Should I worry about how much diet soda Ive been drinking?
What health hazard have I been exposing myself to all these years?
And should I worry about the new sweetener thats replacing it?
Pepsis vice presidenttold the Guardian: Aspartame is the number one reason consumers are dropping diet soda.
Just because a company dumps an ingredient doesnt mean the ingredient is unsafe.
Lets look at each.
Still, is there some way the combination could cause cancer, as its detractors claim?
(Or in human terms: 3,400 daily cans of soda for a 165-pound person.)
Meanwhile, studies in humans dont show a consistent link between cancer and aspartame at all.
(Thats 50 milligrams of aspartame for each kilogram you weigh.
A 12-ounce can of aspartame-sweetened soda has 192 milligrams.
If youre larger, you may be able to add a 20th can.
Are Other Sweeteners Safe?
Diet Pepsis new formulation will usesucraloseandacesulfame potassium(sometimes known by the catchier name Ace-K) to replace aspartame.
None of these sweeteners are linked to serious health issues, but the body of research is small.
Aspartame has been on the market, and fairly well studied, since the early 1980s.
Ace-K was approved in 1988, and sucralose came a decade later in 1998.
Stevia extracts are newer still.
That means skipping sweeteners altogether, though, and not just a particular formulation of Diet Pepsi.
Sucralose fares a little better, coming under the Caution list.
But if youre looking for actual evidence of danger from any of these sweeteners, youll come up empty.
(Emphasis mine.)
Cautious folks might choose to steer clear of soda in general (maybe switch to unsweetened seltzer?
Sincerely,Lifehacker
Photos bySharon and Nikki McCutcheon,Jynto,frankieleon.
