Which is worse for you--several Diet Cokes each day, or one Coke each day?

Question

I'm 24, but unfortunately living with my mom.

She keeps telling how bad Coke is for me. I drink one per day--but not every day. I get sick of it if I drink it every day.

My mom drinks *several* Diet Cokes each day, all while criticizing me. For instance, we'll go out to eat lunch, and she'll have one open Diet Coke in her hand in the car, one unopened Diet Coke in the car to drink on the way back, and will also have Diet Coke at lunch.

I know they're both not good for you. What I'm wondering is if drinking multiple Diet Cokes on a daily basis is worse than drinking 4 or 5 regular cokes per week. And if so, what information can I use to back this up when I try to explain it to her?

Answer 1

Diet Cokes are practically calorie free. 100 ml of Diet coke contains 0,02 kcal, where normal Coke contains around 148 kcal/100ml. So diet wise Diet Coke is defineatly better. BUT they both contain caffeine that is not good for the body and also colour. So technically they are both bad. If you are fit, drinking one drink of Coke a day and several a week won't do you much harm, but your mother will be doing much harm to her teeth and brain with all the caffeine and food colour she's consuming.

Answer 2

try water

Answer 3

The sugar, carbonation and caffeine are all bad for your whole body.

There is no way around it, pop is bad in so many ways.  

Answer 4

depends what you mean.  the sugar in the coke is what she's going on about, but they are both carbonated and acidic and take their toll on the stomach lining, so volume-wise you've got her there.

Answer 5

You could argue all day about sugar and artificial sweetners but another danger is phosphoric acid.

It inhibits the body's absorption of calcium and can cause long term harm to your bones. As far as I know the phosphoric acid is the same in both types of coke.....so your one a day is far less harmful.

Answer 6

Depending on what research you believe on the artificial sweeteners in diet drinks, drinking multiple diet drinks in a day can be way more dangerous then 1 regular per day.

However, if you assume that artificial sweeteners pose no real threat, then drinking diet soda is like drinking caffeinated flavored water.

Answer 7

Either way they are both still just as bad...they both lead to bad things so that is why I choose to only drink on occasions

but now to answer your question, several diet cokes is bad for you...but drinking one coke a day is bad...but not as bad as several diet cokes.

so maybe she will feel better about it if you drink it every other day

Answer 8

Neither is bad for you, the one coke you drink each day is a very modest amount and not enough to cause you any ill effects. The worst thing you're doing is consuming about 45 grams of sugar and 140 calories but no fat and only 39 grams of carbohydrates, but again if it's once a day that' s not really bad for you.

The diet cokes are also not very bad for you being composed of zero sugar. The higher amounts of natural sweeteners are not very good for you or the higher caffeine intake but by most standards it's not really harmful at least there is no evidence yet. There is zero calories, zero carbs and zero fat.

Coke in it's early days was actually a remedy for stomach upset, and stomach ache and to this day many people still drink ginger ale for upset stomach. It is high in acid but most people's stomach properly neutralizes this acid. So again in moderation there is nothing wrong with either of your choices.  

Answer 9

Another problem besides the acidic nature and sugar in the drinks is that recently there have been articles stating that although the drink is diet, since it has no calories it doesn't fill you up at all.  So when you think you might be helping to maintain or even lose some weight by drinking diet, your body just wants more food because it's expecting some calories when you drink the diet soda but doesn't get any.  If I had to say, I'd say that one regular Coke is better than multiple diet's.  But neither is very good for you.  I'm sure you'll get this a lot on this thread (you already have once) but there is nothing better for you than good old water.