I’ll be the pessimistic alzheimer’s patient
May 31, 2007
A couple days ago Rob emailed me a link to this story, knowing my love of diet coke. Sodium benzoate is found in many sodas as a preservative.
“[sodium benzoate has] the ability to cause severe damage to DNA in the mitochondria to the point that they totally inactivate it: they knock it out altogether.
“The mitochondria consumes the oxygen to give you energy and if you damage it - as happens in a number if diseased states - then the cell starts to malfunction very seriously. And there is a whole array of diseases that are now being tied to damage to this DNA - Parkinson’s and quite a lot of neuro-degenerative diseases, but above all the whole process of ageing.”
Then this morning I was reading news and came across this article The gist of the article is positive thinking keeps you young.
And that’s when I fully came to the realization that I am screwed.
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I think I’ll just take my chances with diet coke. It’s my coffee.
May 31st, 2007 at 8:25 amI’ll be your optimistic but extremely sarcastic neighbor in the ‘home’ where they care for us.
May 31st, 2007 at 8:25 amSave me a seat. You know where.
May 31st, 2007 at 8:32 am“Sodium benzoate has already been the subject of concern about cancer because when mixed with the additive vitamin C in soft drinks, it causes benzene, a carcinogenic substance.”
Great, my Mountain Dew has both sodium benzoate and orange juice. And here I thought the high fructose corn syrup was the worst part of it all.
Maybe I should start writing my obit and pick out a dress to be buried in…
May 31st, 2007 at 8:52 amThank you very much for the aging adult link. Since I am almost a senior citizen, I will take the article to heart.
May 31st, 2007 at 9:16 amThere is not much about soda that is good for you…the phosphorous in it damages osteocytes (bone cells) and depletes them of calcium which results, ultimately, in osteoporosis.
We are so lucky in this country that food and drink is so abundantly available. We tend, IMO, to take for granted that the foods available are relatively healthy. It seems like once a year or so a factoid comes out alerting the public to some terrible ingriedent in food. Trans-fat is the biggie right now. High Fructose Corn Syrup and Corn Syrup, Hydrogenated oils, sugar substitutes, artifical colors and many others.
I hope that these insights helps people to remember to put more whole foods (unprocessed) into their diets. I am not advocating a junk food free life ( will die with out ice cream, frech fries and frosting…) but to give up the box mac and cheese and just go for some hot buttered noodles. Let go of the pre-packaged rice dishes and just make rice. Eat salad. Dump the nuggets.
Just because the FDA says it is okay to eat doesn’t mean it is good for you it just means the lobbyist for that company really earned their money.
Thanks for the article link…great info, as always. xx
May 31st, 2007 at 9:27 amread barbara kingsolver’s new book “animal vegetable miracle” and you will re-think everything you eat. it’s an amazing, funny, thoughtful book.
May 31st, 2007 at 9:48 amI’m sorry, but I find it hard to take seriously anyone named Professor Peter Piper. I’m sure he’s a lovely man, and probably very bright (and sadly, probably right about the sodas) but me and my Diet Dr Pepper are going to go sit in a corner and be quiet, and unhealthy, together.
May 31st, 2007 at 10:07 amI DO NOT trust diet coke or any of those artificial sweetners. I’ve seen people who’ve had a variety of health problems who stopped drinking the stuff turn around and do MUCH better.
Scary stuff. Now I’m that person who when I am asked if I want that, I say “noo noo, who knows what those chemicals do?”
May 31st, 2007 at 10:42 amMy DH sent me the same link…
May 31st, 2007 at 11:27 amI keep thinking I sould quit drinking so much diet coke, but to switch to what? Carbonated water just doesn’t give me the same drinking pleasure. Champagne does, but having that at 10am is currently frowned upon.
May 31st, 2007 at 11:39 amRead http://www.sweetpoison.com/
May 31st, 2007 at 11:42 amto learn about the dangers of all the artificial sweeteners- All diet sodas are full of them….
I just close my eyes and keep drinking. I’m already allergic to garlic, which leaves me exactly 4.5 things to eat. My diet coke is going nowhere.
May 31st, 2007 at 12:00 pmI’m banking on my positive thinking to cancel out the bad effects of the Diet Coke.
May 31st, 2007 at 12:12 pmHey, the diet coke bottle in the recycling here says it has POTASSIUM Benzoate in it, not sodium benzoate. Hmmm. I’m sure it’s much healthier, right?!
May 31st, 2007 at 12:55 pmThanks a lot, Katie, for pointing out my precious Mtn. Dew is Cancer in a Can.
May 31st, 2007 at 1:23 pmIf loving Dew is wrong, I don’t wanna be right…
I can’t help but wonder why Dr. Piper’s work was not published in a peer reviewed journal before being released to the papers (which is a more common approach in such matters).
But I will also point to this peace which did longer term studies (on rats), and while they weren’t looking for the same thing as Dr. Piper, they did the tests over “generations” of mice which you would think would have shown signs of such DNA damage after several generations of rats.
http://www.madsci.org/posts/archives/2000-09/969376641.Ch.r.html
So, all is not lost… yet.
May 31st, 2007 at 1:38 pmMy neighbor, just yesterday, was walking around looking like she had ballon head…you know where your head is floating around above your body, but you are seemingly unattached…I asked if she was feeling okay and she said actually, no, she was suffering from Diet Coke fog…claims that every time she drinks Diet Coke she feels unattached and worst still, dumb as a doorknob. There has to be something to this.
Also I second what Coloradomommy said READ Barbara Kingsolver’s Animal, Vegetable, Miracle it is wonderful.
May 31st, 2007 at 2:16 pmHoney! We all gotta die of something so if you gotta go you might as well do it doing something you love!
May 31st, 2007 at 2:22 pmI was absolutely addicted to diet coke. Would send my husband out to restock for me at midnight, 1:00 a.m., 2:00 a.m. if I ran out. I had it first thing in the morning and last thing thing at night (on my nightstand). For YEARS. I felt like CRAP. The biggest thing was my achy joints, but I also never got restful sleep (all the caffeine, I’m sure), and was often kind of manic. Not good! I eventually quit, cold-turkey, after being lectured about the dangers of aspartame by my doctor. I must say it was HARD, but it was the best decision. My husband had been on my case to quit, too. I now drink Crystal Geyser sparkling waters, or Pellegrino. At first they tasted horrible, but now I love them. I *do* think there’s something about that combination of nutra sweet and diet coke that is addictive for many people–moreso than regular coke. I can drink a regular coke and not feel like I HAVE to have more, whereas with diet coke I was a true addict. I have many friends affected this way, too, and I notice that former addicts (alcoholics, drug addicts) often transition to diet coke. Weird.
May 31st, 2007 at 2:42 pmGreat! I was already told about the aluminum in anti antiperspirant causing Alzheimer’s……
Now we have to be cranky AND stinky…
May 31st, 2007 at 5:42 pmYou and me, both. I will probably go crazy before that anyway.
May 31st, 2007 at 7:58 pmWas that research by Dr. Piper - or Dr. Pepper?
The Dr. P museum is one of the few places one could get caffeinated soda made with cane sugar - now I am currently addicted to Jones Soda, just once a month or so - because it is bubbly and made with cane sugar, like the European soda that tastes so much better.
June 1st, 2007 at 2:05 amYa hafta die of something eventually, might as well be Diet Coke. Think they’d buy the advertising rights to this?
June 1st, 2007 at 8:13 amJohn Edwards drank Diet Coke upon Diet Coke whilst he was on the campaign trail last time. He still looks rather boyish to ME.
June 1st, 2007 at 4:00 pmThe aluminum in the deodorant causing cancer/Alzheimer’s/Parkinson’s was a myth. WE spent a week in my first year of med school debunking health myths.
Feel free to continue consuming artificial sweeteners too
Despite their persistent bad image, there is no hard science to prove they cause cancer or any life-threatening disease.
I think in many people who experience “side effects”, there is a constellation of things going on. People who drink a ton of soda may also be eating a ton of fast food, or a ton of greasy food, or eating out frequently. Or, they may be filling up on sodas so much that they are lacking in fiber, protein, and essential vitamins and minerals. That’s why you can’t rely on one person’s anecdote about drinking coke and feeling like crap to base your decisions on.
June 1st, 2007 at 6:47 pmAlso, if I read that article correctly, the researcher tested the “impact on living yeast cells” — ummm, it seems like a lot of things might cause harm if tested directly on them. Rather than say, being subjected to stomach acids and digestion.
Also, uhh, yeast are “fungi” right? That’s pretty much the purpose of using a preservative — to prevent the growth of uhhh, mold…or yeast?!
And now, back to this evening’s after-dinner drink…diet dr. pepper.
June 1st, 2007 at 10:16 pmApparently we need to avoid everything and grin while we do it. Care for an organic lettuce leaf and some rainbow kittens?
June 4th, 2007 at 10:40 pmStop! You’re scaring me
June 5th, 2007 at 12:10 amI checked all varieties of diet soda, and it’s in every one. I buy a 12 pack or two for the 4 of us once a week, so maybe it’s not so bad. Unless you count the fact that I’m letting my children drink poison AAIIEEEEE!
June 5th, 2007 at 10:26 pm