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Why does my diet soda taste off? Aspartame hydrolysis

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Re: Why does my diet soda taste off? Aspartame hydrolysis

#61
post #47
post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here in Norway I think "Pepsi Max" was the gold standard for years while diet Coca Cola mostly sold because of the brand name. Then something happened: Coca Cola launched Zero and after a few iterations it tasted good! Meanwhile Pepsi Max always yaste stale now since the start of the pandemic or something. I don't really know what happened and it could just be my taste changing but I don't think so.

Same observation in Sweden. So I'm not going crazy! Not sure if our Pepsi is bottled in the same place, but our Coca Cola isn't.

Carlsberg Sverige and Ringnes AS (also Carlsberg), I'm guessing it's made locally.

Haven't notice anything with the Swedish Pepsi max and I'm drinking _a lot_ of it. Didn't get the flu yet so my taste buds should be good! Coke zero got a lot better after the new recipe if you ask me but still a Pepsi guy :)

Re: Why does my diet soda taste off? Aspartame hydrolysis

#62
post #29

Diet soda and artificial sweeteners is a gateway crutch. Took years to stop drinking soda and decade of diet but finally kicked it. Worth the effort and recommended. Everyone is quick to hand wave "doesn't cause cancer" blah blah but what they hop and skip over is it definitely changes gut microbe for the worse.

For me, soda scratches my throat in a good way (like having an itch scratched). In way that my life would be worse without. I like tea and water and milk too but there are times I need the scratchiness of the carbonation that non-carbonated drinks don't provide.

As an example, if I have a mild sore throat, carbonated drinks sooth it much more than non.

Re: Why does my diet soda taste off? Aspartame hydrolysis

#63
post #19

> If you unzip aspartame into the two amino acids and remove that methyl to become methanol, you have a tasteless mixture of pretty harmless compounds. I'm somewhat surprised nobody has commented on this yet, so let me point it out: methanol is not harmless! It causes blindness or death. (I don't say diet soda is harmful, only that methanol is.)

avoid di-hydrogen-oxide too. it kills around 236000 people a year

Re: Why does my diet soda taste off? Aspartame hydrolysis

#64
post #53

Stop drinking coke! It's not well for you. Especially when you get older. The problem lies within the phosphoric acid added in plenty amounts. It's not exactly only coca cola's problem, but it adds up. Phosphorus is been added everywhere - from Sausages (e.g. the one in hot dogs. Or, The one's intended to be grilled like the GERMAN SAUSAGE) to muffins. I think, it's called sometimes backing soda - the powder you add…

Is phosphorus in standard blood tests? Could a calcium supplement help?

You can have it measured by the concentrations of phosphates in your blood. Also, the hormone, Parathormone can be measured. But both are part of the big blood test. Indirectly, you also can measure the function of your kidneys.. but.. it may still be high enough for the doctors not to react..

Otherwise... If you're on dialysis, you have 200% sure high levels of phosphorus

Supplement of calcium could Help as to much of Calcium in blood will also induce the counter reaction by pulling to much of the phosphorus into the bones. They will get to dense. Also an effect you don't want

Re: Why does my diet soda taste off? Aspartame hydrolysis

#65
post #60

Is the "jury still out" on Aspertame causing health problems like cancer?

This article is at pains to say ‘it’s safe’. Meh. It is absolutely not definitely established to be safe. Safety aside, I read some research once which indicated artificial sweeteners impact the body’s own insulin response and suppress the feeling of being full. This resonated with me because when I have diet sodas I always feel like eating. Nowadays I stick to water or if I want to treat myself, soda with real sugar…

The article at least presents some actual studies, not anecdotal evidence and hearsay...

Re: Why does my diet soda taste off? Aspartame hydrolysis

#66

Stop drinking coke! It's not well for you. Especially when you get older. The problem lies within the phosphoric acid added in plenty amounts. It's not exactly only coca cola's problem, but it adds up. Phosphorus is been added everywhere - from Sausages (e.g. the one in hot dogs. Or, The one's intended to be grilled like the GERMAN SAUSAGE) to muffins. I think, it's called sometimes backing soda - the powder you add…

> the bound phosphorus and calcium are in your blood vessels. Difficult to dissolve back. Cluttering the vessels.

They also may end up in your kidneys, as kidney stones. I'm told that they are excruciatingly painful.

Re: Why does my diet soda taste off? Aspartame hydrolysis

#67

I once explained to a coworker that I brought in some soda that day because the diet soda at work was expired. They were skeptical and we proceeded to go down to the cafe to setup a blind taste test. I passed with flying colors and we had an interesting conversation about it. It was a fun 20 minutes of not working.

You weren't goofing off, you were applying the scientific method while at the same time engaging in team building. I'm not even kidding. That incidental silliness is valuable. A year later, you run across a problem where a customer explains a problem you don't understand, and then you have a flashback to that time when you did a blind taste test. You look at your colleague and whisper "Hey, remember that blind taste…

I really loved your point of view. Really, we need more of this.

Re: Why does my diet soda taste off? Aspartame hydrolysis

#68
post #19

> If you unzip aspartame into the two amino acids and remove that methyl to become methanol, you have a tasteless mixture of pretty harmless compounds. I'm somewhat surprised nobody has commented on this yet, so let me point it out: methanol is not harmless! It causes blindness or death. (I don't say diet soda is harmful, only that methanol is.)

avoid di-hydrogen-oxide too. it kills around 236000 people a year

I'm well aware (I've been part of the milk industry where farmers initentionally give it to cows to extend their lifespan and increase the yield, anyone who is new to this, see http://dhmo.org/milk.html )

I also have a sore knee after an incident relating to solid DHMO at my childrens hockey training in the weekend (my bad, I should have learned to use proper protection my now.)

That said, there is a large difference between DHMO where in its liquid form it will have a median LD50 of around 90,000 mg/kg and methanol who has a median LD50 of 810 mg/kg.

Re: Why does my diet soda taste off? Aspartame hydrolysis

#69
post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No. Aspartame is one of the most studied and tested substances on the planet and they still haven't linked a single problem to it. At least not one that doesn't relate to sweeteners in general. Nothing else has gone under so much scrutiny (Maybe MSG). Seems like a too good to be true situation where people can't accept its actually this good.

It causes higher blood pressure and is statistically associated with heart problems. https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/do-you-really...

Please link directly to the study (https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11606-011-1968-2) instead of just posting the PR announcement. I'll also note that this is part of the Northern Manhattan Study (http://columbianomas.org/). I'll also note that it's not directly about aspartame but diet sodas in general (so if diet sodas has a consistently higher caffeine, then that could be the reason). I've also noticed this phrase, although the study claims that increased cardiovascular risk on frequent diet soda consumption is still significant despite adjusting to these factors:

Frequent diet soft drink consumption was uniquely associated with white race, former smoking, hypertension, elevated blood sugar, lower HDL, elevated triglycerides, increased waist circumference, BMI, peripheral vascular disease, previous cardiac disease, and the metabolic syndrome. Frequent regular soft drink consumption was uniquely associated with male sex, black race, current smoking, carbohydrate consumption, greater diastolic BP, and lower prevalences of diabetes and hypercholesterolemia.

On the other hand, it was published in 2012 and the study was conducted in America, so almost all non-diet sodas were sweetened with either 100% HFCS or cane sugar/HFCS mix. It's harder to replicate today considering that most non-diet sodas has also added aspartame (or other high-intensity sweeteners) to the sweetener mix.

Re: Why does my diet soda taste off? Aspartame hydrolysis

#70
post #46

Never saw the point of diet sodas. I'd much rather drink normal coke with proper sugar in it. It's unhealthy, yes - so drink slightly less.

Sugary soda is associated with no better or worse health outcomes than diet soda. In fact both are similarly bad for you.

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/fullar...

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