Pouring on the facts about diet drinks
February 24, 2004 | 12:00am
An alarmed consumer asks, "Is it true that diet soft drinks are bad for the health? I’ve been on a diet of diet drinks for sometime now and I’m happy to say I’ve not had a single additional cavity since I switched from regular to diet pop. What I’m concerned about are the reports on the ill effects of taking diet drinks over time."
A few weeks back, we were having a really late lunch (or early dinner?) at Mandarin Oriental Manila and were about to order our drinks when Alu Suarez, Mandarin director of sales and marketing, tells us matter-of-factly, "Did you know that you must watch out for the expiration dates on diet drinks?"
Since Alu’s turned true-blue (or is it green?) vegan, she’s been devouring health books. And she hasn’t felt lighter, better and wiser than now. But that perhaps deserves another story.
If you go to Dr. Soda on the web, he’ll tell you, "When buying diet products, please keep in mind that diet drinks have a short shelf life."
He also gives this friendly reminder, "Be sure to put your old stuff that you have on hand on top of your new delivery. Bring old stuff to the front of the ref and the new ones to the back, to ensure you won’t have old stuff going out of date on you."
Diet drinks are calorie-free, all right. But in terms of nutrition, they can never replace water. (Touche! We’ll drink to that!)
It’s sugar-free, all right. But read this: "If it says sugar free on the label, do not even think about it!" warns Dr. Roberts, an environmentalist. "I have spent several days lecturing at the World Environmental Conference on aspartame. In the keynote address by the EPA, it was announced that in the United States in 2001, there was an epidemic of multiple sclerosis and systemic lupus, that it was hard to understand what toxin was causing this to be rampant. I stood up and said that I was there to lecture on exactly that subject. I will explain why aspartame (the artificial sweetener in diet drinks) is so dangerous. When the temperature of this sweetener exceeds 86°F, the wood alcohol in aspartame converts to formaldehyde (a colorless gas chiefly used as a disinfectant and preservative) and then to formic acid (the poison found in the sting of fire ants), which in turn causes metabolic acidosis. The methanol toxicity mimics, among other conditions, multiple sclerosis ... Systemic lupus has also become as rampant, especially with diet cola drinkers."
The concerned environmentalist goes on to ask, "Are you suffering from fibromyalgia symptoms, spasms, shooting pains, numbness in your legs, vertigo, dizziness, headaches, tinnitus, joint pains, depression, anxiety attacks, slurred speech, blurred vision or memory loss?"
The verdict comes loud and clear, "You probably have aspartame disease!"
In a 1993 study conducted by Dr. Ralph Walton, a clinical psychiatry professor at Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine, 40 patients suffering from depression and a similar number without a psychiatric history were given 30 mgs per kg of body weight a day of aspartame or a placebo for 20 days. Only 13 completed the study. The project had to be stopped posthaste because of the severity of reactions in the group of patients with a history of depression. Thus, Dr. Walton concluded, "Individuals with mood disorders are particularly sensitive to this artificial sweetener and should be discouraged from taking it."
Dr. Roberts also warns that diet soft drinks are no diet products. In the weighty words of Dr. Roberts: The Congressional Record states that it makes you crave carbohydrates and will make you fat. The formaldehyde stores in the fat cells, particularly in the hips and thighs. Once off these products with no significant increase in exercise, he had patients who lost an average of 19 pounds over a trial period.
More, diabetics are especially warned vs aspartame, as it "drives the blood sugar out of control."
Dr. Roberts further warns that it can cause birth defects (like mental retardation) if taken at the time of early pregnancy and conception.
In addition, diet drinks often contain caffeine (it usually has 45 mg of caffeine whereas a cup of drip coffee has about 140 mg).
So, what are the consumers of diet drinks supposed to do now?
According to Catherine Collins, chief dietician at St. George’s Hospital and spokesperson for the British Dietetic Association, moderation is the key when drinking diet drinks. "I wouldn’t push soft diet drinks as healthy drinks, but I wouldn’t be too worried about the aspartame either," comes Collins’ hard-and-fast rule on soft diet drinks.
Actually, Collins is more concerned about saccharine, a sweetener used in low-calorie foods and drinks and is reported to have caused bladder cancer in laboratory rats.
Aspartame is made up of two amino acids: Aspartic acid and phenylalanine. These same amino acids are found in the foods that we consume every day – like milk, fruits and vegetables – and are digested in the same way, mo matter what the source. But there are some people who lack the necessary enzyme to process phenylalanine, which can cause mental retardation and seizures (thus, all foods and beverages containing aspartame have to carry warning labels).
Aspartame was first used in the early 1970s. According to the Food and Drug Administration in the US, it is one of the most thoroughly tested and studied food additives it has ever approved.
Cola manufacturers are quick to point out that every piece of scientific information says that aspartame is a "safe and suitable sweetener."
Those who want to know more about aspartame can simply type "aspartame" into the Google Internet search engine (it’s got a chock-full of results). There are even links to an aspartame victims’ support group and the Aspartame Toxicity Centre.
Is there a safe daily limit to aspartame consumption?
Yes, there is – like many other foods containing artificial additives (which we don’t really need to add to our diet). Here’s the rule of thumb: An average adult should consume no more than 40 milligrams of aspartame per kilogram of body weight per day. To exceed the limit, you would have to drink at least 14 cans of diet drinks a day. Fourteen cans of diet cola a day? We’ll not drink to that!
If there’s something bugging you, and you think we can be of help, e-mail us at ching_alano@yahoo.com.
A few weeks back, we were having a really late lunch (or early dinner?) at Mandarin Oriental Manila and were about to order our drinks when Alu Suarez, Mandarin director of sales and marketing, tells us matter-of-factly, "Did you know that you must watch out for the expiration dates on diet drinks?"
Since Alu’s turned true-blue (or is it green?) vegan, she’s been devouring health books. And she hasn’t felt lighter, better and wiser than now. But that perhaps deserves another story.
If you go to Dr. Soda on the web, he’ll tell you, "When buying diet products, please keep in mind that diet drinks have a short shelf life."
He also gives this friendly reminder, "Be sure to put your old stuff that you have on hand on top of your new delivery. Bring old stuff to the front of the ref and the new ones to the back, to ensure you won’t have old stuff going out of date on you."
Diet drinks are calorie-free, all right. But in terms of nutrition, they can never replace water. (Touche! We’ll drink to that!)
It’s sugar-free, all right. But read this: "If it says sugar free on the label, do not even think about it!" warns Dr. Roberts, an environmentalist. "I have spent several days lecturing at the World Environmental Conference on aspartame. In the keynote address by the EPA, it was announced that in the United States in 2001, there was an epidemic of multiple sclerosis and systemic lupus, that it was hard to understand what toxin was causing this to be rampant. I stood up and said that I was there to lecture on exactly that subject. I will explain why aspartame (the artificial sweetener in diet drinks) is so dangerous. When the temperature of this sweetener exceeds 86°F, the wood alcohol in aspartame converts to formaldehyde (a colorless gas chiefly used as a disinfectant and preservative) and then to formic acid (the poison found in the sting of fire ants), which in turn causes metabolic acidosis. The methanol toxicity mimics, among other conditions, multiple sclerosis ... Systemic lupus has also become as rampant, especially with diet cola drinkers."
The concerned environmentalist goes on to ask, "Are you suffering from fibromyalgia symptoms, spasms, shooting pains, numbness in your legs, vertigo, dizziness, headaches, tinnitus, joint pains, depression, anxiety attacks, slurred speech, blurred vision or memory loss?"
The verdict comes loud and clear, "You probably have aspartame disease!"
In a 1993 study conducted by Dr. Ralph Walton, a clinical psychiatry professor at Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine, 40 patients suffering from depression and a similar number without a psychiatric history were given 30 mgs per kg of body weight a day of aspartame or a placebo for 20 days. Only 13 completed the study. The project had to be stopped posthaste because of the severity of reactions in the group of patients with a history of depression. Thus, Dr. Walton concluded, "Individuals with mood disorders are particularly sensitive to this artificial sweetener and should be discouraged from taking it."
Dr. Roberts also warns that diet soft drinks are no diet products. In the weighty words of Dr. Roberts: The Congressional Record states that it makes you crave carbohydrates and will make you fat. The formaldehyde stores in the fat cells, particularly in the hips and thighs. Once off these products with no significant increase in exercise, he had patients who lost an average of 19 pounds over a trial period.
More, diabetics are especially warned vs aspartame, as it "drives the blood sugar out of control."
Dr. Roberts further warns that it can cause birth defects (like mental retardation) if taken at the time of early pregnancy and conception.
In addition, diet drinks often contain caffeine (it usually has 45 mg of caffeine whereas a cup of drip coffee has about 140 mg).
So, what are the consumers of diet drinks supposed to do now?
According to Catherine Collins, chief dietician at St. George’s Hospital and spokesperson for the British Dietetic Association, moderation is the key when drinking diet drinks. "I wouldn’t push soft diet drinks as healthy drinks, but I wouldn’t be too worried about the aspartame either," comes Collins’ hard-and-fast rule on soft diet drinks.
Actually, Collins is more concerned about saccharine, a sweetener used in low-calorie foods and drinks and is reported to have caused bladder cancer in laboratory rats.
Aspartame is made up of two amino acids: Aspartic acid and phenylalanine. These same amino acids are found in the foods that we consume every day – like milk, fruits and vegetables – and are digested in the same way, mo matter what the source. But there are some people who lack the necessary enzyme to process phenylalanine, which can cause mental retardation and seizures (thus, all foods and beverages containing aspartame have to carry warning labels).
Cola manufacturers are quick to point out that every piece of scientific information says that aspartame is a "safe and suitable sweetener."
Those who want to know more about aspartame can simply type "aspartame" into the Google Internet search engine (it’s got a chock-full of results). There are even links to an aspartame victims’ support group and the Aspartame Toxicity Centre.
Is there a safe daily limit to aspartame consumption?
Yes, there is – like many other foods containing artificial additives (which we don’t really need to add to our diet). Here’s the rule of thumb: An average adult should consume no more than 40 milligrams of aspartame per kilogram of body weight per day. To exceed the limit, you would have to drink at least 14 cans of diet drinks a day. Fourteen cans of diet cola a day? We’ll not drink to that!
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