Problems with Diet Soda

FROM Mercola.com

What’s wrong with diet soda you ask? 

At the top of the list is the fact that the sugar is replaced with artificial sweeteners such as aspartame and sucralose. For an in-depth look at just how dangerous these fake sweeteners really are, I suggest you read my book Sweet Deception, but in the meantime you may be interested to know that they can:

• Stimulate your appetite
• Increase carbohydrate cravings
• Stimulate fat storage and weight gain 
  

Perhaps even worse, aspartame acts as a neurotransmitter in your brain by facilitating the transmission of information from neuron to neuron. But too much aspartame in your brain kills certain neurons by allowing the influx of too much calcium into your cells. This influx triggers excessive amounts of free radicals, which kill your cells. 

The neural cell damage that can be caused by excessive aspartame is why they are referred to as "excitotoxins." They "excite," or stimulate, your neural cells to death.
   
And don’t be fooled into thinking that diet sodas sweetened with sucralose are any better. Animal studies have revealed that sucralose can cause:

• Decreased red blood cells -- sign of anemia -- at levels above 1,500 mg/kg/day
• Increased male infertility by interfering with sperm production and vitality, as well as brain lesions at higher doses
• Enlarged and calcified kidneys (McNeil stated this is often seen with poorly absorbed substances and was of no toxicological significance. The FDA Final Rule agreed that these are findings that are common in aged female rats and are not significant.)
• Spontaneous abortions in nearly half the rabbit population given sucralose, compared to zero aborted pregnancies in the control group
• A 23 percent death rate in rabbits, compared to a 6 percent death rate in the control group

The researchers in the study above were surprised by their finding that diet soda may cause heart disease. But if you consider the well-known fact that diet soda, and diet foods of all kinds, contribute to obesity it makes perfect sense that they would also increase your risk of heart disease.

And as for the researchers finding that red meat contributes to this disease, well, that all depends on the type of red meat (processed, grass-fed or grain-fed), and this was not specified. 

Quite simply, once you find out your nutritional type, you’ll be able to determine if you thrive on grass-fed red meat, or whether you do better with free-range poultry instead. This is a highly individualized process, and simply stating that “red meat causes heart disease” is not taking any of these factors into account.