Caffeine Free Diet Coke

[Hannah]

...is how you spell awesome-sauce! I've been afraid of this stuff until lately, because if you take the sugar and caffeine out of Coke what the hell is left? It's not that bad though and makes a nice fizzy drink to tickle a sore throat at bedtime.

[Ephriam66]

Caffeine does not occur naturally in any of the ingredients of any soda (at least the well known ones). It was added to the soda, originally for medicinal purposes, and now probably because people demand/need/are used to it. Any soda marked caffeinne free do not have any caffeine, also typically orange (or other fuit flavored) soda, most root beers, sprite, 7-up do not contain caffeine.
Also, if cafeine does not show up on the ingredients list then it doesn't contain any. 
The reason decaffeinated tea and coffee still have caffeine is because it occurs naturally in the bean or leaf, respectively, and has to be stripped out. But it can't be completely removed without removing things like taste or aroma. The stripping process is actually quite interesting.

[xander]

Diet soda is much worse for you than the full sugar.

[AbraCadabra]

Interesting to post this under "nutrition" ha ha :-)

I HATE all this diet stuff, it always leaves a strange unwanted chemical taste in MY mouth.

Axélle
PS: how about they now put coke back into Coca Cola?!
Nothing left in there to give one a 'lift' at this rate...

[xander]

Axelle, that's because it IS chemicals.

[Jeneva]

Diet Rite Cola is caffeine free and also made with splenda instead of nutri-sweet.

We have TONS of cola here, but that is because our son has type 1 diabetes and can't freely drink the juice and milk he used to run on.  Before he was diagnosed we didn't have cola in the house at all.  It was all water for us and juice/milk for the kids.

[Jen61]

Diet soda is much worse for you than the full sugar.

Why ?

[apple pie]

Interesting to post this under "nutrition" ha ha :-)

I HATE all this diet stuff, it always leaves a strange unwanted chemical taste in MY mouth.

Axélle
PS: how about they now put coke back into Coca Cola?!
Nothing left in there to give one a 'lift' at this rate...

I'm the opposite, I feel that normal Coke leaves a residue taste in my mouth after drinking it, whereas Diet Coke doesn't! (though sucrose always leaves that aftertaste in my mouth and it's not just Coke, I'm not sure why)

[supremecatoverlord]

Diet soda is worse or as bad for for you than as regular soda with actual sugar(which can actually be all different kinds of sugars, depending on your region or the brand you buy) because it uses sugar substitutes/artificial sweeteners that ultimately mess with your body's triggering of insulin. In the long run, this supposedly exacerbates your body's chances of developing diabetes and greatly impairs your metabolism. Or so I've heard.

[Jen61]

Diet soda is worse or as bad for for you than as regular soda with actual sugar(which can actually be all different kinds of sugars, depending on your region or the brand you buy) because it uses sugar substitutes/artificial sweeteners that ultimately mess with your body's triggering of insulin. In the long run, this supposedly exacerbates your body's chances of developing diabetes and greatly impairs your metabolism. Or so I've heard.

where did you get this info ?

[supremecatoverlord]

There's plenty of medical articles about it that exist. I'm actually surprised you haven't heard any information circling about artificial sweeteners in general, because they have a pretty bad reputation in the health community.

Uh, here.
http://www.kriskris.com/is-diet-soda-bad-for-you/
http://www.livestrong.com/article/477679-insulin-weight-gain-and-artificial-sweeteners/
http://www.marksdailyapple.com/artificial-sweeteners-insulin/#axzz1giZgLYQo
You're going to find that a lot of this information is still up for debate. I never said I supported it, just was explaining as to why some people might say it is unhealthy, hence the "so I've heard". You'll find that a lot of what is in our food these days, especially when it comes to substitutes, additives, preservatives, and other "strange" chemical alterations, is always up for debate. In short, I do not know the answer to whether diet coke is healthy or not. But because it is soda, I'm betting it's not.
I personally don't drink Coke, as far as soda goes, but that's merely because I find to be rather bland tasting.
>_< I do drink other sodas though and they tend to be high in caffeine - tis' once my many vices.

[Jen61]

@JasonRX

I have been reading the controversy for 30 years. yes, you could find peer-review publications that shown weak correlations at best, but the "smoking gun" cause and effect in humans is lacking.

Now, this issue of nutrition and diet, is almost like religion, can get pretty heated up "cuz I choose to believe so" attitude. . So I will no argue pro or con.

I just want to point to you that there is no such a thing as a harmless product (man made or nature), it is all a question of balance.

[Jamie D]

Really, we should avoid all sorts of sugar-sweetened and artificially sweetened sodas and drinks.  And that includes the so-called energy drinks (Monster, Red Bull, Amp, etc) - which have been implicated in several irregular heartbeat deaths.

[xander]

Why ?

Upon consumption it breaks down into formaldehyde, a product commonly used to embalm bodies/preserve biological specimens.

[Cindy]

My 89 year old mother in law said to her son, who drinks sugar free Coke. Buy me a Coke please, the real stuff not the rubbish you drink

[niamh]

Diet Rite Cola is caffeine free and also made with splenda instead of nutri-sweet.

We have TONS of cola here, but that is because our son has type 1 diabetes and can't freely drink the juice and milk he used to run on.  Before he was diagnosed we didn't have cola in the house at all.  It was all water for us and juice/milk for the kids.

But there is natural juice, plant milk, water....

[Jeneva]

But there is natural juice, plant milk, water....

Did you read my post before you quoted and replied to it?

With type 1 he makes NO insulin at all and NEVER will.  It isn't weight/age based, but rather an auto-immune disease.  He will NEVER make any insulin again without some medical breakthrough (type 2 is the resistance to insulin).  It all has to be injected.  Because of that it is best to keep his carb counts down because injecting too much insulin can induce coma or be fatal.  4oz of natural orange juice is 15grams of carbs and it spikes quickly and is gone.  The nutritionists want him at no more than 70 grams of carbs per meal, and they'd really prefer 60, but he always wants more.  Using juice would be a huge chunk of his meal's carbs going in a blink.  We do keep juice around though since it is a wonderful way to get him up quickly if he's been too active and is in danger of crashing.  Plant milk would be much the same.  BTW we do actually use soy milk for most cooking and coffee and I use it exclusively. 

As far as water goes, did you notice that I said BEFORE he was diagnosed that we didn't have cola at all and we mostly drank water.  Even now we drink tons of water, but he usually wants something else for dinner (vs just a drink in the evening).

[niamh]

Did you read my post before you quoted and replied to it?

Why did you have to be so rude? I am no idiot. I DID read your post and I know what diabetes is. I also know it can be reversed but if you are going to jump down my throat at a friendly comment Ill just walk away now...

[Jeneva]

Why did you have to be so rude? I am no idiot. I DID read your post and I know what diabetes is. I also know it can be reversed but if you are going to jump down my throat at a friendly comment Ill just walk away now...

That is just it, Type 1 Diabetes CANNOT be reversed.  Type 2 can in certain cases.  You were basically giving incorrect medical advice and that HAS to be answered because someone else may see it and try to follow it.

[Jamie D]

That is just it, Type 1 Diabetes CANNOT be reversed.  Type 2 can in certain cases.  You were basically giving incorrect medical advice and that HAS to be answered because someone else may see it and try to follow it.

About the only thing that can be done for Type 1 diabetes is a pancreas transplant.  One if the ladies who attends the nutrition seminars with me is a survivor of pancreas and kidney transplant.  The books and videos published by Dr Julian Whittaker are very good and provide an approach that most people can understand and follow.