be looked at as a panacea, in my view, to nutrasweet users. The first link gives next to nothing other than a rehash of the issues. Several other products have went through extensive research only to be recalled later. Drug products especially, I don't need to cite them here because they have been widely documented by the media. The studies were tampered with to get the required results for the patent. That point was not refuted but it is also hard to prove. One thing is true though, money talks and people walk to it. I will put nothing past people when money is involved. One woman embezzled 2 million dollars from her workplace to a Nigerian e-mail scammer hoping to get a return on it. This is documented especially when companies put money into finding cures for diseases. They only research items that they can patent and profit off of. I want to see impartial independent studies, without lobby money backing, that can prove that it is a farce. Then after that I want them to find the actual cause for these people's conditions disappearing over night after they stopped use. You can use flow cytometry studies until you are blue in the face, but theoretical examples cannot simulate real life situations and other factors that come into play in a human being's body. That is impossible to simulate and isolate in any lab test. People's diets here need to be compared to others in other nations as well to find simularities and disparities. Then all this info needs to be combined into one and a final case should be made before the FDA. I am not a user of nutrasweet but I think we need a final solution to this soon. This panic-induced flooding of information into e-mail is getting nowhere.

Reasonable points. However, doing a larger search on "aspartame and safety" in pubmed brings up quite a few studies done over the past 15 years, including this one, which was a human subjects study.

As to the "actual cause of these people's symptoms disappearing overnight," first I'd want independent verification that said symptoms did exist, and did "disappear." And I'd want randomized trials that showed that it was more than a placebo effect, which is what I suspect.

Of course, I'll freely admit that as a hard-core user of Diet Coke, I personally have a vested interest in believing that it's safe. :-)

I think we're in agreement, though, about the "panic-induced flooding of information into e-mail," and not just in the context of aspartame.

That link was a good one, although the sample was small, it gives a promising end. I agree on all points in your post.

All I gotta ask is why do people eat that crap ? why not just eat regular sugar ? is it to lose weight (rather I should say fat) ? cause that shit don't work. You can easily lose fat all while eating regular sugar. I've been as low as 4 % body fat and still ate sugar and sugar products. I think the discussion here should be about regular coke too..cause everyone knows that stuff is EVIL :)

Well, I have no problem. I just drink ordinary Coke, because Diet Coke tastes of shit anyway.
Normal Coke rules the world! Lol.

Bobby, you seem to have missed the point here, we are not discussing the nutritional benifits of aspartame for the purposes of weight loss. Rather, we are evaluationg the potential health hazzards of a chemical in a much consumed beverage. Tha "shit" may don't work, or maybe it do work - last time I checked there was no final word on what the 'one true diet' should be. The Japanese eat more saturated fats and the French drink more red wine, and still America has the fattest people in the world. Things aren't that simple, and discussion should never be waved away by those who don't see the point of it. Spare us your supreme wisdom, and cut the potty mouth.

Well, the aspertame is fine but what about the caffeine? I drink A LOT of Diet Coke too and I worry about the caffeine. And to the guy who says why not drink regular Coke. Well, I drink about 10 cans of Diet Coke or Diet Dr. Pepper a day. If you figure a can of 'regular' Coke has about 120 calories, it is beneficial to me to drink 0 calories versus 1200. Also, after you drink diet soda for about 6 months and get used to it, regular soda tastes WAY TO SWEET!! I will continue to drink a lot of diet soda simply because I can not stop.

I use to drink at least 3 cans of diet coke a day. I had lots of mild headaches. I quit drinking it about 20 months ago and I have only had one short headache in all that time.

I HAVE SEEN THE LIGHT, NO MORE DIET COKE FOR ME I WANT TO SAVE MY BRAIN.

The japanese consume more saturated fats (ie. animal products) than americans? how can this be true? for one thing they simply do not eat as much as americans and for another thing they have assimilated soy, and its various products, into their diets much more readily than americans have. i do remember though the author of one of my vegan cookbooks recounting how difficult it was to be vegan in japan, which suprised me.

I drink Diet Coke far too much, it has practically replaced water to me. To some extent I know that cant be good but its too hard to give up. The official Coke website refuted the dangers of Aspartame and said that the levels of caffeine are well within the acceptable limits. To pose a danger, you would have to drink about 15 cans a day. Still... which is right? Some say Aspartame is bad, some say its not? So confusing. I am also worried about the phosporous which is supposed to cause osteophorosis

"The official Coke website refuted the dangers of Aspartame and said that the levels of caffeine are well within the acceptable limits."

Are you kidding me? Are you really going to even think of believing the Megacorporation that makes BILLIONS selling this stuff!? They would NEVER admit that they have been selling you a neuro-toxin all these years......

If you are still using Diet coke or anything with Aspartame in it after reading the info-------you're a FOOL------I got hooked on diet coke about five years ago----recently I started having weird things happening to me such as muscle spasms all day----different areas of my body-----aches down my whole arm----back aches --tired all the time---memory loss----huge cravings for sweets which I had only gotten this last year-----I kept saying to myself it has to be something in my diet.
I had always thought to myself, "Im drinking way too much Diet Coke " Like I said I got addicted to it but never thought it caused major problems---I never really knew what exactly Aspartame was-----I just figured it has to be safe the FDA had to have tested and approved it----but now I SEE THE LIGHT !!!!!!!!!
I had said for the hell of it let me stop Diet Coke and see what happens-----within three days my muscle spasms stopped the aches in my arms went away--cravings went away----no more back ache----and got alot of energy back. I then said let me see for the hell of it if anyone else has had any problems. I got online and punched in DIET COKE PROBLEMS and an unbelieveable amount of sights came up---and what I read shocked the hell out of me.
It all makes sense now-----our goverment let this poisen be passed by the FDA ( ALL for $$$$$$$$$$$ ) even though it was never tested like it should have been-----with all the companies involved in this and all the $$$$$$$$$$$ money they have to keep it hush hush-----makes complete sense why I know so many people who all have problems----and all different----but they all are taking some kind of Aspartame on a daily basis------This is what everyone has been wondering what's causing all the illness these days.
They're testing everything where I live On Long Island from the water to the telephone lines to try and figure out why all the Cancer rate is so high ----IT"S RIGHT ON THE SUPERMARKET SHELVES !!!
In over 5,000 products which alot of people are taking thinking it's healthy to have instead of suger-----so so so wrong !! If anyone is reading this and figures that you have been taking it and have no problems----just wait----it all effects people different ways and takes longer in some than others----but you will have them eventually and then probably get mis-diagnosed by a doctor ---put on some medication but continue to consume Aspartame---the real problem---the poisen !!! With all the money involved in this I can see why it's not all over the airways---these companys control the papers---the TV everything-----this should be on the top of the news every night------Please ,Please get off it while you're not ill and spread the word about it to all friends and family---especailly those who are sick and may not realize it's Aspartame----like one sight said that I read---THIS IS THE REAL CRIME OF THE CENTURY !!!!!!!!!!

I too drank way too much diet coke and even started using equal.i knew that it wasn't good for me- because i was drinking it way too much. I have stopped drinking it all together after soem five years of drinking it non stop. i am now sleeping better, and not having headaches anymore. Its so scary that the governments are allowing this stuff to be available with all the chemicals in it. I have now stopped drinking it and feel so much better.

I too drank way too much diet coke and even started using equal.i knew that it wasn't good for me- because i was drinking it way too much. I have stopped drinking it all together after soem five years of drinking it non stop. i am now sleeping better, and not having headaches anymore. Its so scary that the governments are allowing this stuff to be available with all the chemicals in it. I have now stopped drinking it and feel so much better.

Folks, sweetners like this are CHEMICALS. Th eless chemicals you pu tin your bodies, the better. We are poisoning ourselves enough already, do we *really* need "diet-coke" and others to add to the pile?

Real fruit juice! Tea! Coffee even! Water... Much better alternatives.

Cheers!

I may be totally wrong, but I found that eliminating diet coke from my life has been a godsend. I did it before I read this site. All I knew was that it caused neurological damage (was hearing that all over the place) and that I was becoming extremely addicted to it (3 or more 20 oz bottles a day).

I drank it since I was sixteen and since that point I had problems. I suffered from anxiety, I had headaches, and I had OCD. I've tried everything for years to stop all that--anti-depressants, migraine meds, etc. Finally just gave up on trying to treat myself, because nothing was really working.

This year I went back to college and was really chugging the diet cokes so I could stay up and study. I gained a lot of weight. When I finished school and started dieting, I noticed that I'd be a lot hungrier after drinking a diet coke.

I switched to decaf Diet Coke...it was the same thing. Plus, decaf also made me HYPER like diet coke. Couldn't ever drink it before bed.

It's been over two weeks now and I've finally gotten them out of my system. As a substitute, I've been drinking flavored seltzer water--which is GREAT because it has 0 calories, is tasty (but has NO sweetners) and it hydrates me (something diet coke never did since it's a diuretic (sp?).

My skin looks smooth and younger (I used to have really bad acne problems). I've started to lose weight, partially because I'm hungry all the time.

What really blew my mind, though, is that all my migraine headaches, anxiety and OCD has totally disappeared. I will NEVER drink that crap again. I found this site and a lot of others like this and I'm not surprised.

In fact, I'm a bit concerned...Mental illness has been steadily rising in the US. I wonder if much of it could be linked to diet coke or other things we put in our bodies.

My best friend drinks up to 5 Diet Cokes a day. She has heart problems to begin with, and she kinda wheezes sometimes, like she has trouble breathing, like shes trying to catch her breath. I keep telling her to maybe stop drinking the Diet Coke because it seemed to help her mom when she had similar problems. Does anyone have any sugestions about how i can tell her or help her to stop, or at least cut back, on the Diet Coke?

My best friend drinks up to 5 Diet Cokes a day. She has heart problems to begin with, and she kinda wheezes sometimes, like she has trouble breathing, like shes trying to catch her breath. I keep telling her to maybe stop drinking the Diet Coke because it seemed to help her mom when she had similar problems. Does anyone have any sugestions about how i can tell her or help her to stop, or at least cut back, on the Diet Coke?

Is Diet Coke Addictive?

Every Diet Coke drinker I know can't stop at just one. They all know the bad effects, but can't stop. I gave caffeine, and diet coke up for 3 months, but as soon as I had one I was hooked again.

I LOVE DIET COKE!!!!!!!!!

I've been tired alot and having a lot of hot flashes. Does anyone know if hot flashes can be caused by me drinking too much diet coke.

Diet Coke is very bad for anyone! I used to smoke about a pack a day and drink a little more than a liter a day of Diet Coke. I had a lot of anxiety problems, suffered from headaches and insomnia. I figured the majority of these problems were caused by the Stimulative Nicotine and other Chemicals in the cigarets. Consequetly I stopped smoking over a year ago but to satisfy my oral fixation from the cigarets I stared drinking more Diet Coke. The Headaches did decrease slightly however, my anxiety and insomnia have only gotten worse and on some occasions I have even had breif spells of blurred vision lasting 1 to 2 days. I have a masters degree in psychology and I'm positve my anxiety is not a natural dissorder. Rather my anxiety only occurs when I drink Diet Coke and the same for the insomnia I have experienced as well as the blurred vison and slight loss of memory which I forgot to mention earlier. I stopped drinking Diet Coke about 2 months ago and have experienced none of these problems since. The Coke Company's statement that Asparteme or the Isolated Amino Acid Phenylalanine is safe is only justified because of the lack of research for which the product has been subject to. I`m 25 years old and healty 25 yr olds such as myself dont just get the symptoms I have described above. All I know is that maybe Diet Coke didnt cause any problems in lab rats but lab rats are not human. In 20 years Coke will be in court for the same reason the tobacco companies were 4 years ago. As far as I am concerned Coke Co. and Phillip Morris should both be boycotted by the American People untill they are both Bankrupt.

I drink far too much diet coke/other diet drinks. i have never EVER had any of the problems mentioned. I drink tons of the stuff... I am addicted to it. but i have had no spasms, or headaches, or pains, or aches... I do stay up late into the night though, but thats only because i dont like sleeping, and if I needed the sleep - it wasnt hard for me to lay down and go to sleep. This is a bunch of crap- all these "symptoms" I bet none of these people even realized they had "Symptoms" until they read about it- it's the power of suggestion, if a lab reports that too much aspartame dissolves your skin- you automatically believe it? Nah- continue your drinking folks. I know I will.

Holy crap. Diet Coke- I am amazed. Me and my friend drink so much Diet Coke everyday. Lately, he's been getting headaches and ive been seeming to lose my memory and getting stomach aches more. Everytime one of us does something stupid, we joke around- "Oh, its the Diet Coke...". Well, things have gotten worse and i was actually beggining to wonder...is it really the Diet Coke? I've always heard about the dangers of drinking too much of it, but the thought sounded completely absurd to me that Diet Coke was actually making me dumber. So i decided to search it and found that there are tons of people with the same side effects as us. Well, you now have me convinced that it's the Diet Coke, but quiting Diet Coke?..I think that just might be impossible...

Holy crap. Diet Coke- I am amazed. Me and my friend drink so much Diet Coke everyday. Lately, he's been getting headaches and ive been seeming to lose my memory and getting stomach aches more. Everytime one of us does something stupid, we joke around- "Oh, its the Diet Coke...". Well, things have gotten worse and i was actually beggining to wonder...is it really the Diet Coke? I've always heard about the dangers of drinking too much of it, but the thought sounded completely absurd to me that Diet Coke was actually making me dumber. So i decided to search it and found that there are tons of people with the same side effects as us. Well, you now have me convinced that it's the Diet Coke, but quiting Diet Coke?..I think that just might be impossible...

Holy crap. Diet Coke- I am amazed. Me and my friend drink so much Diet Coke everyday. Lately, he's been getting headaches and ive been seeming to lose my memory and getting stomach aches more. Everytime one of us does something stupid, we joke around- "Oh, its the Diet Coke...". Well, things have gotten worse and i was actually beggining to wonder...is it really the Diet Coke? I've always heard about the dangers of drinking too much of it, but the thought sounded completely absurd to me that Diet Coke was actually making me dumber. So i decided to search it and found that there are tons of people with the same side effects as us. Well, you now have me convinced that it's the Diet Coke, but quiting Diet Coke?..I think that just might be impossible...

I stopped drinking cola sodas over 10 years ago, because I found that whenever I consumed them, I would get this tenderness and intense pain in the lower region of my belly, and the soda would burn all the way down my throat! I couldn't tolerate them. Then, I picked up a new habit, I started chewing Extra, Winter Fresh and the new Wrigley's Doublemint gums, I immediately started having the worst dizzy spells! For a While, I didn't associate the dizzy spells with the gum chewing, and I was chewing at least 5-6 packs, which is approximately 25-30 sticks of gum a day! I am a college student and I started chewing the gum because I was told it would help me concentrate as I studied, or (so I thought).
I would get these heart palpitaitons, slight headaches and just feel all "out of sorts", I also felt nervous and anxious, but still it never occured to me to check out the gum.
The final straw came one day while driving home, I experienced a severe dizzy spell that left me totally disoriented and unable to even walk straight once I left my vehicle. I nearly lost consciousness, as the whole area was spinning around me. I thought it was because I hadn't taken my vitamins, but I noticed that even when I started taking my vitamins, the moment I started chewing the gum, I'd get these same symptoms! Then one day, just because I noticed a different "taste" to my doublemint chewing gum, I decided to read the lable, and there it was-- a warning lable that stated: "This product contains Phenalanine", in bold letters!
I was stunned and immediately went on the internet to check out this ingrediant, and at the same time, I also discovered that the other gums I had chewed, contained Aspartame in them! As of this writing, I have stopped chewing these gums and I now drink plenty of WATER and "Not from Concentrate" Orange Juice. I believe the Lord blessed me to find out about this poison and I know that He will bless me to find another chewing gum that won't harm me. Thank you for this forum

I really think aspartame is bad for the human body!! It makes me mad to know that many people are dying from this product!! They should actually do something about it or I will!! I will prove and testify agaisnt them and prove it is killing many children out there!!!!!! You never know it could be myself because I am a diet coke drinker.

I really think aspartame is bad for the human body!! It makes me mad to know that many people are dying from this product!! They should actually do something about it or I will!! I will prove and testify agaisnt them and prove it is killing many children out there!!!!!! You never know it could be myself because I am a diet coke drinker.

I really think aspartame is bad for the human body!! It makes me mad to know that many people are dying from this product!! They should actually do something about it or I will!! I will prove and testify agaisnt them and prove it is killing many children out there!!!!!! You never know it could be myself because I am a diet coke drinker.

I am a 23 yr. old college graduate. I have my Ba. in psychology and my former physiological psych. professor warned women not to drink DIET soda. He claimed that it can cause a calcium deficient in bones leading to osteoperosis and instructed us to research the chemical phenylaline.

However, that was not enough motivation for me to quit drinking DIET COKE. I never realize that people, such as myself , could actually began to crave the drink!

I am glad this article is posted because the thought of getting cancer is enough motivation for me to make a cut back and eventually eliminate my intake of Diet Coke and other Aspartame products.

The irony is that most people use these products with the hopes of losing weight yet many of the users remain overweight.

I think it would be NAIVE of us consumers to expect a Billion dollar industry such as COKE to admit there product is unsafe. There is so much deceit involve in consumer sales because the love of money is the root of all evil. Billion dollar corporations do not have a conscious. Wake up America, save your health!

It all makes sense!!! I have been drinking Diet Coke since I was 5 and I'm 15 now! I am the only fat person in my whole family and I eat the same amount than most people, but drink a lot of Diet Coke. I don't ever get headaches from it, but I do have cravings after I drink it, I also have sever breathing problems after running but I don't ahve asthma, and I have memory loss and sometimes I have small muscle spasms. Although, I do think I am addicted, having been drinking it for 10 years straight. I have however found one benefit of drinking Diet Coke; I have yet to get a single cavity, and I think that's because I drink Diet sodas that are sugar free. Also, after drinking sugar free drinks, any drink with sugar is unbearably SWEET!! It's just gross, but after reading this info. I won't drink it so religiously. Maybe 1 or 2 a week for a while, then maybe i'll be able to stop for good. If you have any comments for me, please tell me.

hi

hi

i drink a ton of diet pop every day. i also drink a minimum of 4litres of water every day. i have no health concerns what so ever and have lost 35lbs in the last 3 months. ther thing is most americans who diet, order a diet coke with the supersized big mac and fries. gimme a break. WATER WATER WATER then coke, diet or not

What about the diabetic people who crave the sweet taste and have no other alternative. A friend of mine who is diabetic is doing just fine because he weightlifts and does cardio three times a week. I think the immediate signs of headaches is associated mainly to outside factors such as school and health to begin with.

I really don't get why people would drink regular soda unless they have a legitimate health concern about the artificial sweeteners. There are literally no benefits to drinking regular soda - meaning that there are only negatives! Why drink all that sugar? I can drink as much diet soda as I want and it never hurts my diet. Before I realized regular soda was fattening, I used to get it when I was hungry at work - and it did help with the hunger! But there was no nutritional benefit to it. I just don't understand why people would knowingly put that much empty calories into their body if they didn't have to.

Hmmm... it's hard to believe all these people have had problems with Diet Coke... i drink diet soda and i haven't noticed anything unusual. It's not any more addictive then regular soda... post should show IPs because i get the feeling some people are reposting under fake names to try to make DIET COKE look bad.

Yes taking in empty calories are bad, I do not know why people would do that either. However I do not know why people would intentionally take in a neuro-toxin either. Yes your health may be fine right now however 85 percent of the time the first symptom of a heart attack is death! So do not wait on those health problems to show up before you start to worry.
Not only is Diet Coke addicting, it seems that it also causes loss of intelligence, because some of the defensive comments put forward by some of the posters here,can not be put forth by able minded people.

Fountain Diet Cokes are sweetened with saccarine, not aspartame. The aspartame doesn't hold up as well in the syrup!

Ok, so is this general point that aspartame is bad or "Diet Coke" is bad. I have somewhat recently become a Diet A&W junkie. When I say junkie I mean it. I drink about a case a day when I can afford it. It seemed like a near harmless addiction considering the lack of carbs (Im a diabetic) and of course no fat. There is about 100g of sodium per can tho. Not sure what that can do.
So ok, Im drinking a LOT of it, but it's caffeine free, sugar free, fat free. IS there an addictive property here literally? I am ALWAYS thirsty due to poor sugar control yet, so it COULD be attributed to regular thirst for a drink I really like maybe?

Snopes.com, the urban legend site, has a detailed page on the aspartame-causes-every-disease-in-the-book urban legend: http://www.snopes.com/toxins/aspartame.asp

Like many, I've been told for years now that Diet Coke is eventually going to eat a hole thru my stomach (or my brain!).....It wasn’t until a few weeks ago, when a constant stomach pain forced me to start to seriously reconsider my diet......I always knew I drank an excessive amount of Diet Coke.....Visit 7-eleven on my way to work for a Super Big Gulp (44oz.) & all thru the day at work, where we have a free fountain coke machine in the cafeteria....Basically, I kept my 44oz cup filled up all day long....

Many folks commented about two...three....four 20oz bottles a day....some even a six pack or more of cans.....I think I consumed on average, four to six 44oz cups a day....roughly 18 cans a day, for probably 15 years now...

After doing about an hour of research on the Internet, I was frightened enough to at least give it a try (stop cold turkey)......I can tell you I haven't had a history of headaches or sleeping problems, but I do have muscle spasms, and as of late, serious stomach pains.....My body knows it's the Diet Coke because as of very recently, just a sip will heighten the pain!

I've been off for about 60 hours now (2.5 days)......

I have a headache, but my stomach pain is at idol currently...

This SUX, but we'll see how it plays out!

I drink a moderate amount of diet coke (or "Coke light" as it's called here), primarily because it contains next to no calories at all while regular coke contains massive amounts.

In response to the original question on this site, people are now listing all sorts of diseases that they supposedly had and that vanished immediately when they dropped the diet coke habit. I find most of this very hard to believe and I'm beginning to think at least half the posters are "trolls" (coming up with nonsense stories just to provoke or inspire debate) or are simply imagining things. That latter point is not a criticism -- we can all do this from time to time and the human mind is powerful and has been shown to sometimes affect the rest of the body. That's the placebo effect and it's taken into account in medical studies, by ensuring that subjects do not know whether or not the drug they are given is effective or not.

Claudia said she wanted to testify that aspartame kills children. No offense intended but I wonder who she is to make such a determination. What evidence does she have other than the rumours frequenting various sites? Did anyone actually read the links provided by ell? They, and related scientific articles conclude that there does not appear to be any danger with aspartame in humans even with abuse-level doses.

I am not claiming that aspartame is completely safe. By all means, if you believe you are drinking too much diet coke (or drinking or eating too much or too little of anything), by all means, make an adjustment. It will probably be beneficial. However, we should be careful when drawing any conclusions with certainty and right now there seems to be more evidence suggesting it is safe than that it has all these doomsday effects some people on this thread (not all) make hysteric comments about.

Regards,

Robert
Sweden

Hi.

I am also a big fan of diet coke.

However, I think the idea of being addicted to it is inaccurate. I believe the fact that one can consume as much of it as one likes without any calorific intake may be the real reason it is so popular.

I also drink litres of it each day. But depending on my training session (i.e. the season of the year) i have to drink litres of SOMETHING. This can be water, orange juice, lemonade, and when I'm dietting (to tone up for competitions) diet coke. I have no problem coming off it, as long as I drink lots and lots of other liquids.

People concerned with weight loss experience negative emotions when drinking fatning soft drinks, and it is the lack of negative emotions that leads to so much diet soft drink "abuse."

I.e. there is a psychological reason, rather than a physical addiction.

My 2 cents worth... :)

Um, I was just wondering if your positive all this stuff on diet sodas are true. Especially the part about it being a brain drug that makes you think it's sweet.

Are you positive all this is true? Especially the part where you said it's a brain drug and that it makes you think it's sweet. I really need to know. I think i might have just screwed up my science project...

Most of the people who have commented here sound like complete morons. Anyone who drinks 10 cans of soda per day has other problems besides what's in the can. And insomnia?! Hello, Coke contains caffeine... caffeine keeps you up. Maybe if you got to sleep you wouldn't have headaches in the first place, idiot. And another guy who started chewing gum instead - what's wrong with you? Do you HAVE to be a consumer or something? Why? What do you need it for?

Idiots, all of ya.

Many of the psychological complaints listed here occur with or without diet Coke. Just because you had decreased symptoms off the sauce doesn't mean it was the diet Coke. It's convenient to nail it all to the nice little 12 oz. can--but there are many other factors in our lives which can contribute to mental illness--particularly major life changes.

I Elina think diet coke has a bad after taste. Do you know why? my antie loves any thing that is a diet baverlage soft drinks.
But im not use to the taste yet.
Is it because im not use to it or is it suppose to taste that way?
From; Elina

Missy says she is smarter than all of you and her diet coke doesn't hurt anything
I beilive she's in denial just like an alchoholic on their first apointment.

Missy says she is smarter than all of you and her diet coke doesn't hurt anything
I beilive she's in denial just like an alchoholic on their first apointment.

To my husband that thinks I'm
a alchoholic to diet coke and to all the other people that say bad things about diet coke.
I have been drinking diet coke for years now and not one!!!!
bad thing has happen to me. I evan quit diet coke because I was told it was bad but I did not have any bad things to me. well I felt like why It taste great and I love it so I started
drinking it again. well first I weigh 103 lbs and before I started drinking diet coke I was 125 lbs I never had any bad problems with diet coke I can still remember things since I was 5 and I am old now. I would like to know if it is doing these
bad things to you all why arn't you sending your info to the goverment?????? Is it because we have no real PROOF???? well any way I believe it is ok for you and I drink 6 cans a day. My husband drinks 24 cups of coffee in a day and 3 pks of cigs a day you tell me if that is safe? or better than drinking diet coke :) still living and happy:) and drinking diet coke :) enjoy life while you are here we all only have one life to live thn we meet our Father in heaven God bless you all!!! :o)

I have recently joined a weightloss programme, and was told that I could not drink my favorite drink "Coke", and was forced (told) to drink "Diet Coke" - This really scare, irritates, and makes my want to drink plain water - although this give me no where near the pleasure that "Coke" or "Diet Coke" gives me.... HELP!!!

I have recently joined a weightloss programme, and was told that I could not drink my favorite drink "Coke", and was forced (told) to drink "Diet Coke" - This really scare, irritates, and makes my want to drink plain water - although this give me no where near the pleasure that "Coke" or "Diet Coke" gives me.... HELP!!!

You want help, fatboy?

Why don't you get off your fat ass and get some exercise. You don't need to be in a weight loss 'programme' and you don't need to be drinking Coke or any variation thereof.

FUCK!

Quitting anything addictive can be really hard, both psychologically & physically. Here are some of the things you can expect when you stop an addictive habit: headaches, joint aches, fatigue, short temper, acne, bad breath, possible diarrhea, forgetfullness. These symptoms will go away about a week after stopping the behavior. They happen because the body is actually cleaning out all the toxins which have been stored in the system for the time of the addiction. These symptoms are GOOD! It means the body is healing itself. Once you have acclimated to your new life without addiction, the psychological effects (i.e. bad moods) will lift and you will find a new freedom. I have gone through these symptoms a number of times---I quit coffee, diet coke, cigarettes -- and the first time is the worst, so don't give up. Know those horrible headaches or the hole in your life where your addiction used to be will be gone soon. I recommend getting exercise during this period of change -- even if it's just a walk through your neighborhood. Exercise is proven to increase production of serotonin which elevates mood. It also boosts your immune system, gets the blood flowing and can help you lose weight (which is why I assume most people use Diet Coke). Other things to do while you're withdrawing: long baths, naps, home-cooked meals that are light on animal products, phone calls with friends, large glasses of water, going to the movies, doing something creative even if you don't consider yourself to be "creative:" drawing pictures with your kid's crayons, arranging flowers, cutting up magazines and making a collage, gardening, writing the story of your life.

Finally, here is an idea of what to drink now that you're off the coke. Get some sparkling water and some not-from-concentrate organic juice. I like gratefruit. Get a wine glass (not necessary, but fun!) and fill it 1/4 - 1/2 with the juice, then top it off with the sparkling water. Now you have a delicious, refreshing and healthy carbonated beverage. If you are frugal with the amount of juice you use, you will be low on calories. You will also save money on the juice since you're only drinking a little at a time. (Be sure you get NOT-FROM-CONCENTRATE. Concentrates use only a small percentage of juice and the rest is sweeteners such as aspartame and corn syrup. Ocean Spray is a prime example of what NOT to buy. Try Knudsen's instead. It's worth any extra cost). My best to all of you. I quit a Diet Coke habit that was overwhelming. For one full year all I did was drink Diet Coke, Slimfast and smoke cigarettes. Yeah, I was skinny, but I was also a psychological mess. I looked good, felt awful. Fortunately, I was able to pull myself out of this situation and slowly took the road to recovery, through friends, reading books on health, and exercise. I am still thin, but now I am healthy, too.
Best to you all.
Elizabeth

I agree so much I will not drink diet coke....at least later on.

WHATEVER !!!

Where are the results of any studies made on diet coke? I would like to read them, and analyze all of the negative claims. Is there a website?

I drink plenty of diet coke!!! I am a loyal fan. How ever that tumour fact scares the hell out of me!! but then again scientists are always coming up with new foods we should stay away from!!!!!!! What will it be tomorrow? I just balence out my diet coke in water to remove some of the nasty stuff, oh well i will die happy!

Ey! I think this is a very interesting information! I definetely will stop drinking diet coke or any diet product! Thanks!

I think you all are a little too paranoid. Also I would like someone to produce evidence that someone has died because of thier habit of drinking diet coke. I mean directly related. I would also like to see a long term study with a good size test group about the negative effects of drinking diet coke. If not then I say "take a chance and don't be so paranoid".

Aspartame: I'm no expert, but if you eat sugar a chemical is released into the brain much like Aspartame to make you think the food is sweet. Does this mean drinking normal coke which has sugar will release chemicals in the brain to inidicate it is sweet, and is therefore much like drinking diet coke, though your body may be expecting sugar??? People usually get headaches from dehydration of the brain, so it follows why poeople might stop getting headaches when they they drink more water and less coke. Aspartame bothers me because it is a big money spinner and it was released onto the market when it was shown in trials not to be safe. Later it was shown to be safe. Does safe include studies on the effects it has on the brain? If someone has a science based URL to the affects on the brain, that may of interest.

Diet coke isnt bad for you because of aspartame, or caffeine (unless you drink ungodly amounts of it) but because it does leech your bones from the phosphorous. Bah its not aspartame i drink more than a kid my age should drink and i have no trouble sleeping, rarley if ever get headaches cept during weather changes, and muscle spasms? only have like one of those a month cause im still a growin kid here. As long as i drink milk i should be fine.

(All natural does not mean better folks. Pot, tobacco, cocaine, cyanide and many other poisons are natural).

I am a Diet Coke addict and I am going to quit tonight and see what happens. I have noticed I keep losing my train of thought during conversations and I have definatley noticed memory loss. I am not paranoid and have thought lately maybe my diet has something to do with it. Every year for the last 10 I have noticed I drink more and more Diet Coke. I will be interested to see if quitting makes a difference. I use to laugh about getting cancer until I saw my sister die of a brain tumor and my mother from lung cancer.

I have been drinking diet coke for years, and would have one a day around noon time. I did notice that for a time, I was starting to want it earlier in the day, and if I had one closer to 10, I would want more later in the afternoon. I already had my doubts about how healthy this was, so I made a conscious effort to cut back to the one. I absolutely agree, for all you nay-sayers, that it does give you a variety of symptoms. I came searching for a site like this because I have had thoughts that it might be true that my memory things, stomach pain, sluggishness, and I even get underarm sweats now at times when I have one...I never sweat---ever, at any other time, even during exercise this particular way...I have isolated it to the Diet Coke. I do find myself forgetting what I am saying in the middle of sentences, too, and have had some tests, and there is nothing wrong with me. This is with only one 12 oz. can a day. I know it doesn't make me feel good, but it's a habit, and I still drink one every day. I was also told years ago by my best friend who is a physician that diet soda definately impeedes weight loss. It actually triggers something in your body that makes your body hold onto the fat (lay explanation), sorry, but it is true, and has been proven. I am not overweight, but when I want to shed a little, I know it makes it harder when drinking diet soda. It might not affect everyone, or even everyone the same way, but there is a basis for the concern. I am going to renew my effort to eliminate it for good. There are enough other things to drink out there. I don't need cancer, or to feel sluggish. I want to be around to see my kids grow up, and no love of diet coke is worth missing out on that!

I really dislike diet drinks and I have always been a thin person, but now I'm in my mid 40's and I've gained 10 pounds. I don't like it, so I thought I'd try eating a little less and cutting back on sugar. That's why a couple months ago I started sweetening my morning coffee (large cup!) with Equal instead of sugar. For about a month now, I have felt bad every day. Many days my stomach hurts a little. I don't have my normal energy. I've been trying to figure out what's wrong with me. Last night I realized it might be the nutrasweet, so I got on-line and searched for "nutrasweet" and "stomach". I found all this bad news about nutrasweet. No more nutrasweet for me! (By the way, it did not help me shed those 10 pounds.)

Remember Saccharin was banned and supposed to be cancerous years ago, now it is back and it is "unbanned" and they say it's not cancerous or harmful. Can we believe them at all? Is Aspartame bad for you now and okay later or okay now and bad later? They say everything causes cancer! Remember when they said eating too much Spinach can cause cancer? (That is true by the way because if you have too much you have iron overload and you can get cancer from that.) Anyway, my point is that maybe it's people who get cancer, not this or that that causes it. It just happens. You know what they say..."S$%t happens!"

Remember Saccharin was banned and supposed to be cancerous years ago, now it is back and it is "unbanned" and they say it's not cancerous or harmful. Can we believe them at all? Is Aspartame bad for you now and okay later or okay now and bad later? They say everything causes cancer! Remember when they said eating too much Spinach can cause cancer? (That is true by the way because if you have too much you have iron overload and you can get cancer from that.) Anyway, my point is that maybe it's people who get cancer, not this or that that causes it. It just happens. You know what they say..."S$%t happens!"

Remember Saccharin was banned and supposed to be cancerous years ago, now it is back and it is "unbanned" and they say it's not cancerous or harmful. Can we believe them at all? Is Aspartame bad for you now and okay later or okay now and bad later? They say everything causes cancer! Remember when they said eating too much Spinach can cause cancer? (That is true by the way because if you have too much you have iron overload and you can get cancer from that.) Anyway, my point is that maybe it's people who get cancer, not this or that that causes it. It just happens. You know what they say..."S$%t happens!"

Oh yah, to the poster named "Hadley", I'm sorry but your "physician" friend is clearly mistaken. No where in medical literature does it say that soda pop impedes weightloss. That is simply untrue. I have lost 130 lbs by myself by reducing my caloric intake and drinking lots and lots of diet coke. Thanks to Diet Coke I was able to satisfy my cravings for something sweet and thus resisted high calorie foods. Diet Coke, this one's for you!

I will be reducing then stopping Diet Coke at least on a trial basis. My concern is that I've been increasingly anxious and having cognitive difficulty as well as some other minior neurological symptoms. Lexapro helped this some but I drink 4-6 Diet Cokes a day. Sometimes more. I've been doing this for years.

I consider myself the perfect guinea pig for such a study. I also beleive that it's possible that some people have these effects from aspartame while others may not. Just as not everybody that smokes gets cancer etc....

i hate diet coke and all soda in general. If you think long and hard about it, you will too. Stay away from all these fake drinks. Or go on drinking it until you die i dont care.

Diet coke is deadly especially if you see the initials TN

To Kaki's response, I didn't see an M.D. next to your name, and he is not mistaken...he is an expert on weight and weight loss.
Any idiot knows that you WILL of course lose weight by reducing your caloric intake, diet coke or not. But if you drank water instead of diet coke during the time you were losing that weight, it would have come off faster. I think what I said was that diet soda IMPEEDES (interferes with) weight loss, I never said it PREVENTS it. Medical schools know it, and talk about it, and you can believe it or not.

aside from all this aspartame issue, one should be concerned about the phosphorus. i am (almost) a doctorate of pharmacy (2006) and i believe that well beyond the risk of cancer, people should be concerned of teh risk of osteoporosis. the phosphorus exchanges for calcium in your bones and can cause major problems later on in life. one should be aware of that with ALL beverages that are carbinated (ie. coke, pepsi, beer, champagne, you name it).....

I would like to share this story with you all, as some people think that giving up Diet Coke will be some sort of panacea for all their ills.

I am a diehard Diet Coke drinker and have been for almost 10 years. I'd say I drink 3-4 cans a day on average.

For Lent, since I was blessed with my first child this past year, I gave up something I truly loved - something that was a true sacrifice - Diet Coke.

I drank flavored seltzer or plain seltzer during the Lenten season. I never had any of the aforementioned symptoms, and when I gave it up over those 40 days, I didn't see any change in my sleeping habits, my body didn't feel any better or worse - I had no change in anything with respect to my body.

Sure enough, at the end of Lent (this past weekend), I went right back to my Diet Coke, and the only difference I noticed was that it seemed sweeter to me than before - not unlike the way I viewed Regular Coke after a few months of drinking Diet - very syrupy. The last couple of days, I've had to dilute it with seltzer, but I'm sure that soon enough I'll be back where I was before. (Plus I wonder what Regular Coke would taste like at this point - it'd probably seem as thick as molasses.)

The bottom line is this: everyone's body chemistry is different. Some people can drink it without having it affect them; others can't.

If you have some of the symptoms other people mentioned, and you cut out Diet Coke or Aspartame altogether and your problems disappear, fantastic.

If you're like me, and you drink it with no ill effects, congratulations on being one of "the lucky ones."

God Bless.

P. S. I actually stumbled across this site to find out exactly how much aspartame was in a can of Diet Coke (packet equivalency). After reading these stories I felt like I had to share mine.

Hand me another diet coke!!!!!
AAAAHHHHHH

well you have to die eventually. might as well do what you want while you're alive.

Soda, diet or otherwise is not the healthiest thing we could be drinking. Besides the aspartame, and all the other hemicals in diet soda, what about all the acid in ALL sodas? People are on here debating about diet soda and how they love it and aren't gonna stop drinking it, well more power to you all, but water always was and still is the healthiest thing you can drink, and aids in weight loss better than any other drink, it has zero fat, zero calories, and if it's good water it is full of healthy minerals. As far as the cancer thing, cancer rates are rising because of the way our food is handled, nothing is really natural anymore, meats are pumped full of horomones, vegetables are being cloned. Everything in the grocery store can kill you these days!

66 year old female)In October of 2003 I had a pituitary adenoma (partially)removed. Now it is being monitored. Now I am being treated for Parkinson's. I drink Diet Coke moderately but since its inception. Comments please.

66 year old female)In October of 2003 I had a pituitary adenoma (partially)removed. Now it is being monitored. Now I am being treated for Parkinson's. I drink Diet Coke moderately but since its inception. Comments please.

66 year old female)In October of 2003 I had a pituitary adenoma (partially)removed. Now it is being monitored. Now I am being treated for Parkinson's. I drink Diet Coke moderately but since its inception. Comments please.

I was just reading all your comments, and I know how good soda is, believe me, I've been drinking it for years. However, have you ever looked into how horrible just the carbonation alone is for you? Not just the artificial sweeteners, which if you search around, you can find a lot of information on Aspartame, but it eats away at your bones; for every 8 oz of soda, you should drink twice as much milk to counteract it. Have you ever seen the experiment where the kid puts a tooth in coke for like a week? and it dissolves!! Goodness, it has even been shown to contribute to kidney stones. I'm looking into this, as its my current project, here's some of what I've found: http://www.cspinet.org/sodapop/liquid_candy.htm , http://www.healthwell.com/healthnotes/healthnotes.cfm?ContentID=1937007 . Ever had your heart race while you're sitting at rest? while my "normal" resting heart rate is about 80 bpm, it jumps up to 120 bpm within half an hour of consuming any soda containing caffeine and sugar,no exercise, sitting at the dinner table and I'm a 5'5" 125 lb 20 year old woman. I'll be the one of the first to raise my hand that I drink soda, but I'm going to try to cut back on it because there is absolutely nothing about soda that makes it worth drinking. I hope some of you who read this are somewhat enlightened, I know I have been, after hearing about formaldehyde being formed in the body with only diet soda, and then looking into it. Here's one more site for the list: http://www.snopes.com/toxins/aspartame.asp
Hopefully this will give you a better taste for water.

Dear Morons:

Guess what happens when you drink 5+ cans of any soda beverage?? that's right, you consume a shitload of caffine. NO WONDER YOU GET STOMACH AND HEAD ACHES. Everyone who's saying aspartame is SO bad for us, because its a chemical? Everythign we eat has freakin chemicals in it. And aspartame causes cancer in mice?? There's NO WAY a human being can consume the amount of diet coke as they injected into those animals pound for pound.

If you wanna live better, don't replace your water with diet coke, and exercise. Too much of practically anything is bad for you.

EVERYTHING IN MODERATION

Diet Coke is the best!
Helps to satisfy my ravenous carb.cravings, and therefore preventing binges!

No wonder your getting headaches, you drink it way too much!! I’ve read many places its ok to drink 2-3 cans a day. DON’T EXCEED THAT. Not even with regular coke! Its just pure dumbness. Have you heard of getting diabetis from TOO much sugar? Trust me, it happens. My SD has diabetis from too much sugar.

Also, if you drink lots of diet, just drink lots of water too. I drink a couple cans a day, but for every can I drink, I drink two glasses of water. So say I drink 3 cans of pop, I drink 6 glasses and then go up to 8 or 10 so im getting enough water. Try it, you’ll lower your chances of getting this “cancer” that you get from aspartame.

It's amazing what a little information and a lot of imagination will accomplish with simple minds. Anything in excess is unhealthy. Just proves that Americans are frightened people, who fear everything. Of all the things that you encounter day to day that could harm you, Diet Coke is one of the smallest threats. The air you breath, the other food you eat. Get a grip people.

Tastes real good with Wild
Turkey

Long Live Diet Coke!!! Even the initials in my name are "DC", if you want to get technical "DLC" - which could be Diet Lime Coke (which isn't half bad). Nothing like a cold glass first thing in the morning. Listen to the fizz - ahhhh! I have a term "supplies are dangerously low" when I'm 1/2 down on my 2 liter. And what is up with the 1.5 liters now in the store - I'm gettin nervous. Hey - there are worse habits in life than Diet Coke.

Long Live Diet Coke!!! Even the initials in my name are "DC", if you want to get technical "DLC" - which could be Diet Lime Coke (which isn't half bad). Nothing like a cold glass first thing in the morning. Listen to the fizz - ahhhh! I have a term "supplies are dangerously low" when I'm 1/2 down on my 2 liter. And what is up with the 1.5 liters now in the store - I'm gettin nervous. Hey - there are worse habits in life than Diet Coke.

Hello! I've been a Diet-Coke or regular Coke drug addict for 26 years, starting small, then really geting hooked on that Diet-Coke-type drug addiction, because I became disillusioned with school. I got kicked out of a high school, partially because nobody really cared enough about me to help me with mental retardation problems I had since I was 2 years old. Even though I eventually graduated college at 40 years of age, from the time I started college at 19 years old, I haven't really cared about my grades in school; I earned D's in advanced math or science classes in college pretty often, although I got good or excellent grades in easier college courses. The one twist: the advanced math or science professors I had made up their own grading curves, which made it appear as though I was getting good or average grades, which is not true; in fact, I have a learning disability(s), my grades in many of these advanced math or science courses were barely passing at all, and I flunked one advanced math course, one advanced science course, and a communications course. I also earned a D in FORTRAN computer programming, although a FORTRAN instructor used a curved grading scale to make it look like I was getting an A, when I did quite poorly in the course on FORTRAN programming. After I graduated with a Bachelor's Degree in 1986, I made up my own graduate degree program in Astrophysics Theory and took a few side courses over a 12-and-a half-year period until August 1999, when I graduated myself with a Doctor of Physics degree. However, as a self-study-graduate student taking that course out on an outside field, I gave my family and others trouble, making stupid, clumsy blunders that are not normal; I've been a closet sex pervert since December 1981 and engaged in a lot of crazy sex antics in college and everywhere else, including masturbations and sexually teasing and tormenting other students silently and playfully, and got into trouble in school and elsewhere time and again. I had some headaches, episodes of diahrea, a bloated abdomen, and some occasional leg cramps. I also pass gas pretty much, and quite often.

Well, alrighty, then. What does one add to that?

Ok folks, here is the deal!
Lets break down "Diet Coke."

1. Carbonated water: Contains purified carbon dioxide and sodium. Not a real big threat, the sodium will make you feel dehydrated (some people confuse this for hunger).

2. Caramel Color: Burnt sugar used for coloring or sweetening foods. Still Sugar? Possibly! Still not a big threat though.

3. Aspartame: Artificial sweetener formed from Aspartic Acid. Aspartic Acid is a nonessential amino acid and can be created from other amino acids in the liver. Aspartic Acid is important because it regulates the urea cycle for the proper elimination of waste products. If there is an imbalance with this amino acid in the urea cycle (too much from Diet Coke or anything else), then symptoms such as fatigue, irritability, lack of concentration (anxiety), headache, mental confusion, and sometimes unable to tolerate protein foods (ya' that’s means you, doing a protein and Diet Coke diet and probably not feeling well).

4. Phosphoric Acid: Used in Fertilizers, dental cements, and has a bitter taste. Not always a great thing to consume too much of, as true with anything. It causes chemical instability in the body. Then, bad things happen as always with anything.

5. Potassium Benzoate: Well, first of all Potassium is chemically changed by electrolysis and changed into salts that can be found in fertilizers and soaps. Benzoate is another salt derived from the acid Benzoic. Benzoic Acid is used to flavor tobacco, perfumes, teeth cleaners (one good thing), contains an aroma, and has many other uses. I wonder how it "Protects the taste" though? Probably just an addictive, and tricks the body into wanting it more, just like cologne's and other stimulating products.

6. Natural Flavors: Not sure of Coke's definition and what they are pertaining to "natural" flavors. Most of these ingredients are altered in some ester or unnatural way.

7. Citric Acid: Created by fermentation of carbohydrates or of course from certain fruits. Too much acid in the stomach can cause gastric ulcers or stomach irritation. Again, too much of anything causes chemical instability in the body. Then, bad things happen.

8. Caffeine: The addiction drug of the uneducated world. Here is what happens and why people tend to "need their Diet Coke" or whatever. The caffeine hits the brain and binds to adenosine receptors. This causes you to feel awake and alert. Normally adenosine is supposed to connect to these receptors and slow down nerve cell activity (causing drowsiness). When this happens the pituitary gland thinks there is something wrong, so it releases epinephrine (adrenaline) to prepare the body for an emergency. At this point the body is ready for action and is at a higher state of alert than normal. This is ok but not for long periods of time. Being at this state for long periods wear down the body faster. Having the body thinking there is emergency going on all the time is not good at all. This also has a dramatic effect on the very important "deep cycle" phase of sleep. The body cannot get the "deep sleep" it needs due to the caffeine levels still in the body and caffeine still binding to the adenosine receptors. Caffeine has a half-life of about 5 1/2 hours. So if you drink a Diet Coke at 6:00pm and go to sleep at 11:30pm, the caffeine level in your body is only half gone. You are not getting quality sleep because the proper "deep sleep cycles" where never really achieved.
Then, in this same group, there is dopamine, which is a neurotransmitter and stimulates the pleasure parts of the brain. This is believed to be the addiction part of caffeine, which results into the conscious or subconscious addiction of caffeinated products. When the caffeine wears off, side effects occur, then the consumer grabs for more to mask the effects.

There! Now when you are drinking a Diet Coke you can read this article and ponder upon the element and make a decision for yourself. The bottom line is this. The body can function on a well-balanced nutritious diet with water or an occasional soda. When doses upon doses of “Diet Coke” or other foreign abundances of chemicals enter the body, the body starts getting confused on what is going on and what is doing what. This is probably why the strange side effects start happening. The body has a normal state and with the essential nutrients would still remain its normal state even if Coke® was never formed back in 1886. Lets not chemically and abusively over due ourselves because of a silly mental habit, then you might actually feel normal.

"The Dr."

Any questions or additional help to the above (June 7, 2004 05:32 PM) document email me at netwatcher_s1@yahoo.com
"The Dr."

You guys are idiots, less Calories per day equals weight loss. If you drink regular soda, then switch to diet soda -- then you will have taken in less calories. Ive lost 15 pounds in a year due to this, and I kept my same eating habits. Why must everyone try to discourage others, I mean come on aspartame bad for you? yeah im sure if you consume a box of it a week. You guys are pawns and believe every little unfounded theory you hear.

What a load of bullshit most of you go on with. I have at least 2 x 600ml Diet Cokes a day and have been for over 10 years. I do not drink anything other than water and the occasional alcholic beverage and do not smoke and there is absolutely nothing wrong with me. I had a full fitness test 2 months ago and my kidneys were fine, blood count was perfect, no high blood pressure, no shortness of breathe no ongoing stomach aches and very few headaches though I do admit if I go a couple of days without one I do get a headache. But this is common with most stimulants. Maybe you think its the Diet coke that sparks your problems. Why don't you have a look at your lifestyle and diet. It is easy to blame weight and fitness on Diet Coke. Eat a s alad and go for a run.

You are saying that Aspartame is poison. Where do you get your information or sources from? I have heard that diet coke is good from some n bad from others.

I am alergic to alcohol and since aspertame comverts to wood alcohol (which effects the brain) when heated I was getting sick when drinking or eating anything made with aspertame. Soda is served cold but people don't think about the time it spends on a truck or in a warehouse. When I stopped using these products, I stopped being sick. People have also been diognosed with false positives in MS tests.

All i have to say is... i have not had any symptoms that alotta people said they had, ive lost a good amount of weight with it, and ITS NOT THAT ADDICTING.. I've been drinking all sorts of diet soda and feel good everyday. Its been years i've been drinking it. SO yall can be free and say what you want. I know what diet can do, and it hasn't done jack shit. So DRINK ON

I really love Coke Light. The taste is much better than Diet Coke, and I don't need to worry about increasing weight. Though, I've heard some bad, but do you know how many foods we have taken daily which also poison to ourself? At least we can have a bit control, just drink on.

My suspicion is that drinking diet coke everyday is actually bad for you.

When a company I used to work for stopped giving away free sodas, I switched from 4 diet cokes per day to 4 bottles of water per day. Although I never noted any negative side effects from all of the diet soda I drank, I did notice a dramatic difference once I had switched to water.

I felt so much better! Somehow, I felt less sluggish, more clear-headed, and less addicted. Now, diet coke tastes like medicine to me.

I am addicted to diet coke !! Its terrible during the week at work i drink 3 cans in 8 hours one on the way home and 1-2 more before i go to bed at night. Then on the weekends watch out.. I would say I go thru 36 cans a week no joke I love it but i hate it i am worried that it may affect things in my body over time anyone have any suggestions or thoughts.

I am addicted to diet coke !! Its terrible during the week at work i drink 3 cans in 8 hours one on the way home and 1-2 more before i go to bed at night. Then on the weekends watch out.. I would say I go thru 36 cans a week no joke I love it but i hate it i am worried that it may affect things in my body over time anyone have any suggestions or thoughts.

If diet coke and aspartame are as bad as people here say they are, I dont think the FDA would allow the sale of it. I also think that if aspartame was dangerous to our health, there would be so many more health problems linked to it than there are. The only horror stories you ever hear about it are the ones online - thats where you can find every rumor in the world. I drink a TON of diet soda (maybe about 6 cans a day, maybe more, maybe less) and there is not a single thing wrong with my health due to it. Bottom line, aspartame doesnt cause memory loss or sleep problems and if it really was dangerous, doctors, magazines, and tv programs would constantly tell us not to consume it. Drink your diet coke and dont worry about it because nothing will happen!!

everything in moderation !

Look all you have to do is a couple of searches on the net and you will find out that the whole Aspartame/Nutrisweet thing has been kicking around the net for ages. Now, if you are a dyed in the wool conspiracy theoris you aren't going to believe anyone but the crazies...you should wrap your head in aluminum foil and maybe the voices in your head will go away. However, the fact that you don't see our nation's emergency wards crammed with people suffering acute attacks of "Aspartame poisoning" should clue you in on the level of danger...unless they are taking the patients to secret underground labs at Area 51!

Here is an excerpt from a longer report written to address romors that aspartame had adverse effects on Multiple Schlerosis sufferers:

The Inappropriate and Unsubstantiated Alarm Over Aspartame

David Squillacote, MD
Senior Medical Advisor, Multiple Sclerosis Foundation
January 12, 1999

1. Aspartame does cause the production of small amounts of methanol, but no more than normal consumption of fruits and vegetables.
2. There are about 200 mg of aspartame in 12 ounces of most diet drinks. Even with greater than 2000 mg of aspartame, there is no change in the levels of methanol in normal adults. Normal volunteers have taken 600 mg/hour of aspartame for 8 hours without significant increases in serum methanol. Normal men have taken 10,000 mg of aspartame without any side effects.
3. Infants who have received equivalently enormous doses of aspartame show no increase in serum methanol levels.
4. Methanol itself is not the problem in "methanol poisoning". It is the generation of formic acid when the methanol is very high that causes the dangerous acidosis and the blindness. Normal volunteers have taken 14,000 mg of aspartame. Even though their methanol levels rose, the formic acid did not. The methanol levels returned to normal within 8 hours.
5. When aspartame-containing beverages are left at high storage temperatures, the aspartame can degrade and form small amounts of methanol.
6. Diketopiperazine (DKP) is another breakdown product of aspartame. It has not been show to be carcinogenic (causes cancers).
7. There is no connection between "Desert Storm Syndrome" and aspartame.

Look, you don't want to believe the guy, you figure he is in the pay of major food corporations, FINE. But that just shows you how silly it is to say that the internet and bloggers are some sort of alternative to mainstream media. Yes, I would love it if it were true but the internet is a playground for the lunatic fringe and the problem is that anything in nice html looks "believable".

So just pop open a Diet Coke and RELAX!

Michael S. Copley

Let's use some logic please. Since artificial food additives, in general, began to be applied in the early 20th Century, cancer, MS, and other diseases have increased (as a percentage of the population). Perhaps we are better at detecting/identifying the diseases; perhaps not. We are messing with nature. Stick to natural foods and you remove the risk associated with relying on the FDA and other agencies' best estimates of harm from artificial additives. Regulators (such as the FDA) have been wrong before. They can be wrong again.

I have not drank Diet Coke and never will, recently I saw a commercial for Propel (a Gatorade product), I bought a pack of it and started drinking it, it tasted horribly sweet, I had already heard about aspratame and other artificial sweeteners, I kept on drinking it and just couldn't take anymore of it, it was NASTY! I looked at the ingredients and saw Acesulfame Potassium, I looked it up on the internet and saw that it was related to Aspratame, which causes many symptoms like having headaches and that sort. I can't chew any gum anymore because it filled with aspratame. The new coke called C2 is just as bad as Diet Coke. Most Diet Coke drinkers that I know seem to be abit strange. I've warned some but they didn't care a single bit, they just kept on drinking it and drinking it. It is very addictive obiviously. What gets me angery is that companies make tons of money off it!!! And the FDA approved this?!!!? Unfortunately, artificial sweeteners are bad for you and you are posining yourself if you drink or eat it. I hope that one day that all artificial sweeteners will be gone.

That was some scary stuff to think about. I'm only a teenager and thinking about how much diet soda I drink isn't a good thing if these statements are true. I hope that it wont effect me I think I will stop drinking it ...incase.

How weird, I have a co-worker who has complained of the same symptoms listed here, migraines, stomach ache, muscle aches. I can't say for sure that it is the diet coke, but she drank dr. pepper pretty religiously up until a couple of years ago, and she did not have these complaints then. By the way, she has bad gas all the time too.
Thanks.

I broke my collar bone about a year ago and it never healed so I had to have surgery. They inserted a plate to keep the bones stable. The doctor told me that smoking is extrememly bad for calcium formation so I quit smoking and I quit drinking. I always drank a lot of soda but after that I started drinking a lot of diet coke and diet drpepper to curb the nicotine withdrawl. Its been six months and the last time I saw the doctor, my arm still wasn't showing any signs of healing. I've been taking calcium supplements since then as well but it doesn't seem to be helping. Now I'm wondering if it has anything to do with the carbonation in the soda. Anyone have any ideas? I havn't been drinking as much of it but when I see my doctor next month, I'll be sure to ask him.

you shitheads are so damned clueless. i drink 96 diet cokes a week and i am perfectly healthy.my cokes and my smokes are the only things that give me pleasure and i will be damned if i listen to you panick promoting deadheads.kiss my ass.

lona, keep your anger to yourself, I think your fool to drink 96 diet cokes a week, you should take a diet off diet cokes! I don't think we are the ones that are cluelss I think you are, and anyone who agrees with you.

A lot of the aforementioned ill symptoms are due to dehydration as caffiene is a duiretic. This also leads to bone loss in women. The mineral loss from dehydration induces the drawing of calcium from bone. And eventually osteoporosis. Dehydration will cause wheezing (asthma). Acidic quality of diet sodas will raise havoc with stomach acids. This makes you feel hungry. So, best thing to do is make yourself some tea and sweeten it with the herb called Stevia. It's a natural sweetener, much much sweeter than sugar. Try it and you see what I mean, it's amazing. I make a creation using hibiscus, spearmint, lemonbalm and ofcourse stevia. Iced is yummy. Oh, and where the hell is Ralph Nader on this issue? I would join a law suit against Coke because the stuff IS ADDICTIVE and absolute poison. And they are poisoning people all over the world. Hey, if we can take on the tobacco industry, why not. Oh, and I will add psoratic arthritis to the list of ills and I know diet coke is the culprit. I just discovered an uncle who has PA and guess what he was guzzling when I went to visit him recently. I'm taking a two week vacation and my number one goal is to get off the soda and save my life. Good luck to the rest of you who also attempt to kick this awful addiction. I know it's going to be really tough.

I drink shed loads of diet coke and am constantly being nagged by my mum and boyfriend to 'give up the habit!'.I keep trying to persuade them that it's better than alcohol and that if you look at what tea does to the inside of a tea cup then what does that do to your insides but they are not to be swayed!! However, having read various articles re. losing calcium and having increased my exercise and reduced my calorie and fat intake with no results I have decided to attempt to cut right down and possibly even give up my diet coke. But as others have mentioned it does seem sad that nothing seems harmless anymore and maybe a can a day won't hurt?!?

Charliecharlie,
I'd first try one diet coke a day, then 1 every other day then try once a week, and so on, so then soon you'll be off of diet coke. Take it slowly, its hard to get off something your addicted to. Its good not to drink any diet sodas at all. Its best to stick to regular soda and use sugar than anything else.

Aspertame is out there, check your tea and just about everything you eat, giving up diet coke only is not the answer to your problems.

Aspratame is surely out there. Thats the bad part and many people drink diet coke. This forum isn't just about Diet Coke, its also about Aspratame. Just because the FDA approved it, doesn't mean its any good for you. Don't say "I don't care because the FDA approved it." My friend did that when I tried to tell her about how bad aspratame was. People need to know about this.

Ok, didn't buy any of this. Fought it tooth and nail with the wife. I am a lifelong diet coke guy. I mean, I drank it like it was going out of style. I quit five weeks ago. I am not going tell you my memory got better or my skin is more youthful or whatever, but I will tell you this: I have had a sweating problem all of my adult life. I am in great shape, exercise all the time, but I used to sweat sitting down, in the winter, through sports coats, suits, you name it. The doctor told me years ago that it was just me, something that some people have. Well, (spooky drum roll) not anymore. No diet coke, no sweating. I haven't been reviewed by the FDA (lol)so take it all with a grain of salt, but I'm here to tell you that it (something in it) was the root of my sweating problem. Pretty good info if your in the shoes I was in.

I told my Nana that I used Equal in my tea and coffee and I drink diet coke because real sugar gives me bad skin. She said that artificial sweeteners have something in them that is used to embalm bodies, but I can't remember the name of it. Anyway now I'm freaked out but don't know what to believe. I'm not going to use artificial sweeteners until I find out the truth though.

I should note that both aspartic acid and phenylalanine are not poisons but perectly natural amino acids. Phenylalanine is even an essential amino acid--you can't live without it. Aspartic acid is produced by your body, and both are incorporated into proteins in your body right now. Methanol is mildly toxic, yes, but your liver can and does process it without any problems. It is produced in small quantities by bacteria in your gut and in breaking down natural esthers in vegetables. The equivalent sweetness of one gram of sugar generates approximately 500 micrograms of methanol--a truly microscopic amount.

This is pure scaremongering pseudoscience.

Just a quick note to say that most of the comments declaring the problems with aspartame to be psuedo-scientific scare-mongering are accurate; the science isn't there to back up the claims. HOWEVER, there is a nearly overwhelming body of anecdotal evidence that points to some serious problems, linkable to the intake of aspartame, for some of members of the human race.

A personal example: My wife developed serious hormonal problems in her early thirties similar to the more severe cases of menopause--uncontrollable crying and emotional outbursts, intestinal disturbances, poor temperature regulation, etc. She stopped any intake of aspartame as part of a diet (ironic, that, eh?) to lose a few pounds (5 or 10) and the symptoms cleared up. We didn't realize what the problem had been immediately but we eventually figured it out and over the course of several months we experimented and confirmed, to our satisfaction, that the aspartame was having some very very serious effects on her body (and mental stability...and indirectly mine, frankly :) ).

Everyone is different (I can't eat cheese because it triggers migraines) and you have to evaluate these things for yourself. (Oh, and it wasn't and isn't any of the government's business.)

I am also a firm believer that this stuff will cause problems with your body. Everyone is different with the way our bodies react to breaking down substances, but I almost had heart surgery because of aspartame and the side effects it caused. I constantly used it in my ice tea, while also consuming Crystal Light products, sugar free jello, diet pop, breath saver mints, etc. My body started having allergic reactions to it, my heart would race so fast you could not count the beats. I literally thought I was going to die. I have never been so scared in my life. I started making a log of my daily food and all substances and finally put two and two together. But, before I (may I say again, I) figured this out, I had numerous heart tests, which came back okay, went to talk with a specialist in Pittsburgh, PA regarding my heart, they t