You guys...

 Diet pop is something I really enjoy. I've heard for a long time that I should not drink the stuff but no one could ever give me a good reason not to.   Now it seems there is a good reason.  You guys probably knew this, but it hit me like a brick. This is not going to be easy. http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/?cl=6393070

I can'****ch the video because I'm at work but I do know that the diet sodas (and sodas in general) can be linked to the cause of osteoporosis. Something about the increased insulin response to the 'sugar substitute' and then the dumping of calcium from the bones to counter the carbonation and increased insulin response. Since most people who drink diet soda don't drink water, milk or eat much calcium they have very little in the bones to begin with so over time it breaks them down.  I haven't really looked into the whole 'science' of this but it sounds scary enough to make me abstain from diet soda and soda in general for that matter.  I do partake of 1 carbonated beverage a week. It's usually a lo-carb monster energy drink. Love those things!

I'm at work and can't access the video either and I'm behind the curve on this story. I heard the headline on the evening news last night, but since I haven't had one in 3 months and don't plan on having one for a long time, I didn't pay any attention to the meat of the story.  My question is: What are they saying about non-carbonated artificially sweetened drinks. Any problems with these. Cause I've been drinking Crystal Light like crazy since the surgery. About a half gallon of it per day. If they link that to some kind of malady, I'm f***ked.

From what I'm getting from the story its not the carbonated drink, its the artificial sweetners found in many things. These sweetners trick the brain into thinking there is calories coming into "its" system and metabolism is "upped". Then when the brain discovers that there are no calories in this infusion of sweet the metabolism has already triggered such things as insulin increase etc. After that I don't really understand. I'm hoping someone can explain this a whole lot better than I've tried to. Bottom line seems to be that  useing artifical sweetners runs counter-productive weight loss. Sombody please say it ain't so!!

I think the artificial sweeteners aren't the best thing but I think they're a better alternative than high fructose corn syrup which definitely makes you gain weight.  As far as them being counter product for weight loss I believe it's probably true if in fact they do trigger an insulin response.  (Easy  enough to figure that out, just take your blood sugar after drinking one.)  I suspect after a long period of time of un-needed insulin being dumped into your body you become somewhat insulin resistant thus making weight loss more difficult. I think others refer to that as slowing your metabolism but I'm not scientist. Just makes common sense to me.  I haven't done enough research to give a concrete answer but I do know that I try to lessen my artificial sweetener intake. Here's some links to get you started: Osteoporosis: http://www.webmd.com/osteoporosis/features/soda-osteoporosis Heart Disease: http://www.webmd.com/heart/metabolic-syndrome/news/20070723/ 1-daily-soda-may-boost-heart-disease Obesity: http://www.webmd.com/diet/news/20080211/artificial-sweetener s-increase-weight Here's a search on webmd.com for diet soda: http://www.webmd.com/search/search_results/default.aspx?quer y=diet%20soda&sourceType=undefined You might try searching on artificial sweeteners in general. Webmd is a great source for stuff like this.

Hopefully this is not so.  As I see it, they take some lab rats, pump them full with about 100 times the amount of "X" that is acceptable for an average adult human, and then decide that "X" causes  weight gain, or cancer, or mental stupors, or lack of sexs drive, or whatever else they want it to say. At least that's what I'm hoping.  As for the diet sodas, I can do without them as long as I can have Crystal Light. All I know is my nutritionist at Vanderbilt says that Splenda,Equal or the other forms of artificial sweetners are acceptable for me to have.  If they cut that out, I'm like JFish . . . royally scr*wed!!! Oh, she does say absolutely NO CARBONATED DRINKS- period!

Does she give a reason for no carbonated drinks? Does that even mean for someone about a year out?

Not sure about someone a year out Doug.  I'm pre-op and all I know is she said no more carbonated drinks starting right now. She said the carbonation is not good for the pouch they create.  Also, I believe she said that carbonation is detrimental to the digestion and absorption of the foods.  I'll ask her specifically about this the next time I meet with her. That will be once I am approved by BCBS and hopefully that will be soon!

I don't know if the study is valid for all artificial sweeteners because they were only using saccharine in the study.  You are on dangerous ground if you look at the result of testing one product and then claim that other products will cause the same result without testing them. Separately, I'm interested in Chris' claims about artificial sweeteners and arthritis.  This sounds like my situation.  I've been drinking diet soda for aout 25 years.  I was getting calcium because I was an ice cream addict.  But, I don't think the amount of calcium in the ice cream could have made up the loss needed for proper bone health.  That may also be one of the reasons I don't have any teeth.  But, then again,  I used to eat 1/2 gallon of ice cream in a couple days--at my worse it was 1/2 gallon per day.  I can't imagine that now.  I used to say that as GM cars had body by Fisher, I had a body by ice cream.

To be quite honest, and I haven't seen the video, but this sounds like every other type of story that claims a product produces side effects. Just like eggs are good for you, but... they are bad for you. Chocolate is bad for you, but it helps your brain (duh, carbs), alcohol is bad for you, but a glass of wine a day decreases the risk of heart attack. Don't worry about crap like this, next up they'll be saying eating a stick of butter a day will help you lose weight. With that said, I can see how it could slow metabolism, but again, so can sitting for too long. Sorry for the sarcasm. As for the carbonated sodas, I used to drink diet coke religiously before WLS, and I've had maybe 3 since (because there were no other options at the time), honestly, I don't miss it and don't think you will too much either (but how could I know that?).