Advertisers prey upon the societal pressure to be thin, young, and beautiful. With zero calories and zero grams of sugar, diet soda advertisers have the easy job of marketing their product directly at people who desire being skinny. Even though diet sodas appear as the best alternative to drinking regular sodas loaded with sugar and calories, the artificial sugars within diet sodas have been linked to negative health effects and even weight gain. So before immediately associating a soda coined “diet” as healthy, everyone should realize that major companies may be deceiving them into buying their product. With soda being the single major source of calories for Americans, the consumption of diet sodas has increased 25% in the past decade (Oaklander). This shift may be viewed as positive, but studies have shown that diet soda may be just as bad, if not worse for health, than regular soda. Although the increasing presence of diet sodas in the United States shows Americans’ acknowledgement and attempt to counteract obesity, major companies may be undermining consumers who are blind to the negative aspects of artificial sugar in order to boost their
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In an 11-year-long Harvard Medical School study of more than 3,000 women, it was found that women who drank more than two diet sodas each day had a decline in their kidney function. Researchers also suspect that kidney decline is a direct result of artificial sweeteners due to the fact that there was no evidence of kidney decline in response to drinking regular, sugar-filled soda (Oaklander). In addition, almost every diet soda contains substances called mold inhibitors, such as sodium benzoate and potassium benzoate. Peter Piper, a professor of molecular biology and biotechnology reported that “these chemicals have the ability to cause severe damage to DNA in the mitochondria to the point that they totally inactivate it--they knock it out altogether” (Oaklander). Having mitochondria, the energy-producers of cells, completely destroyed would eliminate the functioning of cells in the body. The formation of hives, asthma, and other allergic conditions has also been linked to these mold inhibitors. In addition, both substances have been classified by the Food Commission in the UK as “mild irritants to the skin, eyes, and mucous membranes” (Oaklander). Another common substance found in diet sodas is the artificial sweetener aspartame, also known as NutraSweet. Aspartame is 200 times as sweet as sugar
In an 11-year-long Harvard Medical School study of more than 3,000 women, it was found that women who drank more than two diet sodas each day had a decline in their kidney function. Researchers also suspect that kidney decline is a direct result of artificial sweeteners due to the fact that there was no evidence of kidney decline in response to drinking regular, sugar-filled soda (Oaklander). In addition, almost every diet soda contains substances called mold inhibitors, such as sodium benzoate and potassium benzoate. Peter Piper, a professor of molecular biology and biotechnology reported that “these chemicals have the ability to cause severe damage to DNA in the mitochondria to the point that they totally inactivate it--they knock it out altogether” (Oaklander). Having mitochondria, the energy-producers of cells, completely destroyed would eliminate the functioning of cells in the body. The formation of hives, asthma, and other allergic conditions has also been linked to these mold inhibitors. In addition, both substances have been classified by the Food Commission in the UK as “mild irritants to the skin, eyes, and mucous membranes” (Oaklander). Another common substance found in diet sodas is the artificial sweetener aspartame, also known as NutraSweet. Aspartame is 200 times as sweet as sugar