The WHO Says Diet Soda Causes Cancer. Does It?

[@glenngriffon8032]

So basically, don't panic, you're fine. Unless of course you drink more than a gallon of diet soda daily, which if you do... you have bigger issues than the possibility that you might maybe be at risk of a chance to possibly develop cancer.

[@paradiseexpress3639]

Drinking any amounts will increase your risk of cancer. Drinking a gallon just does it faster. So no, you aren't fine. A gallon isn't that much soda either.

[@gabrielandradeferraz386]

to be fair, im already at a risk of a chance to possibly most things anyway

[@ConstantChaos1]

The only people I could think who would feel the need to drink this extremely (of non-addictive substances that is at the worst of my alcoholism I was drinking 1.75l of vodka a day-2 days just not to have siezures from withdrawls) would be someone wirh diabetes incipitus aka renal diabetes where you literally can't retain fluids without (ironically) diuretics They can need to consume up to 20l of water a day to not die If you have diabetes incipitus I'm sure you're already well aware tho lol

[@КГБКолДжорджКостанца]

Isn't everything as far as medicine have things that already increase your risk of diseases like heart, diabetes, and others? I might be wrong, somebody please cite me anf tell me what is correct

[@thebigksmoosey]

Yeah... I'm 100 kilos. I'd have to drink 20 cans of diet coke a day to be over the limit. Some days I have 2... Lol

[@imnashes]

I work at a movie theatre where I sells hundreds of soft drinks every day. The day the WHO announcement went viral diet coke went from 3rd most popular to the least and Coke Zero basically took its place it was so bizarre.

[@madsringswaldegan1058]

That’s so funny because Coke Zero also has aspartame in it

[@ooooneeee]

😄

[@skeletalspiders6697]

​@@madsringswaldegan1058Coke zero uses sucralose does it not? But that's not any better because sucralose was found to break down your DNA..

[@MrSandChess]

@@madsringswaldegan1058Don’t let them know 😂

[@Henrex2000]

Aren't these two literally the same thing?

[@SinisterMD]

As a physician I wish more video rebuttals like this were available to the general public. Bad studies that generate poor data which is interpreted inappropriately. That is then presented to the unsuspecting public as if it's a gold standard rule. Thank you for helping shed some light on this subject. Please keep them coming!!

[@feralbluee]

good to hear from medical scientific person. much more meaningful than all the hearsay - which important, but not like yours. have a great day :) 🌷🌱

[@boulderbash19700209]

Cyclamate : "First time?"

[@PFirefly06]

Possibly bad science is promoting the dangerous idea of "checks notes," not consuming unnatural chemicals. Interesting. One thing that stuck out to me, was that the FDA has a daily intake allowance. That implies that something harmful happens above those levels. Those are also based off a normal healthy adult. Seems to me that most people drinking diet sodas on the regular are not healthy people. Would be curious how that factors into the FDA guidelines.

[@SinisterMD]

@@PFirefly06 Of course something harmful happens above a certain level. Everything in excess is bad. You can drink too much water and die. I don't think any reasonable person would expect that you can consume an unlimited amount and be OK so the FDA has set a limit to which no harm is expected. That's just common practice. We can't study it on humans to the point where we just give more and more UNTIL someone develops a condition but we can establish an upper limit where consumption below that limit doesn't show any harm.

[@PFirefly06]

@@SinisterMD My point is that I would like to know how they arrived at that supposedly safe upper limit. Over what time period, what dosage, how many test subjects. As the video states, it was discovered in 1968, and approved in 1981. They could only have tested over the matter of 13 years, and they would not have started on humans right away, or used particularly high doses. Even assuming a decent test setup and a large enough test pool to be statistically significant, the typical 20 something year old college students used in most medical experiments, those initial subjects would only just now Be reaching their mid to late 60s. Why are we assuming that negative side effects that are not present in even a decade of research means something is safe? Overall health of Americans has deteriorated since that time. I am not implying a connection, just observing that the data from subjects 50 years ago may not apply to today. Has the FDA done longer term studies since then? Have they included in a potential long term study, children raised with aspartame in their diets as they now are in their 40s? We've certainly seen a large increase in autoimmune diseases and type 2 diabetes to the point that our life expectancy in the states is no longer increasing with medical advances, but is instead decreasing. Our understanding of long term effects and what is and isn't healthy at differing doses is constantly changing. I think that taking the attitude that things like aspartame are safe simply because the evidence has not come out in the studies we've done so far is irresponsible. Such claims of safety should be continually challenged and put under longer term scrutiny. We cannot even say that there aren't serious side effects that will only show in a few generations of producing offspring. What happens if a widespread genetic defect begins appearing in our grandchildren and its linked to one of these supposedly safe unnatural chemicals? Too late by then, it would be as many of more generations to correct the issues after cutting it out, and it may never be corrected out of the gene pool at that point. Not trying to be a conspiracy theorist, just trying to point out that people are extremely shortsighted and we are just now discovering how our own biological processes can be influenced by the habits and diets of our parents and grandparents.

[@dayglowjim]

I'm diabetic and the risk of dying from too much sugar is far higher than dying from artificial sweetener of any kind.

[@cassiolins1203]

Exactly. Saying one thing is bad is not even enough, you have to compare it to the alternative.

[@brianfox771]

And lets also keep in mind that consuming anything alcoholic is way way way more carcinogenic than any artificial sweetener.

[@earlthepearl4161]

What is the most harmful digestive product of aspartame? Not too bright are you? methanol In the process of digestion, 11% of the aspartame is transformed into pure methanol [109], which is known to be neurologic teratogen and poison for humans [77,110,111]. Methanol is metabolized in our body to formaldehyde by alcohol dehydrogenase class 1 (ADH) [72], and then oxidized to formic acid in the cytosol.Jun 7, 2021

[@earlthepearl4161]

​@@brianfox771Then chew on this,....What is the most harmful digestive product of aspartame? methanol In the process of digestion, 11% of the aspartame is transformed into pure methanol [109], which is known to be neurologic teratogen and poison for humans [77,110,111]. Methanol is metabolized in our body to formaldehyde by alcohol dehydrogenase class 1 (ADH) [72], and then oxidized to formic acid in the cytosol.Jun 7, 2021

[@earlthepearl4161]

​@@brianfox771Wilful ignorance shouldn't be a lifestyle son.

[@JUMALATION1]

My parents bombarded me with articles as soon as the WHO statement came out. I calculated and found out I would have to drink more than a gallon a day to be at risk. Luckily I keep my intake at three quarters of a gallon a day :D

[@earlthepearl4161]

Your parents must be very proud of how intelligent you are. Lmfao.

[@slepp449]

wait wat

[@adityakhanna113]

99.99% of a gallon for me

[@stellviahohenheim]

Boomers and their reliance to legacy media lol

[@elainebelzDetroit]

@@adityakhanna113 Me too. And then I have .01% of a gallon, and then some more. But I definitely keep it under a gallon up to some point.

[@NoahSpurrier]

This is exactly the same thing that happened in the 80’s when there were warnings about saccharin. The rats were being given the equivalent of a human drinking a bathtub full of diet soda per day.

[@tanamarn]

Earlier, they did the same thing with cyclamates.

[@jaydonbooth4042]

They also did/do this with multiple different drugs people use recreationally. Give them thousands of times the dose any human would ever be taking and when they die they deem that drug dangerous and horrible.

[@dcptiv]

@@jaydonbooth4042 aspartame turns toxic when it gets 86f. So if any product got to above 86f during transport or storage then it becomes toxic. I learnt this 20yrs ago so I am amazed people are only just finding out.

[@23merlino]

@@dcptiv - i remember reading about what you wrote in conjunction with the amount of soldiers falling ill during the iraq war... it was suggested at the time that a possible cause of their illness was due to diet-coke being stored at high temperatures... i don't remember reading if this theory had ever been proven or not, does anyone know any more on the subject..?

[@michaelransom5841]

Ya.. and it turned out it was because of the unique nature of rats urinary tract... 100% did not translate to people, but for years the packages had a "may cause cancer" warning on them... This stupidity annoys me... not the science per say, but the medias reaction to it... there are actually even more studies linking high fructose corn syup in regular soda to cancer risk, but i don't see any headlines for that... why the double standard??

[@Fourside__]

yes lets focus on artificial sweeteners that MAY have some health impacts over decades of heavy over consumption instead of high fructose corn syrup in basically every other food you buy at the groceries store and the fact food additives need to be shown to be harmful instead of being shown to be not harmful like the EU does it. exactly how they'd like it to be

[@megamaser]

How about we focus on both because they both affect our health. All sweeteners cause weight gain, regardless of their calorie content, due to their metabolic and neurological effects.

[@GetYourPull18]

​​@@megamaserm, no they don't. If you drink a can of diet coke instead of a regular coke, you'll consume less calories. Weight gain is caused by being on a calorie surplus.

[@Controvi]

@@megamaser That is not fully supported by science. as far as I have read papers and research. The only thing I saw that came close to artificial sweeteners causing weight gain, was because for some people they felt they could eat more because they were on diet soda. 1 other study I read was that for some (a minority) the body might see the sweetener as real and stop using body fat as energy and thus making the person more hungry and leading to snacking or over eating. But to my knowledge there hasn't been a study that could draw a conclusion that artificial sweeteners cause weight gain. I have been drinking normal coke for a large part of my life. A good amount as well and gained weight from it. I switched to zero (taste better imo) and stopped gaining weight as much and with a little more movement since i got a dog and practicing archery, I started loosing weight. So from my own experience I would also say that its a false statement that it makes you gain weight no matter if it is real or artificial

[@ryannash1177]

@@megamaserThey only do in the sense they increase appetite. There’s no evidence artificial sweeteners directly cause weight gain.

[@mehere8038]

you know that's really messed up to have every food in your grocery store full of corn syrup or chemical sweeteners right? Foods are supposed to have a variety of flavours, not just "sweet" No wonder you lot hate foods like vegemite that are sugar free!

[@jamesalewis]

This is the same issue with using sassafras root in things like root beer. The lethal 50 dose was like consuming the extracts of 500 lbs of root within 30 days. The FDA is also susceptible to this error.

[@D.von.N]

Always follow the money. FDA isn't immune.

[@jamesalewis]

@@D.von.N precisely. Follow the money. On a more sinister note, the rest of the three-letter-agencies also are corrupt. CDC, FBI, CIA, etcetera. No wonder "vaccine hesitancy" is a thing; you can't trust someone who's routinely violated your trust.

[@NiSE_Rafter]

It might also have something to do with how the oil is used to make MDMA/Ecstasy/Molly. Commercially available sassafras oil usually is processed to remove the part of it used in drug making.

[@anangoohns]

As someone with diabetes on both sides of my family and a sugar intolerance that gives me nausea and GI irritation, I'm still picking diet when I reach for a pop. Thank you for helping "pick my poison" from an even more well-informed position.

[@PhawnixAndJewel]

could just drink water I guess

[@freeone69]

im pre-diabetic and i drink a mix of 90 percent carbonated water and 10 percent white monster (artificially sweetened). it tastes still so sweet idk why. now i can drink mostly water and replaced like 2 lt of sugary drink per day with this. one 500ml white monster holds up for 3 days or so. no other drink sweetens it like that. ik its not optimal but muuch better than sugar.

[@anangoohns]

@@PhawnixAndJewel "when I reach for a pop" implies that in those instances I've decided to have one, I pick diet, not that I only drink pop

[@megamaser]

Consuming artificial sweeteners has been shown to increase sugar intake overall, so it's best to avoid both. Drink club soda if you want to avoid diabetes.

[@kittimcconnell2633]

My husband is pre diabetic and loves the Zevia brand diet sodas.

[@tamberjune]

My chemistry teacher did a lesson on this 15 years ago. People stopped hounding us and our diet cokes after every lunch period. 🎉

[@Siriuslyyy]

You drank coke at every lunch?! 😮

[@earlthepearl4161]

Wow, my research is finally finished. You saved me a lot of time,...oh but wait I started that research over 20 years ago and everything that I have verified in information about this poison is horrifically disgusting and disturbing how it and other toxic substances have been approved for human consumption. These agencies are blatantly betraying their whole reason for existence. You don't have to believe anyones opinions, or feelings. The facts are not secret and there is are mountains of studies showing that this shyte will definitely harm your health in many ways. Folks who say that it is harmless are particularly ignorant,.terribly uninformed, or just plain sh*lls doing their lowlife jobs selling out their brothers, and sisters.

[@earlthepearl4161]

What was the lesson? How did he somehow verify that it was safe in any way? Love to hear this.

[@PaladinFeora]

Two things: I hope Hank is doing well! And thank you for this video, this is how I feel about this topic. Thank you for this.

[@lawrencecalablaster568]

I haven’t watched these channels in a while, what happened to Hank?

[@Julyuary]

@@lawrencecalablaster568 He was recently diagnosed with cancer and has been undergoing chemotherapy.

[@tarmaque]

@@Julyuary He also posted a couple of videos in the last few days wearing a hat. Apparently Chemo is going well. I wish him well too. A friend of mine just died today of Lymphoma. Not the kind Hank has, but the scarier kind. He's been fighting it for a decade or more. (Non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Hank has Hodgkin lymphoma.)

[@notoriousgoblin83]

He's off chemo and onto radiation. It's going really well.

[@DralhaEureka]

Science gets difficult when profit is involved. Both sugar and aspartame are produced by industries with powerful lobbies, so you definitely have to check out who funded each study.

[@lauram9478]

You are 100% correct! Unfortunately.

[@akpsyche1299]

It wouldn’t surprise me to see the sugar industry messing with health science again. They did it to make people think fat was unhealthy and the major cause of heart disease (the real cause was sugar), and I’m sure they’ll do it again to make artificial sweeteners look bad.

[@The8bitbeard]

Absolutely. Any time we hear "Studies show...", we should be asking things like "Who did the study? Sample size? Methodology? Funding source? Time frame?" How the data came in be is just as important if not more so than the data itself.

[@aaronlabarre501]

I'd even go so far as to say anything the FDA says about food healthiness is inherently biased since they also hold up the industry that makes the profitable drugs for the treatment that poor nutrition causes

[@kayleawilson]

Yeah if there’s not enough unbiased data, why are we confidently making any conclusions, either for or against?

[@jimsmith9803]

I remember in the 60's that there was another artificial sweetener called cyclamate. They banned that one after giving rats a dose that would be the equivalent of a human drinking 550 cans of soda pop every day. The more that things change, the more they stay the same.

[@Chemdawg0360]

Probably the sugar industry lobbying to get sugar substitutes removed

[@DaneInTheUS]

War ... war never changes ...

[@rethinkOURreality]

Phil Edwards has a video about that one. It's not banned in the EU.

[@la7dfa]

Everything is poison in large enough doses. The clue is knowing what risk you get with normal or large consumption. People who can not understand statistics or safe doses should leave the thinking to the experts.

[@huyked]

@@la7dfa Yeah. My mind was blown when I found out about water poisoning.

[@antiquesrestoration3874]

I am so tired of fear mongering. Thanks for clearing this up.

[@colinmartin9797]

I'd be curious to see a comparative risk analysis between someone who frequently drinks soda vs someone who drinks diet soda. I don't like soda much in general but I'd wager the diet stuff is much better on balance than a 12oz can with 45g of sugar

[@lucasrojers336]

Im so glad that you released this video! This information is EXTREMELY important. It's hard to look it up on google because you get results on both extremes and none of them tell the full truth. Thank you! I hope one day I can improve on finding actual studies and researching this stuff myself.

[@XxThePlaylistxX]

Google is very quickly destroying the internet, and it gets worse every day. I've never had as much trouble finding factual information than I do now in 2024, we are going backwards and nobody is saying anything about it. To me, it's like a full stop moment, because it effectively means that google is steering and controlling the information that is available to people nowadays, because without search engines it's more difficult than ever to sift through the noise. It's no longer searching through pages of results, it's searching through 1 page of results displayed 500 times along with 1000 results that are completely and utterly unrelated to your query.

[@PetalPalmer]

Was reading about this the other day. I hardly drink soda anyway but at this point wouldn’t be surprised if a lot of the foods out there are “cancer causing.”

[@kellydalstok8900]

Living in general may cause cancer.

[@DioneN]

@@kellydalstok8900 you’re not wrong!

[@kamcorder3585]

Even the sun gives us cancer so I'm not gonna stress way too much

[@SovietReunionYT]

@@kamcorder3585 Actually the sun is one of the more serious cancer risks to watch out for, on top of the non-cancer DNA damage. As a light-skinned person in a warm country, I go out my way to avoid it. I can get my vitamin D in pill form, it costs next to nothing.

[@DaveAdams222]

If more human studies are conducted, I'd wonder if extenuating life circumstances would potentially play a larger role in overall cancer risk, as opposed to having a few cans/bottles of diet Dr. Pepper a day.

[@ahappyimago]

Of course man. Being obese increases cancer risk 2-3x and people are worried about some heavily disputed and minor risk from aspartame

[@arche2460]

It’s like a recent Short that Hank put out on his channel. Someone said that people who play racket sports live longer than “anyone else” in reference to a paper that looked at various sports. But that’s.. probably more likely because people who play racket sports tend to be in higher tax brackets than others…

[@drg9812]

Problem is separating cause from effect. Are fat people more likely to develop cancer because of the soda they drink, or do they drink the soda because they are fat and their poor lifestyle is what led to the higher cancer rate?

[@Jimera0]

Yeah these studies showing correlations basically SCREAMED "confounding variables!" at me. It doesn't sound like they controlled for them at all, and it is not hard to think of potential confounding variables among people who consume a lot of diet soft drinks. These studies aren't even remotely conclusive and they're struggling to even show that there's a relationship at all, let alone a causal one. This whole scare reads to me like a big nothing-burger whipped up by opportunistic media outlets for clicks and eyeballs.

[@NandR]

I know for me, I switched to Coke zero hoping to lose weight since I drank sweet tea and pepsi a lot. I did lose about 30 lbs. But I slowly gained it back due to eating out more. And my brain was still happy for losing weight so it was no big deal. I'm sure I'm not the only one who eats horribly but also drinks diet soda. Furthermore, sugar itself is known to cause so many problems and increase cancer rates.

[@kid10249595]

And this is why you always check your data to eliminate any sort of outliers, data errors and biases. Anything can be toxic if over consumed, even water can, but typically you have to consume said items in excessive amounts which the study showed, meaning that 9/10 times the foods we consume currently are perfectly safe to consume.

[@MikesTropicalTech]

As a heavy Diet Coke drinker for 40 years I was a little concerned when the news hit. Thanks for bringing all of the context for us. P.S. I had a liver MRI and ultrasound two years ago, squeaky clean.

[@megamaser]

There are other reasons to avoid diet soda. It actually contributes to weight gain as much as regular soda due to its effects on your metabolism and your brain.

[@mehere8038]

clearly it wasn't "squeaky clean" or you wouldn't have needed the MRI in the first place would you! Average 40 year olds aren't getting liver MRI & ultrasounds!

[@MikesTropicalTech]

Thanks for your opinion Dr. House! I had an elevated number in a blood test, but the scans turned out fine. And I was 58 at the time, I didn't start drinking Diet Coke hours after birth. Turn in your medical license.

[@SovietReunionYT]

@@megamaser That's not true. Drinking soft drinks of any kind does not increase weight, and only drinking water does not decrease weight. The human body is extremely intent on maintaining its homeostatic weight at all times, regardless of diet. Trying to fight against it with starvation diets is the single least successful treatment in all of medicine. The only known methods of decreasing homeostatic weight are bariatric surgery and a few mildly beneficial medications. Both work by targeting the feedback loops which control hunger. That said, replacing sugary soft drinks with zero calorie ones is extremely important, as they're the number 1 contributor to diabetes.

[@dylans.6400]

@@mehere8038 or they requested it? you can do that if you really sense something is wrong down there, or if your doctor is advising you to do one

[@daltonbreeding6301]

Heads up- I was served an ad from “Safety of Aspartame” before this video, which a beverage industry-backed group. Another channel I follow had a similar issue and they were able to set some filters for what kinds of groups can run ads on their content. Thanks for making such great, science backed videos!!

[@timblakely-savage8445]

This just happened to me as well.

[@DralhaEureka]

I got that ad too.

[@spexae]

Same

[@torsaccoify]

Same here!

[@EzraMable]

Yeah. How much money do they have to throw out an ad that quickly and place it so well?

[@htopherollem649]

every single can containing beer, soda, or food is lined with PFAS (forever chemicals) . Wondering how much this increases one's risk of developing cancer (among other diseases known to be linked with such chemicals)

[@mellie4174]

Very true and there's very little research about it.

[@mehere8038]

@@mellie4174 actually one of the largest studies ever on carcinogens was on forever chemicals & it found conclusive evidence of extensive cancers from all the ones tested. Gotta say, this link didn't occur to me before, but pointing out it's in all the same containers artificial sweeteners are in does make me realise this is likely a genuine problem & highly possible link. Could easily be a case of correlation not meaning causation with the artificial sweeteners also in those cans & packagings

[@TheMILVSCR]

I'm guilty of drinking Coke Zero a little too often (I literally drink that and water and very few sugary drinks), so thank you for explaining it in more detail

[@jessicapinto3817]

SciShow, resting souls and anxious brains with scientifically based rationality and great hosts to convey the message since 2012👌

[@phantomstrider]

Thank you for covering this. Aspartame's my favourite sweetener for my tea but I got worried after all these new articles claiming WHO says it causes cancer and stopped having it.

[@23merlino]

have you now resumed taking aspartame or have you used the time to search for an alternative..? i use stevia leaves which is a natural sweetener... admittedly it has a strange taste at first which puts some people off... you get used to the taste quite quickly, so much so that i was very disappointed when coca-cola discontinued cola life (a green label) which used stevia as the sweetener...

[@keith6706]

@@23merlino ...and which has been identified as a potential mutagen (ie, cancer causing substance) at high doses by the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. So, yeah.

[@molybdaen11]

Just use honey or regular sugar and do a few push up before drinking it :)

[@phantomstrider]

@@23merlino I switched to stevia for a while. Found cyclamade gave me a personal aftertaste. Sucralose I liked the taste but read more horror stories about while researching. Just no winning lol. Stevia's alright though.

[@phantomstrider]

@@keith6706 Just like Aspartame. So I guess we all lose for trying to take care of our health lol.

[@CaptainMarvelsSon]

The day that the WHO announces that coffee contributes to cancer, the world will fall into chaos.

[@GrumpyOldFart2]

LOL!😂❤

[@watcherofwatchers]

Unlikely, as the WHO has destroyed its credibility.

[@levipoon5684]

To be fair, coffee was in the possibly carcinogenic category until like 2016

[@alialwayel6706]

Maybe WHO did not announce that just yet but the level of acrylamide in black roasted coffee beans could possibly cause cancer.

[@damaramu.]

@@levipoon5684 some forms of coffee are still technically in there under the umbrella category of "hot beverages"

[@Roaring2Thunder]

Hope Hank is doing well!!! ❤

[@macroharddoors]

@dirtymfnsanchez r/cursedcomments

[@thelonecabbage7834]

When I worked as a server, I had a regular customer that would get a pitcher of Diet Pepsi with his buffet meal, sometimes with refills. I can only imagine how much he drank at home.

[@matthewcox7985]

Some guy's dentist suggested that he switch to diet sodas to mitigate damage to his teeth. Guy promptly lost about 30 pounds!

[@Satyr000]

When you go down the Monsanto and FDA rabbit hole what the FDA says starts meaning nothing and you quickly realize that big industries can buy their way into regulatory bodies.

[@MischaKavin]

I was really hoping this would be about the research on metabolites of sucralose that came out a month or two ago. I really don't know how seriously to take it because there's been so much distrust of sweeteners over the years.

[@savannahscoops2881]

Thank you for making a video about this! It’s nice to have the info presented in an easily understandable way

[@samuzamu]

It's scary that the consequence of the IARC publishing this change of classification, might well make some people who drank diet sodas, switch to those with sugar in them instead, probably making their health worse in the process. Science communication is so difficult to get right, especially when it comes to risk assessment.

[@asmrtpop2676]

@@dizzy2020I don’t like real sugary drinks though. I specifically like diet sodas lol.

[@BassLiberators]

@@dizzy2020 That's good though, the point of the tax is to encourage people to drink diet sodas over sugar ones.

[@ColasTeam]

@@dizzy2020 it's almost as if overweight people have issues with overeating! And switching to foods they can overeat without getting fatter is a way of helping them!

[@Controvi]

Humans and risk assessment...... Many people are afraid of being attacked by a shark on the beach and die while flying down the stairs at home when their need a snack. There are so many more people dying from falling down stairs then shark attacks and we don't even think about where we place our feet when running down the stairs XD Even the sidewalk has a higher chance it could break you neck when you take a wrong step then a bear would attack you in the middle of a forest

[@earlthepearl4161]

Difficult for some to research perhaps,...verified information is easily available if one cares to find it.

[@dahat1992]

This is the closest thing we have to PSAs, and I'm so grateful for them!

[@leonardodavinci3589]

The most diet soda I've had in one day was probably around 44-50 ounces. Given, that was a party and a 20 hour day, and I still didn't break the safe daily limit, I'm not worried.

[@gamesturbator]

Ok, back in 1991 I found myself struggling remember how to tie my shoes, and other cognitive suff. My boss asked me if I had been consuming a lot of diet products. I had, and it was ice ice cream with Aspertame in it. I ate and (still eat) a lot of ice cream, so figured it would be nice to cut my sugar consumption. Now I did find out that it only affects a small percentage of people, but occasionally I still try stuff with it as the sweetener (NEVER soda, it never tasted good) and I do get a little foggy if I have "too much", whatever that might be.

[@meganofsherwood3665]

I have a family member who will swell up and get stiff in the joints from consuming artificial sweeteners. He did some research (ie, had a friend in food science) and discovered it might be due to how his body processes the by-products. Not the most rigorous evidence or connection, mind you, but it would interesting to investigate further!

[@SovietReunionYT]

Yeah, aspartame in particular is a problem for people with Phenylketonuria, it's why lots of countries require the label to have "contains a source of phenylalanine" or something of the sort.

[@ooooneeee]

They should just abolish every category with less evidence than the definitely carcinogenic category. This WHO category system is a giant failure in science communication. Hank Green once did a great video deconstructing how awful this system is at communicating irl cancer risks.

[@mrevilducky]

It's a category system for researchers and other scientists. It doesn't work very well for the general public

[@Merennulli]

We can't allow these things to be controlled by bad reporters taking things intentionally out of context to make a scary story and sell ads. These categories are important, even if someone misrepresented them in their "news" report.

[@morgan0]

well then rename them at least. it being for researchers doesn’t mean it shouldn’t have a name which accurately conveys its meaning to laypeople

[@Merennulli]

@@morgan0 It does accurately convey the meaning. The problem is that news media reported on it with the term buried in the report if at all while leading with their own misleading titles.

[@DefnitelyNotFred]

Time to send this video to my whole family, thanks SciShow 😃

[@ItzSwapHD]

Another thing too keep in mind is the fact that people that consume larger amounts of diet sodas often do so because of overweight and trying to "diet".

[@kimyona9746]

Bodybuilders and overweight people are the biggest drinkers of diet soda

[@arditm2178]

Ahh yes, same people that eat salad for their diet but add just half a bottle of full fat mayo.

[@mellie4174]

Not at all! All my vegan friends only drink diet...

[@RagingInsomniac]

the things people do to avoid being healthy

[@discoj7112]

Right! So the diet soda cohort in a longitudinal study is more likely to be overweight, which is linked to weight cycling, being shamed and discriminated against, having legitimate health problems ignored in favor of weight loss, and having eating disorders, among other things. What if having an eating disorder raises both your cancer risk and your likelihood of drinking diet sodas, for example? Probably not the exact issue here, the point is just that there are so many possible correlations in cohort studies. I doubt they would mess up something this simple, but what if the breast cancer rate was higher than average just because more women than men were drinking diet sodas?

[@chrism3090]

Anyone else get an ad for this video talking about how good aspartame is for you? Ive never seen an ad so targeted at people watching the video

[@OnTheRiver66]

Thank you for explaining this.

[@daniels-mo9ol]

There is also the fact that if it were to cause issues, you'd have to consume 4 liters minimum every day for 20 years. Consuming less than that have no effect. That's theoretically dangerous for you.

[@rawnclark]

You underestimate Americans. I know people who don't drink water at all.

[@waynegnarlie1]

Right! It's that first sip after the 4 liters that kills. lol.

[@marcussmart3275]

Worked at a service/convenience gas station for decades. There were many that consumed 2 64 oz sodas a day. And that's only what they got from where I worked/when I was working.

[@waynegnarlie1]

@@rawnclark Me too. And they're always complaining about feeling sluggish, dizzy or nauseous.

[@daniels-mo9ol]

@@waynegnarlie1 that's messed up

[@vmccall399]

I remember when I was first diagnosed with diabetes the same thing came out about saccharin. They were given mega doses to rats.

[@patrickmccurry1563]

Literally levels impossible for a human to consume unless ingesting pure power, not diet food and drink, IIRC. Not to mention I think the main study used lab mice genetically engineered to be prone to cancer.

[@boulderbash19700209]

You'll get killed from electrolyte imbalance before you can grow a single cancer cell.

[@KattReen]

Trying to drink less diet soda is always a good thing, but in terms of health habits this one seems like strain a gnat, swallow a camel territory. Most people probably have other health habits that both would be easier to change or tweak and would do more for their health outcome odds and general wellbeing. I really like diet soda, but I don't have a lot of of it since carbonated drinks give me heartburn. I drank a big bottle of diet pepsi almost daily for most of my 20's though, and fully understand why it's hard for some people to kick the habit

[@kimyona9746]

Yeah. Especially exercise and better diet. Been bodybuilding for a while but i still eat garbage 1/4-1/8th the time

[@calford2001]

The other thing, I guess, is that there are worse vices - alcohol, smoking, vaping, drug abuse which will all cause more damage than diet soda - or at the very least cause it sooner

[@megamaser]

Cutting out diet soda is extremely productive because it's one of the biggest contributors to sugar addiction. If you can kick that habit, it will make it a lot easier to improve the other areas of your diet.

[@SovietReunionYT]

@@megamaser If you know of a way to reduce sugar addiction, every doctor on the planet wants to talk to you.

[@RealSaintB]

I drink one or two diet sodas a day on average and when I read the WHOs results I was unbothered because I understood what I was reading.

[@bobthegoat7090]

I know there might be some side effects from artificial sweeteners, but surely, it is better to drink 3 diet sodas a day than 3 sugar sodas that each contain 200 calories. You did a fantastic video 4 years ago on artificial sugars, but could you make a video directly comparing, consuming diet soda and normal soda?

[@discoj7112]

I feel like that would be a much more helpful video. Personally, I talked to an actual dietitian about this and they reassured me that reducing sugar intake to the recommended levels is far more important than any concerns we might have about artificial sweeteners, which are extremely safe both objectively and by comparison. Also, aspartame is just one of many artificial sweeteners.

[@bobthegoat7090]

@@discoj7112 Good to know

[@dimaminiailo3723]

An average man's body wastes nigh on 2000 kcal via just stand-by mode. Although camomile tea drinking is much less attractive way to obese

[@TheNiteinjail]

Thank you for this. I enjoy way too much soda but switched to diet because I didn't need the empty calories and I looked up the state of evidence on aspartame... When I heard this new change I was instantly suspicious it was just a category thing. Basically there isn't enough good evidence to say it is carcinogenic, but there are too many poor studies linking it anyway to ignore. Okay... I do a half dozen other things much more dangerous so thanks for the update WHO hahaha

[@ethanlackey8048]

I just drank a Diet Pepsi, it was nice knowing y’all 😢. Sorta. It was nice knowing this channel anyway.

[@GloriaGloom]

One thing I'm curious about is the "humans are not rodents" comment in this vid. There are other SciShow videos on the addictiveness of sugar, but weren't those tests also done on mice/rodents? And mice that had been deprived sugar for a time before being set loose on sugar, which they then consumed in large amounts? I thought that for these reasons the "sugar is more addictive than cocaine" study was flawed. I might be wrong on some of these details. If anyone has into insight into that, I'd love to hear about it. Thanks! Love SciShow

[@frtzkng]

Things like these are good examples of 1.) how important it is to put risks into adequate context, and 2.) how vital information may be lost the further you go from the original source. 1.) Especially the part about dosages was relevant here. There are many chemicals which cause abnormal cell growth or even cancer when administered in ridiculous doses over long periods of time. Some of those do end up labeled as carcinogenic for safety, but in a usual workplace environment there's not much to worry as long as you do not ingest them or, in the case of dust particles, wear a sufficient particle filtering mask. As I said, *proper* risk management is key. Neither too lax, nor far too overboard which may cause other hazards or unnecessarily slow down work progress or even stop it by prohibiting work with certain substances, or limiting their use way too harshly. 2.) This is how stuff like this often goes: Study: increased cancer rates in test animals when given high doses of aspartame → Newspaper: New study indicates possible link between aspartame and cancer → Yellow press: DANGER SODA?? New study claims aspartame may be causing cancer → Reader to his friend: Don't drink diet soda you get cancer. *And this is a prime way of inadvertently creating false information, or conspiracy theories if done intentionally.* PS: Also, the vast majority of carcinogens work differently than what people expect when they read a carcinogen hazard statement. The risk of cancer increases with exposure time. They become hazardous once you are around them chronically, e.g. working unprotected in an environment where they're consistently released. There are very few, if any, substances which massively increase cancer risk from a single short exposure.

[@FerintoshFarmsPhotography]

I Used to drink 24 cans of Pepsi a day. The stuff is pretty addictive. I now drink 0 cans a day.

[@jr3887]

I was under the impression that most artificial sweeteners, even if otherwise not dangerous, can (indirectly?) increase the chance of developing diabetes? As I understand it, the body releases insulin to process the sugar when something sweet is tasted under the assumption that it's glucose. When it's not glucose, the body is left with a bunch of insulin and nothing for it to do, increasing insulin resistance until your body no longer reacts or produces it, causing hyperinsulemia/hypoglycemia? So, maybe not specifically dangerous, but I was pretty sure that artificial sweeteners could be dangerous this way? Or has that been debunked or addressed otherwise?

[@cbpd89]

I believe that I read about that study but at the point I looked into it, it was only in mice, not in people. There is pretty solid evidence that it doesn't raise your blood sugar at all, and certainly doesn't increase insulin production in people who are already insulin resistant.

[@hayuseen6683]

Tasting sweetness isn't what releases insulin, it's a response to blood sugar levels.

[@jr3887]

@@cbpd89 That's good to know, thanks!

[@LeegallyBliindLOL]

That's a gross oversimplification. It depends on the sweetener used. Some raise insulin levels, some don't. The body doesn't just willy billy raise insulin levels because "sweet". Salt is technically salty and sweet. So, no, some sweeteners are pretty harmless.

[@Merecir]

They have no clue what actually causes diabetes. They know the process that happens and why it ends up in diabetes, but not what causes it.

[@Merecir]

It would be nice if you actually explained how it works: The body basically treats Aspartame as alcohol, by breaking it down in the liver. If you over consume aspartame you overwhelm the liver, and over time you get bad stuff accumulating in the liver that can give you cancer and other problems. Just like alcohol.

[@truemcclellan8946]

Id be interested in looking into the research on that, any links or titles?

[@Merecir]

@@truemcclellan8946 I learned it in university biology class.

[@molybdaen11]

That's pretty interesting. It would mean that there is really a safe dose you can consume during the day.

[@meganofsherwood3665]

And that if you have Other Factors (history of hepatitis, maybe?) excessive amounts of diet soda could be harmful, but for most people, it isn't going to be. I've heard the "gets processed like alcohol" thing to; I'm going to have to actually look into it. Probably under "Food Science", somewhere?

[@dianagibbs3550]

Thank you for this. Diet Coke (or diet Dr. Pepper) is my caffeine source, and I honestly can't stomach caffeine in any other form. I hate coffee and tea, hot chocolate tastes great but upsets my stomach, and full-sugar sodas make me feel ill after I drink them. I try to limit my intake so I can actually sleep, and other than that there's not much I can change. I'd sooner give up bacon - which is also in one of those categories under the WHO guidelines...

[@itsROMPERS...]

Hot tip: you can get caffeine water now. It just take caffeine tablets like No-Doz.

[@freeone69]

i drink a mix of 90 percent carbonated water and 10 percent white monster. it sweetens it enough for me not to drink any other sugary water, which amounted to 2 lts a day bcuz i cant drink just water.

[@itsROMPERS...]

@@freeone69 they sell little bottles of water "flavorant" in a bunch of different flavors, sweetened with non-sugar sweetners that work ok instead of using other drinks.

[@megamaser]

There's no reason to force yourself to drink an unhealthy beverage just for a caffeine dose when you can just take a caffeine pill instead.

[@ColasTeam]

@@megamaser there's nothing unhealthy about diet soda but ok

[@dlmsarge8329]

This was a really great breakdown! I appreciate your methodical approach to discussing this issue and presenting the relevant research. Thanks for this video!

[@akademikbirey6673]

All of a sudden, all the media outlets are eager to tell me that Aspartame is not bad. I see Aspartame ads on youtube and doctors claiming aspartame is safe on TV. Sorry, but I would instead go with a nonprofit organization like this one (WTO) instead of billion-dollar companies that are running marketing campaigns.

[@23merlino]

me too :-)

[@Chris_winthers]

Watching this while drinking diet Dr Pepper

[@rawnclark]

Why? Doesn't even taste good. If you want to save 180 calories, do some pushups.

[@Chris_winthers]

​@@rawnclarkdoesn't even taste good? I know where you live

[@rawnclark]

@@Chris_winthers calm down, pudgey.

[@charlesajones77]

Same. And who the heck says Diet Dr Pepper doesn't taste good? It's easily my favorite soft drink, diet or otherwise. Sugar upsets my gut, so I avoid it.

[@giomars6682]

Have A nice death 😅

[@fuzzbuzz6581]

I don't think this man realizes how much soda some people drink lol

[@BudgetBeautyBabe]

All I know is that artificial sweeteners, especially aspartame, make me absolutely terrible.

[@edsmith2562]

I am impressed with this presentation. Don't let your hat get too tight, so many other subject matters deserve this treatment as well.

[@KidzBopOfficial]

I'd love to see y'all report on the recent studies about erythritol, if possible!

[@heronimousbrapson863]

Which some people call dierythrotol (if you get my drift).

[@danbance5799]

I'd be more worried about how sweeteners affect your insulin activity. On that front at least, aspartame is probably the most benign, and sucralose is probably absolutely awful for you. I try to avoid both added sugar and artificial sweeteners and my body seems to appreciate making that change a few months back.

[@xavierburval4128]

T1 diabetic here, yes aspartame literally has no effect on insulin activity as far as I can tell. Even if Aspartame somehow does increase chances of cancer, it’s a better option than delivering 50+ grams of straight sugar into your bloodstream in the span of 10 minutes.

[@icarusbinns3156]

Also T1D. I avoid aspartame like it’s roadkill. I’ll stick with regular sugar and sucralose. As it so happens… I am moderately allergic to aspartame! Gives me killer migraines that won’t be shaken off

[@Merecir]

@@icarusbinns3156 Are you sure that is the aspartame? It is often paired with caffeine in the sugar free sodas.

[@itsROMPERS...]

What about erythritol?

[@patrickmccurry1563]

Type 2. I've lowered my blood sugar from pushing 500 at diagnosis 10 years ago, to a recent A1C of 4.9 while drinking monstrous amounts of diet food and drink. It has no damn effect on blood sugar no matter how often that myth is repeated.

[@Hydde87]

I can imagine it's difficult to get reliable data out of a longitudinal study. Even if you find a correlation, it's not hard to imagine people who are happy to consume large amounts of diet soda are also likely less concerned with their overall health than people who avoid soda all together. They most likely have a higher tendency toward other unhealthy habits which would increase their risk for cancer through ways other than aspartame.

[@ReactorFour]

In an effort to postpone the inevitability of death, I recommend one avoid ionizing radiation, ingesting mercury, inhaling asbestos, committing gun crimes, smoking cigarettes, driving while intoxicated, actively engaging in gang membership, participating in conventional warfare, abusing IV drugs, and tens of thousands of other clearly risky activities. You can also not drink diet soda, but I recommend you first focus on activities higher up on this list in order to achieve maximum postponement of inevitable death.

[@metropolis10]

thank you so much for this! When I saw the headline I was like "so when is healthcare triage doing this so I can know if I should panic" -- instead I got scishow doing the same! Fantastic.

[@theursulus]

So, who funded this research? Any chance it was a sugar supplier?

[@daniels-mo9ol]

If it was they didn't pay nearly enough to build a narrative lol.😊

[@molybdaen11]

Diet coke is a even bigger market. So there is a big chance that anyy study saying something against it will disappear.

[@andreasksasse]

Well, what health risks does regular suger have.. would be great to see a comparison.

[@madsringswaldegan1058]

It’s really hard to calculate the risks of regular sugar because unlike artificial sweeteners, sugar is also an essential nutrient. If you watch the recent scishow episode on PET scans, it explains that the brain and cancer both light up because both like sugar a lot - cancer likes the readily available energy sugar provides, but your brain also needs readily available energy to keep you alive. You need sugar, it’s just about finding the right balance

[@LeegallyBliindLOL]

@@madsringswaldegan1058 Sugar is a broad term. Your body needs Glucose. It doesn't need the rest. Your body can make glucose from proteins and fats. It does not need to consume sugar to produce sugar, that's false. If you're trying to educate people, maybe only do so, when you're educated enough to remember fifth grade biology.

[@23merlino]

@@madsringswaldegan1058 - yes, the body needs sugar... what it doesn't need is processed sugar... processed sugar as we know it today only started slowly becoming available to the masses in the mid 1700's... before that mankind had existed and evolved without processed sugar, just the natural sugar found in all sorts of natural foods...

[@smokeydops]

Aspartame does metabolize into other things, one of them being methanol. Whose difference with ethanol is the M. So, make no mistake it is toxic in really high doses and, surprise, especially to your liver. The logic tracks but the doses are so small that you wouldn't notice unless you were allergic to it (like I am...)

[@jasonwilcox6637]

The new no sugar pepsi is really good, I can say that now, thanks for clearing things up.

[@fighttheevilrobots3417]

I have an inflammatory response to aspartame. I grew up on diet soda (born in 1984) and my parents both had diabetes so they just always drank diet soda and always had it in the house. In my early 30s I started to have swelling and pain all over my body, and in joints. I stopped all consumption of aspartame and felt better within two weeks.

[@farahlajeennoural-deen4599]

I'm thankful You were able to pin-point the cause & eliminate it & that things got better, specially that quickly! All the Best to You mate! : )

[@savorymarshmallows]

I guess I'm on the other side of this: it doesn't really matter how tiny the risk is because the benefit of sweeteners is zero. And the fewer sweeteners you consume, the more sweetness you will perceive in everything else, so they're not even doing their own job except in the very short term.

[@terryenglish7132]

Yeah. Why does everything to drink have to be sweet ?

[@marcberm]

Did we not just go through this same silly exercise with saccharin a few decades ago?

[@mascot4950]

It's been ongoing with aspartame for decades as well.

[@LimeyLassen]

The sugar industry has poured a lot of money into this over the years. They don't need to find a real link, they just need to sow enough doubt to keep the debate going.

[@itsROMPERS...]

What's "silly" about determining which foods will give you cancer? Your assumption seems to be that every such concern is unfounded because ultimately nothing gives you cancer, which is obviously wrong.

[@marcberm]

@@itsROMPERS... No, what's silly is testing at outrageous doses and then ranking them in such a way as to falsely prejudice people with an implied level of risk that just isn't there. We bear it out all the time with further (and more realistic) study.

[@itsROMPERS...]

@@marcberm They can BOTH be silly. Just because some tests are bad doesn't naturally mean that all testing is bad. "I don't like the testing so I'd rather just take my chances with cancer"? No. That's dumb.

[@give_anna_an_alt1744]

I have a personal rule that if its not intended for our body to digest it like Artificial sweeteners, I will generally avoid them if possible. An example would be some things that contain sweetners but in small amounts, its a whatever moment. But entirely flavored by artificial sweeteners is a bit odd. Frankly I feel like there hasn't been enough research on these and the large beverage companies are interfering with that.

[@keith6706]

"You feel"? Does that mean you have no evidence and merely assume Big Pop is interfering?

[@WintrBorn]

They don’t have to interfere- there’s no money in it. Studies require funding, and if you can’t get funding, it doesn’t get done.

[@morgan0]

fiber is indigestible by definition, but it’s an important part of one’s diet that humans have eaten in large quantity since before becoming humans. beans contain raffinose, a trisaccharide that we cannot digest, even though it is 3 glucoses stuck together, but your gut bacteria will. food safety and health is more nuanced than digestible vs indigestible, natural vs artificial, etc. and most sugars are an example of something far worse for you than most other sweeteners (some is about as bad for you like some oligosaccharides, but sugar of lead is definitely worse but also the oldest one and longest used), but they’re bad because of how they’re digested so quickly. also some potentially lethal compounds act via a metabolite, the initial compound is harmless but is metabolized into something harmful, i think amygdalin and oxalic acid are in that category.

[@give_anna_an_alt1744]

@@keith6706 surely you recall the interference from the sugar industries when people attempted to do research on corn syrups. The key difference here being one is blindly trusted with the promise of fewer calories but lack of research. In the United States where the Obesity issue is rising how much more money do you think Diet beverages make or don't make relative to standard versions.

[@give_anna_an_alt1744]

@@morgan0 That's not true, Fiber is digestible thanks to our microbial biomes in our large intestines. They will ferment the fiber which leaves it in a digestible state where we can break down the complex chains of sugars and water. If we are going to do the "Uhm, alktully" internet thing- most of the amino acids are indigestible without forming the chain we need as our body has no way of safely storing the acids. Key difference here is one was intended for consumption and one is a chemical made in a lab that our bodies would not find naturally occurring in any place.

[@rochellemcdonald9646]

Supposedly, aspartame converts to formaldehyde and formic acid at 89 degrees. I heard that after I had two TIA's after having beverages with aspartame in them. In Desert Storm, pallets of diet sodas sat outside in heat over 120 degrees. I have also heard that it can cause an insulin response. Your body thinks sugar is coming in and it releases insulin, but there's no sugar. In 2010, I wrote to General Mills about their yogurt flavors. I asked if they couldn't also offer the fun flavors in the sugared yogurts, since I was unable to have artificial sweeteners. I received a lengthy letter saying how safe aspartame was. If I would have been diabetic asking for the reverse, I wonder if they would have touted the benefits of sugar. A couple years later, they changed their artificial sweetener with a large disclaimer that it no longer contained aspartame. Interestingly, the FDA approved aspartame after a lot of personnel shuffling, involving the president, at the time.If any of what I have heard, over the years, is true, there may be concern for one's health.

[@WWTormentor]

With so many additives that are added to our food and drinks (including water) there will always be something that will eventually kill us. The key as always is moderation.

[@pantouffle]

I think some kind of guidance is appropriate though, because some people actually DO consume a lot of soda every day. Even so of course, if it was normal soda it would be equally harmful in other ways. For most people that have varied drinking habits it seems it's just not correlated, but you might just get cancer anyway no matter what you drink or eat or get radiated by the sun - or not. Still, appropriate warning by the WHO.

[@megamaser]

Yeah but no one comes anywhere close to consuming the thousands of cans of soda per day that equates to the quantities in the study.

[@Sarafan92]

The human experience is all about the risk to reward ratio. I'd say diet sodas are worth it IMO.

[@christophermoore6110]

All I know for sure is that the one time I drank diet Dr Pepper cherry, it gave me a stomach ache. So I will never ever drink diet soda again. Edit: I did not finish this video before making this comment, so the mention of diet Dr Pepper cherry is purely coincidental

[@cbpd89]

Caffeine is actually a trigger for nausea in some people. Not saying that's what happened to you, but I get that occasionally if I have more caffeine than I'm used to.

[@christophermoore6110]

@@cbpd89 well I like soda, specifically non diet Dr Pepper cherry, so that’s how I knew it had to be the artificial sugar in the diet version since soda has never made me feel the way that that diet soda made me feel before.

[@madsringswaldegan1058]

@@christophermoore6110 if you have IBS, a lot of artificial sweeteners can trigger it. I can’t chew sugar-free gum on an empty stomach for that exact reason

[@rochellemcdonald9646]

My son had a weird reaction to an artificial sweetener. About 20 minutes after ingestion, he got an overall body itch, and wanted to rip his skin off. No bumps or rash. His chosen drink had changed their formula, which now included sucralose. I have been told that the reaction to the artificial sweeteners is not an allergy, because it has to have a protein to be considered an allergic reaction. It is a sensitivity.

[@mike4402]

The benzene that is used in so many drinks today as a preservative is an order of magnitude more dangerous. They say it's safe because it's another compound, but that other compound is broken down in the stomach, releasing benzene...

[@jbriones4144]

Just drink sparkling water, it took me a while to get used to it but Bubbly and LaCroix are really good.

[@merlapittman5034]

I'm glad to hear that my aspartame consumption is probably safe! I can't have most regular soda containing corn syrup because I have bad reactions to too much corn syrup. It took quite a while to get used to the aftertaste in aspartame and I don't want to have to change again!

[@kimyona9746]

I'm a body builder. I work out quite often. But i got addicted to drinking soda when i was younger so I switched to diet coke/sams/dr. Pepper/ mt. Dew zero/etc. I wasn't too concerned about it affecting my health since I still drink a lot of plain water. I have heard that sucralose is wayyy worse than aspartame. So diet coke tends to be my go-to.

[@morgan0]

if you drink soda often, it’s worth switching to a caffeine free version, since caffeine is addictive and not great for you

[@morgan0]

re: corn syrup in soda, because of the acidity, soda made with sucrose will have a nearly identical chemical makeup to one made with corn syrup given a few days to sit. the acidity breaks the sucrose into separate glucose and sucrose, just like in corn syrup. the more likely non-nocebo difference is if you had a corn allergy, since there could be enough trace corn compounds in the corn syrup to trigger it, or problems with fructose metabolism.

[@carlosvergara4132]

Why are you guys saying FIVE THOUSAND MILIGRAMS!! just say 5 grams 😂

[@cbpd89]

Because it sounds like a lot more if you get to say "thousand"

[@Fanatical_Empathy]

Appreciate you bringing me up to speed on exactly what the WHO is up to and what it means thank you.

[@ljhcmh614]

For many of us, diet soda is a literal lifesaver. I struggle with my weight and diet soda allows me a "snack" that satisfies my sweet tooth without sugar. It's easy to say "soda is bad for you," but for many people, if they weren't drinking diet soda, they'd be eating cookies or drinking sugar-saturated regular sodas - and their weight would skyrocket. And we KNOW the very real and well documented dangers that obesity presents. So one question that larger healthcare community needs to ask is: "If we recommend to patients that they cut out artificial sweeteners, what are they replacing those artificial sweeteners with?" The cure may worse than the disease.

[@jerrywood4508]

Do they understand how they undermine their credibility with ordinary people with this sort of thing? After a while people just roll their eyes when they hear about something being carcinogenic, because they give the impression that virtually everything is carcinogenic. Or, on the other end of the spectrum they make people paranoid and panicky.

[@MrTakaMOSHi]

I got an ad saying aspartame is safe before this video. Can't make this stuff up

[@fgregerfeaxcwfeffece]

What I remember about this was mostly that the rats where given absolutely ludicrous amounts. As in: In absolute numbers humans typically don't consume this much. So I came to the conclusion: 1. I don't even like the taste of that stuff so I avoid it anyways no matter if it poisonous or not. 2. It seems entirely impractical to consume this much. If you drink a dozen cans a day I am certain that you have more significant problems. I mean with sugar that would melt your entire digestive tract in the mid term.

[@flamencoprof]

Why this tile? Foods that may contain aspartame include diet soft drinks, diet yoghurt, chewing gums, low-calorie sweeteners and calorie-reduced foods. Why is all the focus on "Diet Drinks"?

[@specificgravity-thedancing9700]

Im a diet cola addict (no more alcohol) and this is good to hear.

[@dekkenwade3064]

well basically the safest foods are dangerous in high doses, so basically even to much water in one day can kill you

[@hobbestreynor9901]

Anyone else get a random Aspartame advertisement before this video?

[@gluteusmaximus8881]

Well the protein powder, which I basically consume on a daily basis, contains aspartame. So it worries me still a little. Little amounts over time could add up

[@23merlino]

exactly...

[@markstart2672]

As a diabetic and yelling at people for years about the TRUE SCIENCE. I quite enjoyed this showing. And I too was drinking a dr pepper cherry soda as I watch. Ignore the other two cans that are near by.

[@mehere8038]

no wonder you have diabetes if you have such a need for constant sweet stuff! WTF is wrong with drinking water??????

[@markstart2672]

@mehere8038 first of all as a TYPE ONE diabetic I haven't has a regular soda in 34 years. Second I didn't add the word diet soda in my comment. That fault is on me. But consumption of sugar has never had any proven cause of diabetes. If that was ever true everyone would be a diabetic as humans consume more added sugar in our food now.

[@mehere8038]

@@markstart2672 um yes, diabetes rates HAVE increased MASSIVELY in countries with high sugar/corn syrup consumption rates, while remaining stable in countries without these - and that applies to type 1 and type 2 diabetes, that is why the name was changed to type 1 & 2, cause type 1 stopped being juvenile & genetic & became a lifestyle problem. It's possible you may have a purely genetic condition, but that is rare nowadays, especially in the US, where you clearly live. 3 sodas in a day is insane imo! Regardless of whether they're "diet" or not!

[@KernelFreshman]

One thing that hasn't been mentioned is the fact that most sodas (and a lot of food) use sodium benzoate as a preservative. And when reacting with ascorbic acid (e.g., in Vitamin C) produces some benzene which can cause leukemia. I feel like aspartame gets more attention than that?

[@Jeremyb2023]

Thank you for a reasonable response to all of this.

[@xivix6710]

What about constant daily dose? Does it have any effects overtime?

[@SeonasStudio]

I’ve avoided the nasty stuff for years. Would rather stick with a naturally derived sweetener like monkfruit. Aspartame tastes horrible, has a horrible aftertaste and is toxic.

[@johntallarico5888]

Thank you W H O, you done good. Perhaps you should form a committee to look into the possibility of forming a subcommittee to research the possibility of giving yourself a pat on the back.

[@Atsumari]

As someone with an education in public health and a former community health social worker, we always talked about moderation. Consuming stuff in moderation, as long as it is not entirely wrong for you, is generally okay. There will always be fringe cases and people who fall outside of the normal (people who shouldn't consume certain sugars or chemicals for whatever reasons or who consume far too much). Most people have nothing to worry about, just like the claim that dark chocolate and wine will keep you from cancer... Everything should be taken with a grain of salt. Some of these studies are created with bias and, under particular circumstances, not discussed by the media or groups touting those claims.

[@Newmcast]

HUGE OVERSIGHT: hows it compare to the alternatives? Not just not consuming but other artificials, HFC and cane sugar.

[@iLeicha]

Any artificial food is bad, People think if something doesn't contain sugar is automatically good, That's never the case, artificial food sometimes even worse than sugar, diet soda have aspartame and other artificial sweeteners, which associated with liver cancer, and directly worsen your microbiome.