Recent studies have shown that diet beverages can actually lead to weight increase instead of the hoped-for weight loss. In short, diet drinks are not a very good addition to your diet.?You may be thinking that you are cutting your sugar intake, which can lead to rotten teeth and a rotten physique, however, recent nutritionists have suggested that the diet-soda craze is getting out of control and that people are confusing the beverages with actual dieting. The hollow calories consumed in them are tricking our bodies into thinking they are getting full, and the body does not like to be tricked. http://media.www.maroon-news.com/media/storage/paper742/news/2005/11/04/ArtsFeatures/Danger.Beware.Of.Diet.Soda-1047188.shtml?sourcedomain=www.maroon-news.com&MIIHost=media.collegepublisher.com

With all the controversy about artificial sweeteners, I'd say a person is better off just drinking the regular sugar soda since we don't really know for sure just how safe those substitutes are. It's all empty calories anyway, so the so-called "diet" drinks are misleading and don't really fit into a healthy diet in the first place.

I don't feel that there are any benefits from drinking ANY kind of soda. The worst of the two are the DIET sodas that are made with ASPARTAME (Nutrsweet). Everyone should become informed about this poison. http://www.holisticmed.com/aspartame/

Diet soda is bad for you for mostly the same reasons as normal soda is bad for you. With the exception of fewer calories from diet soda. However, if you make up for those calories via other foods/drinks then there really is no advantage at all to drinking diet soda. So the quick summary: Diet soda is better, but if you really want to be healthier do not have any soda. Artificial sweetener is what is chiefly different about diet soda. Aspartame is mostly harmless. The compound has been tested exhaustively and 90 countries have approved its use for all food goods. So it is healthier in that it has less calories and diseases that are implicated in simple sugar consumption are much less likely to occur. If you have phenylketonuria then you should not consume diet sodas as most contain Phenylketonurics. It is also important to note that aspartame is not any of the other 'controversial' sweeteners: cyclamates (which was banned for use) and saccharin. Cyclamates is the only one that has been shown to cause cancer however even then only in levels that most humans would never consume. Nonetheless, it is not in diet sodas so none need worry. Saccharin is harmless but is not in high circulation like aspartame. Diet sodas and normal sodas alike have been implicated in osteoporosis since they both contain phosphates which leech calcium out of bones. Both have been implicated in metabolic syndrome. More study is needed to be conclusive however. There are also studies