Diet Soda: A Marketing Executive's Dream

Jet setters, as well as many ordinary folks, are turning Diet Coke into a cultural icon.

Hollywood executives, tycoons, and politicians have given this product a prominent place in their lives, sending assistants out for it and even stocking their limos with the silver cans. Former presidential hopeful, John Edwards, consumes 10 cans a day and it is the favorite of Bill Clinton, Donald Trump and baseball commissioner, Bud Selig. As they describe their favorite beverage, Diet Coke devotees frequently use the word "addiction."

Aspartame in beverages

The National Soft Drink Association initially opposed the use of aspartame and in 1983 they submitted this protest to Congress, calling the company's studies inadequate and unreliable:

"Searle has not characterized the decomposition products of aspartame in soft drinks under temperature conditions to which the beverages are likely to be exposed in the United States. Collectively, the extensive deficiencies in the stability studies conducted by Searle to demonstrate that aspartame and its degradation products are safe in soft drinks intended to be sold in the United States, render those studies inadequate and unreliable."

"Aspartame Addiction"

This is more than a lighthearted acknowledgment of the taste these folks have for the beverage. Dr. H.J. Roberts, author of Aspartame Disease, and long-time critic of the sweetener, has collected case histories from over 500 individuals who describe their addiction to the chemical. He writes: "Persons consuming large amounts not only may suffer aspartame disease, but also have difficulty stopping them because of violent and prolonged withdrawal reactions...the hallmark of addiction. Recovering alcoholic patients repeatedly stated that they felt worse after avoiding aspartame than alcohol, and asserted that they had traded one addiction for another."

Splenda

Although sucralose (marketed as Splenda) does not have the dramatic history of controversy that has followed aspartame, Dr. Roberts is critical of it as well.

He writes, "Animal research indicates that sucralose causes shrinking of the thymus gland, enlargement of the liver and kidneys, renal mineralization, diarrhea, reduced growth rate, decreased red blood cell count, aborted pregnancy, and decreased placental weight. It was also found to be weakly mutagenic in a mouse lymphoma mutation assay.

"Impurities found in sucralose include lead, arsenic, chlorinated disaccharides, chlorinated monosaccharide, and triphenilphosphine oxide methanol."

"Despite claims to the contrary, as much as 40 percent of sucralose IS absorbed in humans."

-- Aspartame Disease, page 972