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Diet coke causes MS?

Skeptic Ginger said:
Charlotte is lucky to have a skeptic dad.
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Thanks Skeptic Ginger, I think she quite enjoys her 'special insight' into some of the more ridiculous claims her friends make really. Where we live there are more than the average number of crazy beliefs and stories so we all get plenty of practice. It's quite an eye opener - you explain things like, say homeopathy, to a child and they just shrug and say well that's ridiculous. It's only when stuff like that is overlain with the adult-world baggage of conspiracy theories, persuasive authoritarian practitioners and the like that the process seems to go wrong.

Children are great (and mine are the best in the world!). :D

Yuri
 
Kumar said:
artificial sweetner or as commonly indicated. However effect due to low pH is no where indicated except its effect on teeth.
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Sorry Kumar, but this makes no sense at all.
Perhaps your English is not adequate to express your thoughts.
 
kerikiwi said:
Sorry Kumar, but this makes no sense at all.
Perhaps your English is not adequate to express your thoughts.
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Yes.

Side Effects due to Aspartame in diet coke is commonly indicated. Other side effects might had also been indicated. But as diet coke has low pH, its effect due to its low pH is no where indicated.

Hope it is clear now.
 
Kumar said:
What are the adverse effects of taking plenty of acidic foods & drinks?

Many substances are more digested & absorbed in GUT's acidic environment eg. iron from veg foods.
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Bnefore you go looking for a cause for an effect you should perhaps first try to establish that there is an effect at all. I mean, you wouldn't waste years waffeling on about crazy theroies about how homeopathy may work, without first establising that it does work, would you- so why do that here, I mean, that would just be silly.
 
Kumar said:
What are the adverse effects of taking plenty of acidic foods & drinks?

Many substances are more digested & absorbed in GUT's acidic environment eg. iron from veg foods.
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You still have no clue about stomach acid. Why not? Then, once the nutrients get broken down and end up in the blood, the blood pH is tightly controlled and not affected by what food was like before it was subjected to the acid bath of your stomach and crazy environment of the duodenum. I suggest you look up the digestive system for starters. Then learn about the blood.
 
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Acidity of stomach do effect digestion & so altered absorption. Vit. C is one example. Moreover stomach pH impact can be inversely related to internal pH but it is tightly controlled. Stomach acidity can take lot of our bicarbonate to neutrize acidic effect. Some idea is also there acidity may override intestinal mucus lining causing altered absorption. Look adverse effect of antacids. Some antacids are also considered as alkalisers.

"Reduced stomach acidity may result in an impaired ability to digest and absorb certain nutrients, such as iron and the B vitamins"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antacid
Increased stomach acid should cause opposite effects.

Bye for now. I feel my current discussions are over. Thanks.
 
Kumar said:
Acidity of stomach do effect digestion & so altered absorption. Vit. C is one example. Moreover stomach pH impact can be inversely related to internal pH but it is tightly controlled. Stomach acidity can take lot of our bicarbonate to neutrize acidic effect. Some idea is also there acidity may override intestinal mucus lining causing altered absorption. Look adverse effect of antacids. Some antacids are also considered as alkalisers.

"Reduced stomach acidity may result in an impaired ability to digest and absorb certain nutrients, such as iron and the B vitamins"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antacid
Increased stomach acid should cause opposite effects.

Bye for now. I feel my current discussions are over. Thanks.
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:rolleyes:

Diet coke does not reduce stomach acid, nor does any other food for any long period of time. That is a physical issue most people never ever ever ever have to worry about. The feedback system with the stomach causes more acid, or less, to be released if required. Some people like to temporarily reduce stomach acid for a variety of reasons, but that temporary situation will not result in vitamin C deficiency, as it is TEMPORARY.
 
If coke had a pH of 2, I suspect that strong of an acid might hurt your mouth.

While there is hydrochloric acid in the stomach to break food down, most absorption takes place in the intestines where the stomach acids are neutralized. Only a few substances like alcohol are absorbed from the stomach.

Stomach acid does play a role in a number of digestive mechanisms like triggering the enzyme Pepsin and triggering other digestive processes. But unless you are anemic or have some other medical problem, most people do just fine on H2 blockers which decrease stomach acids and treat GERD. (GERD can lead to esophageal cancer.)

Excessive consumption of antacids is another matter. The calcium chloride and aluminum hydroxide that are in antacids bind with a number of substances and affect their absorption.

The phosphoric acid in some sodas, when taken in excess may result in decreased calcium absorption which can be bad for people with osteoporosis or kidney problems. (WebMD article) Note that just because something is an acid doesn't mean it is a strong acid. And the acid in your stomach is a very strong acid so I don't see how drinking more acid would matter (except in your mouth and esophagus which are not made to tolerate strong acid).


None of this has anything to do, however, with the false claims that the aspartame in diet soda causes any disease.
 
My understanding of the mechanics of these kinds of spurious claims is this:

There is only a small benefit to drinking aspartame-sweetened soft-drinks or being vaccinated(as long as enough other people are vaccinated to mooch of herd immunity) or drinking fluoridated water(some averted cost and pain at the dentist).

Someone then goes on to make an outrageous claim of horrifying harm caused by one of these things. Most people are not strongly convinced by this claim, maybe they're only think there's a 10% chance that they're not talking out of their arse.

100% times some small benefit on the plus side; 10% times some horrifying loss on the minus side; expectation value is pushed negative and they're going to avoid it.

The hardcore woos therefor have a large incentive for making up these spurious claims.

(one of these days I'm going to snap and try to plant the idea in the woo-o-sphere that homeopathy causes rectal cancer or something)
 
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soylent said:
(one of these days I'm going to snap and try to plant the idea in the woo-o-sphere that homeopathy causes rectal cancer or something)
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DO IT. I'd love to see homeopaths trying to fight that rumour.

Homeopaths: We've got hundreds of scientific studies showing that homeopathy doesn't cause cancer.
Woos: What, from the science that says aspartame is safe? Big pharma shills!
 
soylent said:
My understanding of the mechanics of these kinds of spurious claims is this:

There is only a small benefit to drinking aspartame-sweetened soft-drinks or being vaccinated(as long as enough other people are vaccinated to mooch of herd immunity) or drinking fluoridated water(some averted cost and pain at the dentist). ...
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This is off topic, but it is not a valid claim so needs to be replied to.

I can't argue diet sodas have much benefit as far as the calories go, other than psychological. I don't believe it's been established they help with weight loss though sugared sodas do contribute to weight gain so as a substitute, diet soda has a benefit.

Maybe you think fluoridated water only prevents 'minor' inconvenience and cost for dental work, but I think more than a few people would challenge that conclusion.


As for the vaccines, many vacines don't depend on herd immunity. Tetanus and pneumococcal vaccines for example don't. Not every pathogen is spread from person to person.

And in many infections, like measles, herd immunity is not very efficient unless you have >95% of the population immunized and even then you still have some risk from travelers with the infections.

Then there is the pertussis vaccine where herd immunity IS the basis of protection. We vaccinate everyone else to protect the infants in whom pertussis is most serious before they are of an age to be fully vaccinated.


I get your point but your examples are a bit of a fail.
 
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Only anecdotal evidence, but I shifted from drinking full sugar Coke to diet lemonade (about 1-1.5 litres per day), lost two inches off my waistline.
 
Sledge said:
Only anecdotal evidence, but I shifted from drinking full sugar Coke to diet lemonade (about 1-1.5 litres per day), lost two inches off my waistline.
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I don't doubt some people benefit from replacing sugared soft drinks with diet sodas. But in the bigger scheme of things, diet sodas don't play a big role in weight loss programs.
 
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