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Diet Pop Safety Questioned Again

in The Too Busy to Diet Blog on January 27, 2014

Soda companies like Coca-Cola thought zero calorie drinks would help the downward trend in pop drinking. Many people have reduced their soda pop use due to obesity concerns. The $75 million industry did find that when regular soda drinking dropped, the use of diet soda went from 26% to 31% between 1990 and 2010.

Diet soda use has become a concern to the beverage industry because consumption has dropped 6.8% in the last 52 weeks. Regular soda use dropped 2.2% according to Wells Fargo. For three straight years, the use of diet soda has reduced.
The PepsiCo company is concerned because 25% of their U.S. revenue comes from soda. The Doctor Pepper and Snapple Group gets more than 50% of their sales from soda.
Soda is being viewed now as treat, similar to how it was viewed years ago. Thirty-four per cent of those 18-24 consider soda a treat. This is higher than than how older drinkers view soda.
Many people question the safety of artificial sweeteners. The greatest concern is with aspartame, but concerns are also voiced about sucrolose and acesulfame potassium.
The American Beverage Association stands behind research that has been done for over forty years that shows that diet soda use is safe. The Food and Drug Association, American Diabetes Association, and the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics also support the safety of diet soda.
There are some studies that report a link between diet soda and obesity. There is also one that showed that frequent artificial use can trigger ” metabolic derrangements”. There is also concern that aspartame causes cancer. The FDA states that all of these studies are flawed.
Diet soda use is a frequently searched topic on the Internet. Surveys are showing that more consumers are attempting to cut back or stop use of sweeteners.
Soda companies are increasing marketing efforts to promote sweeteners and to create new diet sweeteners that are from natural sources. Stevia, made from the stevia plant, is receiving some support, but its bitter after taste is a concern.
Pepsicola is planning on taking aspartame out of its soda and is planning a new product for next year.
As two dietitian/ nutritionists with over 60 combined years of experience, we support the use of diet soda, but suggest the following:

1) The best beverage choice is the use of water. Approximately 8 cups of water are recommended daily.
2) Diet soda use should not compromise the use of milk that provides the greatest calcium source. This is particularly important for pregnant women and growing children. The increased incidence of osteoporosis in this country makes it most important that we are attentive to adequate calcium intake.
3) As consumers themselves are starting to the use of soda as an occasional treat, we support this change in attitude.
For more information about sweeteners, try our book, “Too Busy to Diet” available on Amazon.