Diet Sodas: Are They Worthy?
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Are you into diet sodas thinking because you think it won’t make you fat? Well, read this article so you’ll be enlightened.
Who in the heck doesn’t want a ripping body? Who doesn’t want to stay slim, fit, and strong? For me, my answer is none. It’s hypocrisy to say that you don’t like to have a body that everybody dreams of. Or, the health status that everyone is struggling to have.
Gyms are everywhere, diet ideas are around and even foods claiming to make someone fit are written all over the internet. Some are even showing are proofs of the so-called results.
However, some of the alternatives are quite deceiving. The publicity for such is far more beyond reality.
Aspartame, for example, is a sweetener that is 200 times sweeter than ordinary table sugar. This is present to some beverages, most particularly to what is known as diet sodas.
During Summer here in the Philippines, my head goes nuts every time I used to see advertisements pertaining to diet sodas. The companies are claiming that these sweeteners can actually make someone slimmer.
This article is all about aspartame, the main sweetener of diet sodas, its effect on human bodies, and how dangerous it is.
Chemical Composition
Aspartame is a synthesized sweet product that comes from combining amino acids known as phenylalanine and aspartic acid. The process of creating phenylalanine requires bacteria. It’s ok, right? Yakult has bacteria.
However, due to modernization, companies genetically modified the bacteria to create more phenylalanine. Meaning, there is a mutated bacteria in our diet sodas.
UK’s local newspaper, The Independent revealed that Monsanto, the largest producer of Aspartame in the world admitted that they are actually using two types of bacteria. One was the natural and the other was genetically modified.
Scientists around the world believed that genetically modifying an organism will lead to producing another known substance that might be dangerous to humans when ingested.
I don’t want to go write more about this issue. You guys can search the term “Genetically Modified Organisms” on Google and what it can really do to our body.
A Throwback
If my memory serves me right, way back my college years, there was a commercial featuring a diet soda. During a party in Boracay, a guy claimed that he already consumed three cans of the sodas and he isn’t worried about getting fat.
Now here’s the deal: The American Food and Drug Administration (FDA) sets that the acceptable intake of aspartame is 50 milligram to 1 kilogram. Meaning that a person like me that weighs 60 kg can take 3000 milligrams of aspartame per day. A can of diet soda contains 180 milligrams of aspartame, so the man in the ad had taken 540 milligrams. Still, sounding right, isn’t it?
Debunking Claims and Weight Loss Boo Boo
However, a 2013 report by The Daily Beast revealed that aspartame is also linked to weight gain, metabolic syndrome, diabetes, and heart disease.
For the weight gain, the above-mentioned research said that aspartame can interfere with the body’s normal response with sugar. How? Aspartame tricks the body that you are not taking sugar even though you are. This will make the body think otherwise and will treat it differently. As a result, the body will fail to release proper hormones to control it.
Medical researcher Rebecca J. Brown published an article showing that artificial sweetener, which also includes aspartame, may trigger the secretion of glucagon-like peptide (GLP)-1 by the digestive tract. Thus, it will curb up appetite and calorie intake.
The Daily Mail published an infographic showing that aspartame can encourage insulin production, thus, triggering fat storage.
Tumors, Seizures and Other Effects
The Natural News quoted the American FDA issuing a warning after they received tremendous complaints about the effects of such a product. The complaints include hallucinations, diarrhea, seizures, depression, migraine, fatigue, and insomnia. Aspartame has also been linked to tumors, cancer and infertility.
The Sweet Poison noted an Anecdotal study revealing nondepressed volunteers showed difference to their moods and personalities after being administered with 30 mg of aspartame per one kilogram of body weight for seven days. Such changes included headache, nervousness, dizziness, memory impairment, nausea, temper outbursts, and depression.
In 2006, the FDA itself released a statement noting that in long term, aspartame can be carcinogenic.
There’s No Shortcut to Weight Loss
Ever since I’m not a fan of diet sodas even when I was still a kid. My taste buds didn’t like them. So, I can say, I may never have had felt the quick effects of such products (ie headache).
But, based on my understanding, a synthetic food that is superlative to the natural is questionable. I won’t go into the conclusion of why aspartame was approved. Perhaps, I am encouraging everyone to use ordinary sugar in a controllable amount. Or, use natural alternatives such as stevia if you are into weight management. Drink soda instead of diet soda, if just want some refreshments.
Maintaining your body should involve a will, determination, discipline, patience, and a little knowledge. In all aspects of life, if something promises quick and easy, then, most likely, it’s a scam.
