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Comment by kreetx | Hacker News Reader

Every now and then there is an alarmist article about aspartame, and every time it's hard to tell whether moderate drinking of soft drinks is better when it had regular sugar vs when it has aspartame - can any person more familiar comment on this with regarding to current article?

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The funny thing about this question is that it doesn’t really matter, unless it does: Sugar harms your health in a whole host of well documented ways, but a little of it, infrequently, is fine. Aspartame has always been under a cloud of doubt, but is probably also just fine in small amounts.

So really, you only need to be thinking about this if you’re having either of them as a regular part of your diet. And if that’s the case, well, this is the part where you really should listen to all those people who recommend that you acquire a taste for water.

> Aspartame has always been under a cloud of doubt

But this is almost entirely due to alarmists who were never using good science to justify their perspectives (just like with MSG). The reality is that aspartame is one of the most studied substances in history and it's effect on humans is very clear.

My main question is, if I drink ~3 glasses of soft drinks per day, should I get the one with sugar or the one with aspartame. Currently, I get the one with aspartame with thinking that (1) given the amount of sugar in this amount, I'd be running 100% full of my daily sugar norm, and (2) there are no conclusive evidence of aspartame being actually bad. Would the sugary drink be a better choice?

Another thing that irks me (though less so), is that occasionally somebody says for an aspartame drink that "you're drinking that poison?", when clearly, we would know if it really were poison.

3 glasses of soft drinks is an insane amount of sugar on a daily basis, so if you have to do it you're probably better off with the aspartame.

One school of thought (including my own) is that if you’re consuming enough sweetened products per day that you need to consider switching to ones that contain artificial sweeteners (to avoid too much sugar), then it’s time to re-evaluate your lifestyle by questioning why you’re consuming so much sweet stuff to begin with. There are so many other foods that have so many other enjoyable flavors and well-known health benefits that you can make room for in your life.

I believe your options are glucose–fructose syrup or aspartame - I'd lean towards aspartame as well. If sugar was an option I'd gladly cut the daily intake and go with that.

Sugar has extremely well documented negative effects even in the amounts you find in a regular soda (let alone three). Most of the Aspartame studies test massive doses and are generally inconclusive. If it's a choice between the two, go with the Aspartame.

It's almost like humans are naturally tuned to drink plain unsweetened water.

And yet we've been dissatisfied with and flavoring our water for longer than we have recorded history.

For most of recorded history that was because we didn't have access to food, clean water. The process of preparing alcohol, tea, coffee, and other beverages was part of making water safe to deinkt. Alot of the world still doesn't have access to reliable, clean water.

Now it's because of advertising telling us to drink anything but water (or if we drink water to buy it in a bottle).

Gil Carvalho (Nutrition Made Simple) is a good source for these types of questions. His existing videos may not address a brand new study, but he will give you a basis for assessing the new study in the context of what is already known.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NdKAPzsxr_Y https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5h5IABzlj8w

a good rule of thumb is to not make significant changes based on single studies - especially on mice, ESPECIALLY in regards to controversial subjects. Robust science is not built on single studies.

This is why I drink water. And water with coffee in it.

Just drink water or low sugar beverages.

I do!

Problem is, those low sugar beverages are often low sugar thanks to aspartame

That’s not what health-oriented people mean when they say “low sugar” - that’s part of the marketing trick of these drink manufacturers. Low sugar means water, unsweetened tea, coffee without sugar, etc. Simply replacing sugar with toxic chemicals and calling it low sugar is insanity.

It's always the same three downvotes a few hours after any post that dares to question the industrial-scientific complex.

What are you suggesting is happening?

Just an observation.

Clearly, the industrial-scientific complex can only afford 3 interns to downvote disparaging Hacker News comments. I don't know how that's not obvious.

Times are tough I guess.

Fizzy water

I would really like a low sugar soft drink, not artificial but one with like 1/4 the amount of real sugar. It would probably taste fine, I don't get why everything needs 32g in it!

My favorite (besides water, coffee, tea) is sparkling water with some fruit juice and no added sweeteners, e.g. the brand “Spindrift”. It’s 35 calories. I prefer it to colas, juice, and sparkling juice. It is particularly refreshing when you are hot (from yard work, exercise, etc.) when other drinks can taste too sweet.

I went through a phase of making homemade cola syrup and then carbonating it with a home carbonator to get a low-sugar cola without sweeteners (which I used to tolerate, but which gained an awful taste following a bout of COVID-induced anosmia). For me, that ended up being about 4g demerara per 100ml.

making your own lemonade is awesome! You can tune the amount of sugar and lemon you want, from "water with a drop of lemon" to whatever you like. Put some fresh mint in there if you like

If life didn't give you lemons, you're out of luck though

To take to an even higher level, grate some of the lemon peel and then squeeze its "lemon zest" into it.

I promise you it is excellent, but I only suggest organic lemons for this process!

We also only use raw whole sugar or turbinado.

DRAM makes a line of reasonably-sweetened sodas (3-5g sugar per can) but they’re definitely a “luxury” product, in the range of $10-15 for a 4-pack. I don’t know of a single mass-market option.

Sports drinks. Maybe not 1/4, but 1/3-1/2 is certainly doable. The one in front of me is 150 calories per 28 oz, versus similar levels per 12-oz. serving for typical soft drinks.

At least in the UK many of the leading "sports" drinks, will add some form of artificial sweetener regardless of if it is a high sugar or low sugar variant e.g.

https://www.sainsburys.co.uk/gol-ui/product/lucozade-sport-o... - Sugar + Aspartame + Acesulfame K

https://www.sainsburys.co.uk/gol-ui/product/powerade-berry-t... Sugar + Aspartame + Acesulfame K

https://www.sainsburys.co.uk/gol-ui/product/lucozade-sport-z... Acesulfame K + Sucralose

Kombucha can be low sugar and the acidity is quite nice.

Seconding this. Whenever I'm at the store I can't help but grab a bottle of Health-Ade. A third of the sugar and it's effervescent and tart in a way that makes it so refreshing.

Buy diluting juice. Water it down to your preferred concentration.

While certainly an option, just watering out a drink more isn't really what they're asking for. There's lots of other flavor compounds that you don't necessarily want watered out just because you want less sugar.

Diluted juice is still a useful suggestion as an alternative idea. I don’t get why people would down vote; that’s not what down vote is for. I like diluted juice quite a bit, 25-50% tastes fine, it’s akin to tea to me. It would be interesting if more beverage companies made a “add your own sweetener” version which is how unsweetened Kool-Aid drink mixes come. They have maltodextrin in them but say they are 0 calorie so I’m not sure if that means it’s a tiny amount or if it somehow gets away claiming zero calories. Just be aware Kool-Aid has sweetened versions as well. I still mostly drink water but some variety is nice.

Oh this is where I'm at now, I've been buying juice and adding a little to soda water so it comes out like a light Fresca sort of drink. It would be nice to have that option when going out though.

Oh I definitely agree it's a good practical suggestion, I do it with apple juice sometimes because I just want some mild apple flavor rather than the very strong and sweet apple juice taste. I don't get why someone would downvote it either.

or Bolero-like powders

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