"I'm not convinced that there's no evidence. It just won't have been published. Very powerful lobbyists. Look how long it took with tobacco." This!
I'm firmly of the opinion that anything that doesn't occur naturally being a major part of our diets is a terrible idea!
I'm also massively disbelieving of the demonisation of sugar that's going on.
I'm a 70's born person and I remember a time before artificial sweeteners were everywhere and contrary to current opinion we were slimmer, healthier, less prone to diabetes. We drank water, milk, tea (no sugar) or very weak squash when growing up (and we didn't drink a lot of squash, there were 3 of us and mum bought 1 litre a month and there was usually some left at the end of the month).
I don't think it's a coincidence at all that since artificial sweeteners took off in popularity we've seen obesity, diabetes and other health issues supposedly related to our previous poor diet INcrease.
Every diabetes nurse, dietician and gastro consultant I've ever come across (professionally and personally) have all been advocates of the best diet being one that's as natural as possible.
I was doing my nurse training when the anti-butter thing was happening. All the hcps I spoke with at this time recognised it as a fad and were sure that it would soon come to light that there were different risks to health by consuming something so artificial. They were of course proven right.
My mother and aunt have both been dx diabetic. My aunt has multiple health issues which are possibly why she's diabetic relating to a botched op when she was a child. My mother was admittedly overweight and not the healthiest eater having been raised on a lot of fried food and continued to eat that way well into adulthood. But she has never been a sweet drinks drinker, she has only ever drank water, milk or tea (no sugar, but full fat milk). She rarely drinks alcoholic drinks either, and if she does it's likely a wine or a half of Guiness.
She has been able to put her diabetes into remission from doing her own research and with minimal support from her diabetes nurse. She doesn't like or use artificial sweeteners and both their nurses are also not advocates. Remember they're not only in drinks.
Mum has a little sugar very occasionally but largely has a healthy varied diet with lots of veggies, healthily cooked chicken & fish (doesn't eat red meat), and healthily cooked but not large portions of carbs. She's lost considerable weight as a result and not only is the diabetes in remission but her bp etc are also all much better. I'm completely in awe of her self discipline as that would be hard for anyone to do, but she's also a full time carer for my dad and supports other family members and friends in various ways - she's a very busy lady even though she's in her 70's!
"As a diabetic, I was forced to eat them because they were in diabetic chocolate, many other diabetic foods" sorry but that's not true - because nobody needs to eat chocolate, sweets, cakes and even if you wanted to you could just as easily then as now eaten naturally sweet foods in moderation and keeping an eye on your blood sugars.
"A few weeks ago I drank one of Dd's cans of dark fruit cider.
I was shitting liquid not long after and assumed it was the cider as it's not something I usually drink" could still have been. I'm not saying it wasn't the sweetener but I used to work in a cider factory (my cv is bizarrely mixed!) and it put me right off! Enough to say it's not the freshest, best quality apples they use!!
"All the links and research are all a few years old. NHS has a different outlook" ha! The Nhs are notorious for referring to old, poor quality research! Especially on that portal!
"Diet Coke is a funny one. Only anecdotal but I know but I've known people who've had a real addiction to it. A friend of mine said giving it up was much harder than knocking the fags on the head." Again not necessarily the AS.
Caffeine addiction is very real and extremely difficult to deal with. I decided to quit caffeine following research I had done after my 2nd mc in efforts to prevent my having a 3rd. I was drinking at least 6 large mugs of strong coffee daily at this point and had stupidly forgotten caffeine was a known addictive substance. I quit cold and about a week later feeling bloody awful I went to the dr dreading what I would be told was wrong. Thankfully a switched on dr who recognised the symptoms and advised me to wean off far more gradually. There was also more recently an episode of "eat well for less" where the dad in the family was drinking a LOT of cola, on this show they often recommend cutting right back or quitting certain foods quite drastically without input from medics but on this occasion they made a point of saying he needed to do it with support and advice from his GP and NOT quit cold turkey. I don't know if they already knew this "going in" or if he quit cold and it became apparent to him and the programme makers how inadvisable this was.
As a Scot the one I'm annoyed by and certainly many family and friends have commented on is Irn Bru. I rarely have it because of the caffeine, but find its great for perking me up if I'm run down. It is disappointing that they gave in and changed it. I know that for many years in Scotland it outsold even Coke, I doubt it still does.
I mostly drink water, have done for last few years, but it should be our choice whether to drink sugary drinks or not.
"Then got gestational diabetes and after testing my blood sugar after every meal and at various points throughout the day, it was very evident that diet drinks had no effect on my blood sugar levels at all. I don't believe any of the claims about sweeteners now after that" a study of 1 - compelling evidence 🤔