Americans consume 10.4 billion gallons of regular soda each year, enough to supply a 12-oz. can for every person every day of the year, according to the Harvard School of Public Health. Some of the differences between regular colas and diet colas are fairly obvious, starting with the difference in calories, although both may have certain health risks.
Calories
A serving of one national brand of regular cola, which equals 8 oz., supplies 170 calories. If you consume an average 2,000-calorie per day diet, one glass of cola supplies 8.5 percent of your daily calorie intake. If you drink a glass with each meal, you drink around 25 percent of your daily calories in soda. Diet soda, on the other hand, has no calories.
Sweeteners
The sweeteners in both diet and regular coke have both come under criticism, although for different reasons. Regular cola contains high-fructose corn syrup, the major sweetener used in American soda as well as a number of other processed foods. High-fructose corn syrup, like sucrose, or table sugar, contains two simple sugars, fructose, the main sugar found in fruit, and glucose. But the percentage of fructose to glucose differs from high-fructose corn syrup to sucrose, which some researchers, like those from Princeton University, feel is more likely to cause obesity. Diet cola contains aspartame, an artificial sweetener. Concerns about aspartame range from risks of cancer to an association with weight gain, although neither is proven. Some diet colas are now being made with Splenda, another artificial sugar.
Diabetes Risk
Consuming too much regular soda is more likely to increase your risk of developing diabetes, studies show. Harvard School of Public Health researchers reviewed data from 2,680 men in the Health Professionals Follow-Up over a 20-year period and reported their findings in the March 2011 issue of the "American Journal of Clinical Nutrition." They found that men who drank the most regular cola were 24 percent more likely to develop diabetes than those who drank the least. Those who drank diet cola were also more likely to develop diabetes, but other factors accounted for the increase, not the diet cola itself.
Phenyalanine
Diet cola made with aspartame contains phenylalanine, an amino acid; regular cola does not. If you have phenylketonuria, also known as PKU, a rare metabolic disorder, you should not consume any products containing phenylalanine, because your body lacks an enzyme that breaks it down. Levels build up in your body and can cause irreversible mental retardation.
References
- Princeton University; A Sweet Problem: Princeton Researchers Find That High-Fructose Corn Syrup Prompts Considerably More Weight Gain; Hilary Parker; March 2010
- "American Journal of Clinical Nutrition"; Sugar-sweetened and Artificially Sweetened Beverage Consumption and Risk of Type 2 Diabetes in Men; L. de Koning, et al.; March 2011
- University of Maryland Medical Center; Phenylalanine; Steven Ehrlich; June 2009
- Harvard School of Public Health: Sugary Drinks or Diet Drinks: What's the Best Choice?
- Coca-Cola: Diet Coke Nutrition Facts
- Coca-Cola: Nutrition Facts
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