Does anybody know if any studies have actually proven if there has been any sort of link between artificial sweeteners and cancer or other medical problems later in life? I know there has been a great amount of speculation about the topic but last i heard, nothing had been scientifically proven. I'm interest because I drink a good deal of diet sodas and my friends often comment that the stuff will kill me, joking of course. Any comments or input would be appreciated. Thanks.

well considering cancer is caused my the mutation of cells and the fact that i doubt that artificial sweetners are particularly radioactive or full of cell mutalating properties , my answer is i doubt it and there probably connected as much as Apple macs and snow globes for example, but there may be a connection that is just my personal opinion, it is not written as fact!

Yes, there is, unfortunately, quite some risk in those diet sodas.

My discovery of such fact first began with a chain SMS. Of course, I was initially disbelieving as I am apt to be with SMS messages. nonetheless my curiosity was piqued and I began looking into the properties of Aspartame, that zero-calorie sweetener I have found to be a key ingredient on, so far, the following drinks: Coke Light, Coke Zero, Diet Pepsi, Pepsi Max. It is also marketed as a zero-calorie sweetener under the following brand names: Tropicana Slim, Equal, NutraSweet and Canderel.

Apparently, zero-calorie sodas might not be as healthier over their sugar-based counterparts. I suppose I could only advice you to drink Coke or Pepsi, and just work out all that caffeine and sugar out of your body



Didja know that if you break a snow globe over a Mac, you'd get something that is not nice? Cancer is not nice; therefore, we have it, a connection between Macs and snow globes!

No, seriously, though, my charcoal-grilled barbecue is not a mutagen nor is it radioactive (it'd be cool if it was, ne?) but it most certainly is carcinogenic. Cigarettes don't alter DNA and I doubt it bears heavy, radioactive metals, but it certainly contributes to lung cancer, ne? In the same way, these artificial sweeteners, especially Aspartame, could, not only be carcinogenic, but also contain unpleasant compounds, such as excitatory amino acids, which will, simply put, "excite" your brain cells to death. It isn't as thrilling as it sounds, quite unfortunately

I saw a study once that a biology grad did with splenda sweetener and lab rats. She didn't have official funding but wanted to test her hypothesis. After a few months about 27-30 rats had some sort of tumor. Most of them were the stomach or near the face. They progressed and soon they were unable to walk or move. The scary thing is a listed side effect of splenda is stiffness in back/soreness in stomach or something like that. I don't remember the website but she had all her logistics and setup and tons of pictures to prove her study which took about a year or so to complete.

If you think about it, how can something "artificial" be good for our bodies. We are just animals down to the core and injecting fake things into our bodies isn't natural. I won't drink diet ever again. I will suck it up and take some sugar and calories. I also don't believe you can get rid of the calories and sugar and not replace it with something else. There has to be something else in there that they don't tell you. Those companies are all about profits and marketing. I know they know that it is unhealthy for america, but all they see is advertising and $$sales$$. Everyone do themselves a favor and not drink soda anyways. Stick to water and natural organic foods

Studies never "prove" anything...they just offer evidence which supports certain claims. While there are studies that suggest that artificial sweetners may cause cancer, there are others that suggest they do not. So there is not definite answer. Common sense supports what ckcomputerstallahassee was saying: artifical things probably aren't that good for us. From a biological standpoint, we evolved to deal with/thrive on the natural elements around us, we are built for them. But these new, artifical things are something we may not be equipped for, and our bodies don't know how to react. We can't predict what will happen, we can only wait and see.

I think of artificial sweetners as almost equivalent to sugar in the sense that they are probably harmless in moderation, but overdoing it will have consequences. Too much sugar puts you at risk for obesity related illnesses (one of which, they are finding out, is a higher risk of cancer), and too much diet soda might cause cancer.

Just drink water. Water's good for you. And it's refreshing

Response to Diet Coke
Diet Sodas/artificial Sweeteners Relationship With Cancer?

Iv'e heard horrible stories about Coke, Diet Coke, Pepsi, Diet Pepsi, etc... Now, they may be just that, "stories", but usually you find truth somewhere in the middle.

I was told that some State Police carry 12 packs of soda in the trunk to poor on top of deer blood at a roadkill site. The acids in the soda supposedly eat the deer blood off of the pavement. Yikes!

Iv'e also heard stories that if you put certain pieces of metal in a glass of soda and let it set, the acids will literally eat the metal?

I have a hard time swallowing that this is "o.K" or "good" for anyone to drink.

I know this, yet occasionally I still have one or two on a hot day. It's crazy! Mass marketing melts our brains and soothes us with those Cindy Crawford commercials into thinking it's o.K. Much like cigarettes, there's so much money involved in this industry that there will never be a REAL answer because I don't think we really want to know. I just don't want to be the sap that's lying there with pancreatic cancer wishing I had a few more years with my children so it's a simple choice, years with my kids or take my chances with the soda (and a hundred other things)...I usually choose the kids (although they may very well be the death of me before it's all said an done! LOL)

-reply by Yankee44

well in diet sweeterners. almost all of them use an artifical sweeter called phenylalanine. if you don't know what this is look for a diet can of coke or something and look for a red word youll never miss it.

they say if you have drink too much of it in a day there will be an effect. but there are no definite studies this time around.

but in my opinion, it is better too add water than add chemicals to your drink. its safer and has no seen side effects ( maybe the taste ).

this is one of the stupid things your company wouldn't say in commercials.

this is like beer for me. people drink it but they have a chance to have kidney cancer because of it. at least they know what they are drinking. in diet sodas, almost all don't know what there drinking. even if there's a little chance to have cancer they might as well tell it to their consumers.

Even specialized doctors don't know about this one. ask you local doctor. because there's still no proven studies for this one. but isn't that correlation of cancer to cigars are proven just in th early/mid 1900?

This post has been edited by jopak134: Sep 5 2008, 04:24 PM