I am no scientist. but, i really find it hard to believe that drinking one regular can of soda a day, can cause type 2 diabetes. if this were the case, 99% of all americans would have diabetes. surely the fda would have shouted this warning to the rooftops to all americans and warned them not to drink sodas. and, yes diet sodas are loaded with chemicals. again, surely the fda would have warned americans of the health hazards associated with diet sodas, if in actuality the fact that these sodas are dangerous. the bottom line is that anything abused can be detrimental to ones health......even water. think i'll go open me another can of diet coke........

As with everything else, it depends on how much you consume. Too much liquid of any kind can produce adverse health effects. But diet drinks have a couple of other wrinkles. As has been posted by others, aspartame is not without risks. I recall reading a paper on its chemical composition shortly after it was released on the market. When aspartame is decomposed in the body, one of the compounds created is methanol. If I recall correctly, one molecule of aspartame creates one molecule of methanol. Methanol, as we all or should know, is a poison. Too much will make you very sick and can kill you. The author of the paper I read was concerned that no research had been done at the time on how the human body responded to long-term exposure to small amounts of methanol. Aspartame was sold not only at the soft drink market, but also in a wide range of other diet products, so people could ingest it from a number of sources. It is fairly difficult to produce methanol in a home still, as it forms at lower temperatures than ethanol and stills usually run hot. A small amount is produced at the start of the distillation process and should be discarded. People who die after drinking illicit hooch do not die because the still wasn't used properly - they die because the seller of the product adulterated it liberally with methanol purchased on the cheap. (People who do that deserve a little jail time.) A small amount of methanol is present in most commercial liquor, but is metabolically offset by the much larger amount of ethanol. The high proportion of ethanol counters the ill effects of methanol. However, you do not normally consume ethanol while sucking back Fresca, for example. These issues are not particularly relevant to those who drink the odd Cuba Libre with a diet cola. Drink on. However, your overall consumption of aspartame should be limited. This was all moot to me, as I simply could not stand the taste of the stuff. Saccharine was widely used as an artificial sweetener for many years. Studies eventually found it unhealthy in large quantities, causing cancer in Canadian lab rats (there used to be jokes about our lab rats). It became less popular and was replaced by aspartame. Again, consumption in small quantities was not harmful and I have known several people who were used to the taste of saccharine in their coffee and continued using it. Commercial sweeteners may also be based on modified sugars. These products do not have zero calories, but have fewer than most sugars because they cannot be readily digested. Lactulose is used for medical purposes. Sorbitol - an alcohol sugar - and sucralose are used in the food industry. None of these have any particular problems, although indigestible sugars may cause gas. Sodium cyclamate is used in some foodstuffs, but tests on lab animals have indicated an increased risk of developing cancer. Today, many drinks have replaced aspartame with a combination of aspartame and acesulfame potassium. I assume that aspartame is still used because it is cheaper than acesulfame potassium. This combination has a better flavour profile than aspartame alone. Studies of acesulfame potassium indicate that it is not metabolized by the human body - it is absorbed and then excreted. I am not aware of any tests that have indicated health problems with it. It has been approved for 15 years, so it is not a new product. ------------------------------------------------------------ Re: "aspartame is not safe for anyone who was a PKU baby" I was unaware of the connection between PKU (phenylketonuria) and phenylalanine, one of the compounds released when aspartame breaks down in your body. Thank's for the info. All persons with PKU and all women carrying a PKU baby should, therefore, avoid aspartame. I would think it reasonable that all pregnant women avoid consuming aspartame, since it decomposes into both phenylalanine and methanol. Removing it from your diet is an easy way to avoid later complications.

Erm... don't think so

You can eat or drink too much of anything. even something with basically nothing in it (water) can be lethal (overhydration) diet sodas have calories as well. too much will still lead to flab.

With the FDA making a song and dance about the perils of diet-soda, would that be similar to how we were told years ago not to be silly and that surely, if cigarette smoking was bad for us that surely the Government or relevant authorities would have alerted Batman on the Red Phone and then begun screaming 'Danger Will Robinson!' through their emergency loudhailers? It's like welfare - what goes around comes around - ie, if all the health problems of everyone were solved, then we wouldn't need hospitals.. perhaps it's a variation of the saying - 'one hand washes the other' - cept this time it's one hand that slaps the other away?

Considering the main content of soda (diet or otherwise) is water- having looked at http://www.answerbag.com/q_view.php/39722 , I'd say you definetely can.

Yes dont spoil a good thing they can only call it diet soda because there is less sugar in it than normal soda but as part as a healthy diet should soda be drank and diabetics are warned that if they drink soda there blood sugar will rise sometimes causing a diabetic shock!

I hope not... I drink about 4 cans of diet Dr. Pepper a day....have been doing it for years. So far no harm that I am aware of.