I don't know if this is appropriate for this site. I just know I was a depression/anxiety sufferer for many years in sobriety.
Most diet soda contains the artificial sweetener aspartame, which has been found to exacerbate symptoms of depression and anxiety. Read this excerpt from a 2/12/06 New York Times article entitled "The Lowdown on Sweet":
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Dr. Walton, who, like some other psychiatrists, has studied aspartame from a neurological perspective, said he had also seen problems from the sweetener firsthand. At Safe Harbor Behavioral Health, a mental health facility in Erie, Pa., where he is clinical director, Dr. Walton said he had observed that for many people with mood disorders, such as depression or bipolar disorder, aspartame exacerbates the condition. "For people with panic disorders, for instance, we've seen that when we eliminate aspartame, it's much easier to control their illness," he said. "The number of panic attacks goes down."
Dr. Walton and others say that this is probably attributable to aspartame's phenyalanine component. (Aspartame is made up of two amino acids, phenyalanine and aspartic acid.) He said that an excess of phenyalanine could upset the body's balance of neurotransmitters, causing a range of neurological symptoms.
Defenders of aspartame often point out that phenyalanine is naturally present in many protein-intensive foods. But Dr. William M. Pardridge, a professor of endocrinology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles, says that when it comes from food, phenyalanine is absorbed into the brain more slowly.
"If your blood phenyalanine level was increased five times, in my view there would be a safety concern," Dr. Pardridge said. "The question is whether aspartame use could ever increase levels that much, and the answer is yes. We've known that for 20 years."
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I know that since I eliminated all products with aspartame from my diet, my mood has been much more under control. It's definitely something worth trying. It is also known to contain methanol - the same methanol one puts in the gas tank!
Yeah, I've been on the band wagon about aspartame for years. I worked in a residential treatment center a few years back, and they used it truly believing it was better for the residents. Then they couldn't figure out why they were paying a literal fortune for aspirin and tylenol. I grabbed every piece of literature I could find and took it into the dietician. She promptly added normal sugar. The headaches that stuff causes is horrible. And mood swings. I realize that optimally, it would be nice to have been able to offer something like turbinado, or some other unrefined sugar, but the facility went thru so much sugar that the budget would have cracked! All the teas and coffee everyone drank all day, yknow. I think the stuff is lethal, truly. And boy, did we ever have to buy less headache relievers once they placed sugar as an option out there. (due to some diabetics, they did keep a small amt. of the artificial stuff offered). Thanks for the article. Every little thing we can do to keep our minds and body healthy....Wren
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i found god in myself/and I loved her/i loved her fiercely--Ntozake Shange
A few months ago, I made a decision to give up my Sodas, that had SO much Sugar in them, switched to Diet 7 Up, and that seemed o.k., I had also given up 4 cups of coffee (strong) trading them in for Just 1, with 1 teas. of Sugar.
I did notice I started feeling so much better, I was using the coffee, as just a bad habit, so that was easy, but the 3 or 4 sodas, I was thinking the sodas seemed to aide in my digestion, don't know why I thought that, but I kind of still do.
But after reading this Article on Artificial Sweeteners, I have to give that up too, and I will switch to some plain Selzer water, 0 anything in it, and if I think I need flavoring, I will add a spoon on sugar, and a slice of lemon, that will have the same effect.
So I really do appeciate this Article and Information here.
So thank you Bob, from someone that had just gone from the frying pan, into the fire.
Toni
So I am Praying I that don't see an Article somewhere on the negative effects of the bubbles in Selzer water, Im sure if I looked on the internet, I would find such an article, so, I won't be looking, haha
My Nana and Mom have been hounding me about my Diet Soda's that are oozing with deadly, killer, Aspartame (note my sarcasm...hehehe)
I appreciate this article tho...I copied and pasted it in Word and saved it to review later. They will be so proud of me to know I'm taking serious interest in the dreaded artifical sweetener-"A". *giggles* No but seriously, I don't drink many of them but I love Soda so opt for the 0 calorie ones to watch my already over expanded waistline.
I hate diet soda intersting facts to know though ty!!
