Day by day the craze of low-calorie food uptake and becoming slim is booming. People are now searching the foods which are of very low calories or with no sugar yet it is tasty. One of those types of products in the market is diet coke, also popular with the name of diet soda.
Let’s find out the answer to whether diet coke is safe to drink. is diet coke good for diabetics?
Diabetes people are always in sugar cravings. So, something sweet but still safe for them could be amazing. Let’s understand whether it is safe or not.
Soda water is basically a nutrition poor beverage. So, when you replace your water, milk or fruit juice with soda water or coke, that nutrition deficiency is a must for your body whether it is a diet version or a traditional version.
What is diet soda?
Diet soda or diet coke is basically carbonated soda water with added flavour and sugars. It is a type of soft beverage.
Diet sodas are available in different names in the market. Sometimes it is called zero-sugar cola or diet coke etc. Names are given by manufacturers for better marketing.
This type of drink is invented to target diet-conscious people.
Today, people are running behind a particular body shape and this behaviour is making them obsessed with it.
Soda water means Carbonated drinks. These drinks are formulated with water, sugar, colour and flavoured, and sometimes with caffeine.
But, diet coke or diet soda has the only water flavour colour preservatives but there is no sugar. In place of sugar, they add artificial sweeteners to make it full.
Ingredients of Diet Soda:
If we consider the ingredients of diet soda or regular soda, many things are common. Both of them have water, colour, flavour, acidity regulator and a sweetening agent. In the case of regular coke, the sweetening agent is sugar, but in the case of the diet version, it is an artificial sweetener.
Let’s understand the ingredients
| Diet soda | Regular soda |
| Carbonated Water | Carbonated Water |
| Colour (Caramel E150d), | Colour (Caramel E150d), |
| Phosphoric Acid, | Phosphoric Acid, |
| Sweeteners (Aspartame, Acesulfame K), | Sugar |
| Natural Flavourings incl. | Natural Flavourings incl. |
| Caffeine, | Caffeine, |
| Acidity Regulator (Sodium Citrate) | Acidity Regulator (Sodium Citrate) |
As you can see in the ingredients list of diet soda, there are artificial sweeteners added to the drink. Those sweeteners will cut off the calories and sugar of this drink.
All the ingredients are FDA-approved ingredients. So, there is no doubt that they are safe.
Is diet coke good for diabetics: What science says
Now we will discuss the main part of this topic, Is diet coke good for diabetics or not?
Let’s understand what is diabetes. If there is excess sugar in our blood, that chronic condition is termed diabetes.
But, if you uptake more sugar will there be more risk of type-II diabetes? The answer is no. You will be more prone to diabetes if you have obesity.
Obesity is caused by excess sugar uptake. so indirectly the sugar-containing carbonated soda water may be a reason for diabetes.
On the other hand, the risk of sugar uptake would be absent when you drink the diet coke. But, diet coke does not have sweetening agents only. It has many other ingredients to consider.
But, some people say that diet coke may hike your sugar grave, and you may start eating more sugar-containing food than earlier. But, recent studies are not supporting this myth.
Safety of diet coke
Now the question is how safe drinking diet coke is? Well, the main thing to consider about a diet coke is its artificial sweeteners.
Aspartame and Acesulfame K are the two main artificial sweeteners present in diet coke. Aspartame is considered to be safe up to a certain level. It is FDA approved artificial sweetener. Diet coke manufacturers use sweeteners with in the safe range.
On the other hand, acesulfame K is another artificial sweetener, considered to be safe by FDA.
The food and drug administration of the USA is the authorized body that decides which substance is safe to which level and which one is unsafe.
FDA approved the artificial sweeteners Aspartame, and Acesulfame K. So, we can consider them to be safe.
What research says about carbonated drink
Diet coke may have phosphoric acid as an ingredient. Phosphoric acid has some health-related harmless like
Colas and other hard carbonated soft drinks contain significant amounts of phosphoric acid. Both kidney stones and bone issues can be brought on by this acid. The effects of this acid on the bones include brittleness and the possibility of osteoporosis. Phosphoric acid transports calcium and other minerals when it is expelled in the urine.
But, when you consume the diet coke or any other cola daily at a very huge amount. then it might be possible that you may see the negative impact of this acid.
carbonated water itself is neither dangerous nor harmful to health. But, it is not considered to be 100 % safe. Because it has some long-term negative impacts on our health.
Carbonated water is considered to cause some indigestion and constipation.
One study it is proved that carbonated drinks are harmful to teenage girls. Both the regular and the diet versions of cola have bone fracturing effects in teenage active girls. But, how do carbonated beverages are effecting the bones is not well understood.
Is diet coke safe for diabetes?
In the context of sugar content, diet cokes could be considered safe. But, every patient has a different health condition. On the basis of each health condition, it should be determined whether it is safe or unsafe. Before having such a controversial drink or food always consult your doctor.