For Diet Coke drinkers, there's no denying the appeal of this caffeinated, fizzy drink. Of course, classic Coca-Cola has been the top-line soda for decades, but Coca-Cola alternatives have had huge appeal since their launch in 1982. Kate Moss is now (again) the drink's creative director because she's calling it out. That's probably all thanks to its seemingly miraculous nutritional properties: that is, it appears to be healthier because it contains zero calories and zero sugar, but still tastes just as good as regular Coke. This is thanks to a little ingredient called aspartame.
Aspartame is a type of non-camp gum, sugar-free syrup, and pretty much anything that tastes sweet but doesn't have any caloric or glucose content impact. This seems great in theory, but aspartame comes with its own set of side effects.
The dark side of aspartame is nothing new: Studies investigating the nonnutritive sweetener’s negative health effects have been emerging since 1984, but the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the European Food Safety Authority Food Panel on Additives and Nutrient Sources in Foods (ANS) in the 1990s and 2000s both reconfirmed its safety despite anecdotal links to multiple sclerosis, headaches and gastrointestinal problems related, and studies have shown that it is associated with mood changes and depression. But last month, when the World Health Organization (WHO) officially declared aspartame a "possible human carcinogen," it made headlines and terrified Washingtonians everywhere.
In light of this news, Diet Coke girls are asking: So should we be drinking regular Coke? Here's a survey of the most important questions about everyone's favorite afternoon snack.
What exactly is aspartame?
Aspartame is a sugar substitute that is 100 times sweeter than regular sugar. Because it has such a big impact, It is used in very small doses to sweeten certain foods, drinks, chewing gum and cough medicines, says Ernst von Schwarz, MD, a triple board-certified clinical and academic cardiologist.
Specifically, aspartame is made from peptide bonds. "It comes from taking a piece of protein and linking it to an ester peptide, a bioactive compound, making it calorie-free," says registered dietitian Melanie G. Murphy Richter, MS, RDN.
This is the second non-nutritive sweetener to be marketed, with raw sugar being saccharin. "When saccharin came out in the early 1900s, people thought it was magical, so they started looking for ways to exploit its greatness," says Murphy Richter. "Aspartame is the next version of that."
What does aspartame do to your body?
Since aspartame is sweet but not really sugar, it won't spike your blood sugar levels—which seems fine until you realize what else it does to your body. "This can cause glucose imbalance and have downstream effects on your mouth, taste buds and gut," says Murphy Richter. Essentially, the more super sweet things you eat, the more your taste buds crave the sweet stuff instead of the flavors in foods that are actually good for you.
While diet drinks are widely believed to help with weight loss or weight maintenance, von Schwartz said multiple studies have found this theory to be "total nonsense." "In my own experience, especially in people with heart disease, aspartame and other sugar substitutes can actually cause sugar cravings," he said. Von Schwarz said that while aspartame does not It raises your blood sugar levels, but it creates negative feedback in the pancreas, which produces insulin. "So since blood sugar levels don't rise significantly, it's telling the body that you need more sugar," he says.
What's more, non-nutritive sweeteners aren't all that great for your gut. "They are known to cultivate an environment in your gut that preferentially allows certain types of more pathogenic bacteria to grow," says Murphy Richter. "Sugar often has this effect as well, but non-nutritive sweeteners have more diverse effects - which is a problem because your gut determines your immune function, your level of hormone and neurotransmitter production, day and night Rhythm and ability to sleep quality." But sugar isn't that harmless in comparison.
Non-nutritive sweeteners and non-nutritive sweeteners sugar
While sugar may start to sound like the sweeter option, be aware that it's still a villain in your diet in and of itself. Von Schwarz said it poses one of the greatest health risks because of everything it does to the body. "Sugar itself is pro-inflammatory and contributes to diabetes, metabolic syndrome and causes chronic inflammation from teeth to blood vessels, heart and brain," he said. “And our daily consumption is too high.”
It may not cause cancer, but it can contribute to the development of cardiovascular disease—which, von Schwarz noted, kills more people than all cancers combined. By the way, a big factor in heart disease is obesity and diabetes. That's why we have such a demand for low-calorie products and non-nutritive sweeteners, says Murphy Richter.
If you go the aspartame route, cancer risks come into play. In the long run, though: What 's not dangerous now? "Aspartame may present cancer risks, just like many other components of our daily lives," von Schwarz said. For example, cell phone use and talcum powder are also listed as potential carcinogens.
judgment
So, which soda should you drink? Sorry, DC drinkers, von Schwarz and Murphy Richter all drink Coke, but it's not because of aspartame's potential link to cancer. Back to the point: According to the World Health Organization, if you consume 40 milligrams per kilogram of body weight per day, you are at risk for cancer. translate? "That's the equivalent of 15 to 22 cans of Diet Coke per day, or diet soda or other products containing aspartame," von Schwarz said. "That's usually beyond the reach of any individual anyway."
He won't touch Diet Coke because its domino effect could lead to cardiovascular disease. So if you want something sweet, he recommends choosing Coca-Cola. "I wouldn't recommend doing it every day, but maybe once or twice a week," he says. Murphy Richter would choose Coca-Cola because of the various effects aspartame has on your body, especially your gut. That said, Diet Coke is a better choice for diabetics because the sugar affects their insulin levels.
Having said all that, please note that Diet Coke is still approved for human consumption, so what you pursue is your prerogative. Of course, in an ideal world, you wouldn't drink soda at all. But I’m not here to stop you from having a great time.
Research references:
Aziz, Ohio (2019). Long-term consumption of saccharin increases the risk of obesity, diabetes, liver dysfunction, and kidney damage in rats. Medicine , 55 (10). https://doi.org/10.3390/medicina55100681
Basu, S. (2012). The relationship between sugar and population diabetes prevalence: an econometric analysis of repeated cross-sectional data. PLoS 1 , 8 (2). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0057873
Czarnecka, K. (2021). Aspartame – real or fake? A narrative review of product general safety analysis. Nutrients , 13 (6). https://doi.org/10.3390/nu13061957
Delacorte, K. W. (2018). Effects of dietary sugar intake on biomarkers of subclinical inflammation: a systematic review and meta-analysis of intervention studies. Nutrients , 10 (5). https://doi.org/10.3390/nu10050606
Lindsays, G. N. (2014). Neurobehavioral effects of aspartame consumption. Nurses Health Research Center. 2014 Jun;37(3):185-93. doi:10.1002/nur.21595. Epub April 3, 2014. PMID: 24700203; PMCID: PMC5617129.
Ma X (2021). Too much sugar: a culprit in inflammation. Frontiers in Immunology , 13 . https://doi.org/10.3389/fimmu.2022.988481
Mathur, K. (2020). Effects of artificial sweeteners on insulin resistance in patients with type 2 diabetes. Journal of Family Medicine and Primary Care , 9 (1), 69-71. https://doi.org/10.4103/jfmpc.jfmpc_329_19
Pang, M. D. (2019). Effects of artificial sweeteners on weight control and glycemic homeostasis. Nutritional Frontiers , 7 . https://doi.org/10.3389/fnut.2020.598340
Ruiz-Ojeda, F. J. (2019). Effects of sweeteners on the gut microbiota: a review of experimental studies and clinical trials. Advances in Nutrition , 10 (Suppl 1), S31. https://doi.org/10.1093/advances/nmy037
Xu, E. H. (2019). Association between total sugar intake and metabolic syndrome in middle-aged Korean men and women. Nutrients , 11 (9). https://doi.org/10.3390/nu11092042
Hill, A. (2021). Artificial sweeteners negatively modulate the pathogenic characteristics of two model enteric bacteria, Escherichia coli and Enterococcus faecalis. International Journal of Molecular Sciences , 22 (10). https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms22105228
expert:
Dr. Ernst von Schwarz, MD, triple board certified clinical and academic cardiologist
Melanie G. Murphy Richter, MS, RDN, registered dietitian
