I'm just a girl...

Oof. Word.

This is my worst vice. I can stay away from drugs, alcohol, cigarettes...but omg I could sure go for a Diet Coke right now.

I think it is fine to drink it once in a while, but I see people and children use it as a replacement for water. Kool-Aid and a lot of "juice" is just as bad. I drank these things as a child and I've never had a cavity, had great health until exercise declined due to disabilities. I think parents need to teach moderation not ban their children from it food. Otherwise they will prolly drink it at their friends houses and want more of it because they aren't allowed. A lot of candy, foods, etc. are in question by many places because parents don't know how to teach their kids moderation. Really, people ought to stop breeding, not ban food! LOL.

The bit about the huge sugar content with little nutritional value and low satiation value is true of a lot of things that have become staples in our diets (hello lattes and highly refined grain products!). However, "The process of stimulating the brain causes more cravings for sweets and leads to carbohydrate loading." AFAIK this is true of all sweeteners regardless of their carbohydrate content. Dr. Maoshing Ni's grouping of this trait only under artificial sweeteners is disinformation.

The phosphoric acid part blatantly false. Some drinks have it and some don't. Generally seen as a cheap substitute for citric acid which is used for flavoring (it's right on the label, compare a Coke to a 7up). Phosphoric acid content has nothing to do with carbonation at all. I also doubt that moderate amounts of phosphoric acid are bad for you (there are lots of things, including vital nutrients, that lower calcium levels; it's perfectly normal) but they are mostly talking about people who drink Coca-Cola instead of water and in that case it's probably true but he could have been more clear about that.

Also, surcolose is not carcinogenic. In fact, surcolose appears to be perfectly safe and has been widely available for decades. He says that 3 different low-carb sweeteners "pose a threat to your health" and then trashes only two of them. Disinformation yet again.

I really like that he recommends heavily watering down fruit juice. Very good advice as the stuff is loaded with sugar, just like pop, and not all that nutritious (fiber and protein have been removed taking other nutrients with them) and, like all beverages, has very little satiation value.

Really, this article could use some corrections and should be titled "What sugary drinks do to your body." Fruit juice, lattes, Gatorade, Koolade, booze, pop: all bad (and milk is not far behind). Why pick only on Pop when people are bloating their guts just as much with beer and frappachinos? It's pretty obvious that pop falls under the "sugary drinks" category so there's no reason not to.

Lucky for me I don't drink beer and frappachinos either.

I hate soft drinks. For the amount of calories they have there is hardly any taste. I drink water when I am thirsty and on rare occasion juice and of course coffee in the morning. That article is great how it describes diet soda useless.