Is Diet Soda Really Safe for You and Your Family?

We all know these soft drinks, don't we? Diet Coke. Diet Pepsi. Diet Ginger Ale. Diet Dr. Pepper from the popular Snapple Group. Diet Sprite. Diet 7Up. Diet A&W Root Beer. Each one's a household name. One of them is probably our favorite no-cal or low-cal soda brand. Our kids can't get enough of these diet soft drinks. Even college students swear by them. But, how much do we really know about these diet beverages, the ones that line the shelves of supermarkets and local grocery stores today?

Diet Soft Drinks and Consumer Safety

So much has been written about diet soft drinks that it's difficult to gauge whether or not diet soda is safe for you and your family. At first, the empty calories in diet soft drinks were cause for concern. Later, the safety of the ingredients used in making diet cola, ginger ale and other beverages was called into question. As a result, artificial sweeteners and chemicals face continuing scrutiny by consumer groups and government regulators. The results of these studies and exposés would surprise you.

Why Soda is Blamed for Increasing Obesity and Diabetes

According to most health and nutrition experts, including those at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, sodas may increase your lifetime risk for obesity and other health problems, like diabetes. Soft drinks contain sugar and caffeine which do little for the waistline and a lot to promote obesity among adults, adolescents and children.

Concerns about all-time consumption of sugary beverages and increased levels of obesity across the United States have given rise to demands for a "soda tax," a public policy measure US Department of Agriculture (USDA) recently studied and supports. USDA reports that nearly 67% of all US adults are overweight. and 33.4 percent are obese. In raising the price of soft drinks by 20%, USDA hopes to see obesity cut by 30% a year and the overweight by more than 60%. As expected, the American Beverage Association opposes the soda tax and disputes its credibility as a reasonable public health measure.

Diet Soda, Artificial Sweeteners and Chemicals in Today's Beverage Market

The artificial sweeteners and chemicals in today's diet soda product lines are poor substitutes for the high fructose corn syrup at the center of the "soda tax" debate. These artificial sweeteners and chemicals in diet soft drinks have long concerned health care professionals, nutritional experts and health researchers. While they're probably safe for most, artificial sweeteners and chemicals in diet soda may pose adverse health effects for some consumers. As a result, dozens of artificial sweeteners and chemicals used in diet soft drinks continue to be controversial ingredients, among them:

Saccharin was first produced by a chemist working on coal tar derivatives for Johns Hopkins University. Saccharin later became popular as a sugar substitute during both World Wars and during the 1960s and 1970s as a dieters favorite. Saccharin has been marketed as Sweet 'N Low and the little pink packets are favorites of restaurants to this day. Saccharin's appeal and power as a sugar substitute has only become solidified over the years as cyclamates store well, don't react with other chemicals in food and beverages, and survived countless studies by researchers and government regulators alike.

Aspartame was discovered in 1965 by a chemist who discovered the non-nutritive sweetener quite by chance when working on an anti ulcer drug for his company. Today, sold as Equal, NutraSweet and Canderel, aspartame can be found in thousands of food and beverage products across the globe, including diet and other soft drinks. While not recommended for baking, Aspartame is one of the main sugar substitutes used by people with diabetes, making it a big money maker for companies that use it.

Sucralose is the latest entrant in the food and beverage market. A zero-calorie artificial sweetener, it's in high demand in the European marketplace. Discovered in 1976, sucralose is a pretty stable product and 600 times sweeter than table sugar. It's also sweeter than aspartame, saccharin and similar products. Thus far, sucralose seems to be withstanding inquiries about its safety and should be on the diet soft drink and food product market for quite some time. Splenda is the commercial name for sucralose products.

Diet soft drinks contain any of these sweeteners or others to get that sugar-like effect and taste. It remains to be seen if these sweeteners and chemicals are safe over the long-term. A number of consumer groups and government regulators and researchers around the world continue to study the health effects of these commercial additives.

Researchers continue to study the connection between diet soda consumption and increased weight gain, metabolic syndrome and osteoporosis. Diet sodas have been studied for their effects on premature births (in pregnant women.) In a recent study reported in Health News, researchers from the Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston noted a 30% decline in kidney function in women who consumed two or more diet soft drinks per day. Studies continue on the health effects of diet soft drinks.

Healthy Beverage Options For You and Your Family

Health care and nutritional experts claim that soft drinks, including diet soft drinks, should be consumed in moderation. A diet soft drink every now and again is probably fine and won't hurt you. A small glass of skim milk or fruit juice may be a wiser way to start your day. Drinking water throughout the day is also advised by health and nutrition experts.

Despite the allure of calorie-free, diet soft drinks, most health and nutrition experts recommend plain, old water as the best beverage for overall health and wellness over the long term. Looking for something more interesting? Try spritzing lemon in a tall glass of ice water to give it some flavor. Add orange juice to top off a cool, glass of ice water if you need more punch. Anyway you fix it, water is the beverage of choice for healthy living today.

RESOURCES

Excess Diet Soda Consumption
By Madeline Ellis in Health News (November 4, 2009)

Rethink Your Drink
Healthy Eating, Centers for Disease Control

Artificial Sweeteners and Cancer
Cancer Topics, National Cancer Institute

Soft Drinks America
By Judith Valentine in Global Healing Center

National Dietetic Association
www.eatright.org