Today's NY Times has an article entitled I Was Powerless Over Diet Coke, and subtitled:
After almost 40 years as a diet-soda addict, my body suddenly started to reject my favorite feel-good companion.
So when I see someone post something along the lines of
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I have to wonder. From the article:
Quote... in a 2007 study where laboratory rats were forced to choose between saccharin and cocaine, 94 percent of them chose the noncaloric sweetener — even if they had showed signs of dependence on the cocaine.
And it goes on:
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What makes it so hard to quit?
Dr. Gearhardt points to two culprits: aspartame and caffeine. Or, to be more precise: addiction to sweetness and to caffeine. Individually, they’re bad; together, they’re an addict’s nightmare.
A 12-ounce can of regular Coke has 34 milligrams of caffeine, whereas Diet Coke has 11 milligrams more, according to Coca-Cola. (An 8-ounce cup of coffee has about 95 mg.) Artificial sweeteners activate the brain’s reward system, but only about half as much as regular sugar, said Dr. Peeke. Faux sugar doesn’t pack the same wallop as the real stuff, so it keeps you wanting more and more.
Not only is this tied to weight gain, especially in the belly, but it also leaves you with cravings. Aspartame is 200 times sweeter than table sugar. Serious drinkers are so used to the super-sweet taste that everything else seems bland in comparison.
I know sugar is bad, salt is bad, drugs are bad. But boy - this article makes artificial sweeteners sound like all of them mixed together!