Hello, my name is Becky and I'm a coke addict. No, not that coke, but if the media is to be believed, my addiction is equally as dangerous and quite possibly a large detriment to society. I am, sadly, a Diet Coke addict and have been since college. (We won't go into the details of how long ago that was.) Seriously, I used to be a smoker and felt a little bit self-conscious about my smoking habit (especially as it affected people near me), but I never thought that I would feel the same way about my Diet Coke habit, which incidentally comes in about third in my list of vices if we aren't counting alcohol: the first being cheese, and then chocolate.

After I popped open a 20-ouncer yesterday to combat a hangover and to give me that cool refreshing feeling I long for on sunny days, my friend started reading to me about the hazards of drinking too much  Diet Coke, mostly due to the most insidious ingredient of all, Aspartame. (The very sound of the chemical even sounds kind of insidious to the ear. ) This is the active ingredient in artificial sweeteners such as Nutra-sweet and the  list of possible dangers is long and scary. They include:

headaches, dizziness, slurred speech, and vision problems, cancer-causing potential, increased hunger, and has induced seizures in lab rats.

Dr. Roberts,  a researcher who has studied the effects of the "drug" for some time, warns on his web site of more serious dangers he believes are caused by the consumption of Aspartame:

"Additionally, it is my increasing conviction that aspartame products can cause, aggravate or accelerate
migraine, seizures, multiple sclerosis, diabetes and its complications, Alzheimer's disease, and even brain tumors."

There are also risks to drinking any soda, mostly due to the leaching of the bones by the caffeine in the pop. This, unfortunately, leads to low bone density, which is a hazard for the eldery who are more likely to break limbs and/or hips when they slip and fall. 

With all of the knowledge I now have about the dangers of Diet Coke, you would have think I would be on the road to "recovery" by now. Unfortunately,  I sometimes find myself craving Diet Coke in much the same way I imagine that a junkie craves heroin or a sex addict craves sex and wonder if the evil chemical ingredient, Aspartame, is the reason why. According to Dr. Roberts, numerous people in his studies had difficulty quitting the use of Asptarme becuase of "violent and prolonged withdrawal reactions".  He does not, however, specify exactly what those may be. I also don't know why this addiction seems more centered among women than men and wonder if it is the evils of marketing to women's insecurities about body image that is the main contributing factor.