Before 

we begin to evaluate the risks of drinking diet sodas, let me address two small but important details:

I use the terms \\\'Diet Coke\\\', \\\'diet cola\\\', \\\'diet sodas\\\' interchangeably. I mean by them all cola drinks that include artificial sweeteners (primarily aspartame, but also acesulfame K), whether they are produced by the Coca-Cola Company, Pepsi Company or other manufacturers. 

The word \\\'addiction\\\' in this article is used loosely. I never had a problem giving up Diet Coke as needed, and my thirst for it was never unmanageable. I have also been prepared to drop the habit altogether should there emerge real evidence about its detrimental effects on human health. Moreover, if I should call my habit \\\'addiction\\\', I have to sincerely observe that I see similar addictions among some of my friends respecting sugar, alcohol, or salty and fried foods. Still, although my habit probably merits a more suitable designation, I will stick to it just for that bit of resonating simplicity.

And now, let\\\'s get down to it.

Colas with sugar are unhealthy

As far as sugar-based cola drinks are concerned, my view is in line with the majority of nutrition experts (whether they are dietitians, nutritionists, so-called healthy lifestyle counselors, or obesitologists). Refined sugar provides empty calories with no significant amounts of micronutrients, and its consumption contributes to obesity, diabetes, and other civilizational diseases.

Are diet cola drinks unhealthy?

Making a clear-cut call here is a bit more difficult.

NOTE: People with a rare inherited disease known as phenylketonuria (PKU) have problems metabolizing the amino acid phenylalanine, which is part of aspartame. These people should limit the intake of phenylalanine from all sources, including diet drinks containing aspartame. For individuals with phenylketonuria, diet colas are therefore unhealthy.

But what about the rest of us?

I admit that if I were to decide on the principle of \\\'caution\\\' and \\\'authority,\\\' I would have to reject dietary cola drinks on the grounds that a large number of experts have a negative attitude towards them, a smaller part of experts approach them neutrally, and one will hardly find anyone who would explicitly recommend them.

Furthermore, anyone who takes the time to read the label on a diet cola will most likely realize that the thing isn\\\'t the go-to nectar of health. You don\\\'t have to be a nutritional guru to intuit that a drink full of artificial sweeteners, regulators, acids, aromas, dyes, and God-knows-what-else have not been intended to be served in Paradise.

In our article, however, we treat of dietary addiction, and therefore we don\\\'t really insist on the drink to be healthy for us. We only don\\\'t want it to be unhealthy. Thus, we are interested in ascertaining demonstrably harmful effects, and only the basis of them are we willing to give the diet cola.

Let\\\'s look at the most common arguments concerning the harmful effects of drinking diet cola.

The most frequent arguments concerning the harmful effects of Diet Coke

Argument 1: Diet Coke is unhealthy. Everyone says so.

Argument 2: Diet Coke causes the same reaction in the body as colas containing sugar.

Argument 3: Diet cola is an acid that dissolves a nail. Hence, it\\\'s bad.

Argument 4: Diet colas cause a sweet tooth and obesity.

Argument 5: Aspartame kills.

Argument 6: Diet Coke causes kidney stones.

Argument 7: Diet colas cause softer bones.

1. Diet Coke is unhealthy. Everyone says so.

It is true. Everyone around me says it too.

But truth does not depend on democratic voting, consensus, the right of the stronger, or our wishes and desires.

And what is claimed without proper justification can also be rejected without proper justification.

Conclusion: Rather than a real argument, this is a argumentative fallacy referred to as \\\"argumentum ad populum\\\".

2. Diet Coke causes the same reaction in the body as cola drinks containing sugar.

I have heard this statement many times, from various sources. For example, you can still find it on the website of the American left-wing network CNN, in an article dated March 9, 2018. The article\\\'s main agenda is to criticize President Trump, specifically his habit of drinking 12 cans of diet cola a day. The author states (without citing any relevant study) that 30 minutes after ingestion of diet cola, blood sugar levels and insulin response are practically identical to the response induced by drinking a cola that contains sugar.

Think about this statement. A liter of diet cola contains almost no sugar and no energy. A liter of cola with sugar, on the other hand, has 106 grams of sugar and over 300 calories of energy. If there really is the same amount of sugar in the blood 30 minutes after consuming both drinks, where did the sugar (energy) came from in the case of diet cola?

There are three possible interpretations:

1. The human body can make energy from nothing. This would mean a revolution in physics and - let\\\'s face it - lead to considerable chaos in the energy markets.

2. The energy must come from some other source, and the only one that comes to mind is previously-stored energy in the body (body fat, glycogen etc.). This would mean that drinking diet colas burns more energy than drinking plain water (at least the energy expenditure supporting interactions of glucagon and insulin, two hormones that are responsible for getting sugar in the blood and removing it). Add to it the thermogenic effect of caffeine and you call your regular Diet Coke quite an elixir of weight loss.

3. The claim is fictional and has no basis in science.

Conclusion: The claim does not seem to hold water scientifically, and I have not found a single study that would support it.

3. Diet Coke dissolves nails. Hence it is bad for you.

Neither diet nor sugar-sweetened colas dissolve a nail. The nail will most likely corrode, but it will do the same in plain water. Try it.

Conclusion: The claim is intentionally misleading and can easily be disproved.

4. Diet Coke increases your appetite, particularly craving for sweet food. Hence, it causes obesity.

The above statement is an apparent non-sequitur because it does not follow that increased appetite causes obesity. Overeating increases obesity.

Still, the claim itself is based on subjective reports, and I cannot counter it in any other way than by saying that in my own subjective experience, it isn\\\'t so.

Sweet taste is evolutionary \\\"normal\\\" and most people\\\'s taste buds respond positively to sweet foods. But I don\\\'t know anyone whose consumption of diet soda drove them to chronic eating of cakes and uncontrollable sweet cravings. On the contrary, among my friends are those who drink diet colas in an effort to stay in good shape, and keep the calories and sugar intake in check. Diet soft drinks help these people to keep their discipline.

Conclusion: The claim is based on subjective statements, a fact that considerably weakens its persuasiveness. But even if it reflected reality, there is no causal link between sweet taste and obesity. In other words, humans can control their cravings, and living a healthy lifestyle often requires a certain amount of self-discipline. Finally, the sweet tooth can paradoxically be averted by reaching for a diet soft drink. 

5. Aspartame kills

Much has been written about the harmful effects of the artificial sweetener aspartame. It has been said to cause blindness and seizures, break down into toxic formaldehyde, be carcinogenic, etc.

It is true that aspartame is broken down into formaldehyde in the body, but studies have shown that in smaller amounts than some fruits and fruit juices.

The FDA has identified aspartame as a safe sweetener and the ESVA has stated that despite substantial research on aspartame over the past 30 years the substance has not been shown to increase the risk of leukemia, brain tumors, and various cancers incl. lymphatic and blood cancer. The U. S. National Cancer Institute has commented on aspartame in a similar vein.

In 1984 the  European Scientific Committee on Food (SCF) established an Acceptable Daily Intake (ADI) of aspartame of 40 mg / kg body weight. This amount represents the daily dose that can be consumed throughout life without a known increased health risk. The US FDA has set a less stringent limit of 50 mg / kg body weight.

In the 2000KCAL web application, you can verify that a person weighing, for example, 70 kg can drink 5-6 liters of Diet Coke a day, or 8 liters of Pepsi Lime per day in accordance with the recommendations in the previous paragraph without a noticeable increase in the health risk from aspartame. My opinion is that these values ​​were set cautiously rather than to demonstrate the harmfulness of higher values. As for other artificial sweeteners, you can read about their health effects at the links above.

Conclusion: The argument has never been scientifically proven, and this fact has been consistently confirmed by the authorities responsible for food and pharmaceutical safety.

6. Diet colas cause kidney stones

I could not find a study that credibly proved this claim, so I asked a urologist. He confirmed to me that higher risk is theoretically possible, but it can be neutralized effectively enough by increasing the relative intake of water, tea, and other fluids. In other words, you should never drink only diet sodas, and plain water should always form the majority of the liquids you drink during the day.

A 2013 study entitled \\\'Sodas and Other Beverages and the Risk of Kidney Stones\\\' compared the risks of developing kidney stones with occasional consumption and frequent consumption of both sweet and artificially sweetened sodas. In the case of cola drinks containing sugar, a 23% higher risk of developing kidney stones was confirmed when consuming one or more cans per day compared to consuming less than one can per week. An inverse trend was found with diet cola, where the risk of more frequent drinking (more than 1 can per day) was lower than that of less frequent consumption (1 or less can per week). The study cites as a possible cause the fructose contained in the sugar-sweetened cola, which increases the urinary excretion of calcium, oxalate, and uric acid, which are risk factors for the formation of kidney stones.

Conclusion: The claim has not been sufficiently proven. What is more, there are studies that show opposite trends (reduced risk of developing kidney stones with higher drinking of diet cola). Either way, kidney stones can be prevented by sufficient hydration of the body by means of drinking plain water. Water should be the primary source of human hydration. Under no circumstances should cola drinks dominate fluid intake.

7. Diet Coke causes softening of the bones

Some studies show that regular intake of cola drinks can indeed contribute to lower bone mineral density, especially in older women. It is speculated that caffeine, sugar, sodium, and phosphorus are the culprits in this regard. However, even studies that support this conclusion point to the inconsistency of these findings and recommend further research (e.g. a 2006 study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition).

The main problem of the studies with which I became acquainted is the unsatisfactory conditions for the study of the hypothesis. E.g. a study published in 2020 found a positive correlation between drinking sodas and bone fractures, however, these results were (in my opinion) invalidated by the fact that subjects consumed less than 400 mg of calcium per day for a long time. Such low intake of calcium is not only well below the recommended daily dose, but in addition, the increased ratio between phosphorus (contained in cola drinks) and calcium is a known risk factor for bone resorption (decalcification of bones). The above study thus operates in an environment that helps to confirm the hypothesis. In addition, in this particular study bone fractures were reported subjectively and never verified. Furthermore, the study never distinguished the individual types of \\\'soft drinks\\\', and no distinction was made between carbonated drinks and otherwise, caffeine drinks or otherwise, sugar-containing drinks or diet ones, cola-type drinks or otherwise, etc.

Another problem with the studies I have seen is that they generally do not take into account other \\\'disturbances\\\', making it difficult to demonstrate a clear relationship of cause and effect. These disturbances include, for example, the aspect of urban life with sedentary jobs, which in itself is often associated with poorer bone health. Often ignored is also the fact that many young people replace healthier options such as milk with cola drinks, and thus rid themselves of an important source of calcium. As a result, it is impossible to determine whether bone health is negatively affected by drinking diet drinks, or indirectly due to other causes.

Conclusion: The claim deserves attention, and I will eagerly follow future research in this regard. Still, I do not find the hitherto studies convincing, mainly due to their failure of creating an optimal environment for the correct identification of causal relationship between the consumption of diet cola drinks and lower bone density. But even if such causel nexus existed, there are known ways of reducing such risks (see Conclusion of the article below).

8. Diet colas will destroy your teeth

All soft drinks may be unhealthy for teeth, especially if they replace (as opposed to supplement) water as a primary source of hydration. In the case of sugary drinks, this can be understood due to the sugar content. Bacteria in the mouth feed on sugar and produce an acid which, together with another acid (phosphoric acid), can damage tooth enamel, allowing bacteria on the teeth to penetrate eroded areas and cause tooth decay. Some glucose containing colorants can also contribute to this effect.

Symptoms of dental erosion include pain, sensitivity to temperature, translucency of the tooth, cracking or darkening of the teeth.

Conclusion: I assess the risk to tooth health as existing, but manageable through adequate dental hygiene.

Conclusion

Many claims about the harmful effect of drinking diet colas are fabricated and easily refuted. Some sound more sound, but studies have not confirmed them. From my point of view, for the time being, there is no indication that drinking diet cola in the amount of 2 liters per day would be harmful to human health.

Nevertheless, on the basis of \\\'precausion\\\' I recommend to anyone who is hooked on drinking Diet Coke and other soft drinks to follow the following rules, which I myself observe:

• Ensure good hydration from water as the primary source of human hydration (mitigation of kidney stone formation),
• Secure adequate intake of calcium, at least in the RDA amount (mitigation of risk to bone health),
• Maintain an optimal ratio of calcium and phosphorus (mitigation of risk to bone health). The Ca:P ratio of 1.3 : 1 is suggested for maintaining bone health. Diet colas include considerable amounts of phosphorus, so it may be smart to increase the calcium intake appropriately.
• Adjust oral hygiene to your drinking habits (mitigation of risks related to tooth health). Do not brush your teeth immediately after consuming a diet cola drink; wait at least 30 minutes.