I Told You So

I would  like to put the diet soda issue to bed once and for all, though I know there is not a chance of that.  Every time I decide to enjoy a diet soda it seems some health nazi is waiting in the shadows to pounce on me and lecture me on how bad it is for me and how it will make me fat.  I usually reply, firstly, that I am already fat and, secondly, fuck off.  That typically ends the conversation.

But, well meaning friends will usually not allow that to suffice and I then have to point out that moderate consumption of diet soda is in no way unsafe for my health.  And, further, that no study has ever proven that drinking diet soda CAUSES weight gain.  The studies that they have read about only suggest that people who prefer to drink diet coke have a problem with over eating.  In addition, the studies that suggest that aspartame may be harmful were conducted on mice who were given rather large amounts of the substance.  Give a mouse too much water and that will kill him too.

Now, NPR has a story about a study which suggests what I have always said, that people tend to see diet soda as an opportunity to cram even more calories by way of crap food into their faces.  The study looked, not just at weight gain and diet coke consumption, but at amount and quality of foods that participants ate.  And surprise!  The people with the most sensible diets had the least weight gain.

For me the matter is resolved and I will continue to enjoy the odd glass of diet soda as guilt free as ever.