Eat Well and Train Well, You Must

My name is Jedidiah and I am currently pursuing a degree in Nutritional Science w/ a minor in Kinesiology. I love to train and I love to eat. This page will cover information on common nutrition misconceptions and nutritional + training strategies to optimize performance and body composition. WARNING: Broscientists may find the information here terribly offensive. Continue at your own risk.

[jedinutrition]

Debunking the Paleo Diet

Interesting video. However, the Paleo diet ultimately crumbles even without  bringing up its archaeological fallacies because of the fact that it lacks scientific data to supports its bold claims and recommendations.  

[jedinutrition]

Tumblr Intro + Diet Soda - Is it really harmful?

The meme above was recently posted by a Facebook friend of mine, who is really into the whole idea of “raw eating” to control “metabolic derangement and acidosis” (more on these topics later).

Truth be told, a lot of these “health posts” getting thrown around and ‘shared’ on Facebook really pisses me off. And seeing them over and over continuously on Facebook and other social outlets further frustrates and vexes me. Although I’m always tempted to comment on incorrect/misinterpreted/skewed infographics on nutrition with logical counter-arguments, I refrain, as I know I could potentially get myself into meaningless arguments with many many butthurt individuals.

So instead, I decided to create this tumblr page. Here, I can talk about and address common nutritional myths and dogma without busting any fragile egos. (hopefully).

Now, done with the ranting. My first post, as most of you have probably guessed by now, will be on a rather misunderstood beverage - diet soda.

Intro:

Many individuals will argue that diet soda is “just as bad” as non-diet beverages; therefore a majority of the non-scientifically saavy health-nut crowd will purposely eliminate diet soda from their nutrition plans. However, their actions are not the result of a smart analysis of the scientific data.

Safety of Non-Caloric Diet Drinks:

Despite the numerous arguments made against it, diet soda has been shown to be safe and non-toxic in the healthy population. In a study by Passman et al., researchers found that the subjects who consumed diet beverages were no more at risk of developing kidney stone formation than the subjects who drank water [1]. Several scientific reviews and meta-analysis also suggest that aspartame, the primary non-nutritive sweetener in diet beverages, is safe when consumed in normal dosages. In a 2007 review by Magnuson BA et.al, the authors concluded that “the [current] studies provide no evidence to support an association between aspartame and cancer in any tissue. The weight of existing evidence is that aspartame is safe at current levels of consumption as a nonnutritive sweetener” [2]. Furthermore, aspartame has gone through years of testing to ensure safety and efficacy in response unfounded speculation of toxicity and metabolic irregularity that follows its consumption. After all these years of rigorous experimentation with aspartame, “it is clear” that there is no evidence that aspartame is toxic, or that interferes with the digestion of certain amino acids [3]. Lastly, the FDA has also mentioned that "aspartame is safe as a general purpose sweetener in food” [4].

Applications:

The current research does not clearly outline a definitive consumption limit for diet beverages, at least in humans. With that said, however, the FDA’s Acceptable Daily Intake (ADI) for aspartame is set at 50mg/kg [4]. So for a 195lb (89kg) guy like me, the maximum number of diet beverages that I should consume in a day is about 25 cans, considering the fact that one can of diet soda usually contains about 180mg of aspartame. (But who the hell would actually consume that much diet soda in one day? ) One interesting tidbit about the ADI is that, “it is set to be about 100 times less than the smallest amount that might cause health concerns” [4].

Conclusion:

In conclusion, the current scientific consensus is that diet soda, as long as you’re not consuming horrendous doses of it, is safe. The fact that almost no one goes anywhere close to drinking the ADI equivalent of diet soda, which is already 100 times lower than the dosages in which potential health issues could occur, further diminishes the hypothetical and theoretical dangers of diet soda often brought forth by the pseudo-scientific community. As with almost anything in life, you have to practice moderation and control with diet soda. So as long as you’re not violently chugging down 20+ cans of diet soda on the day-lee, you really have nothing to worry about.

References

1. Passman CM, et al. Effect of soda consumption on urinary stone risk parameters. J Endourol. 2009 Mar;23(3):347-50

2. Magnuson BA, et al. Aspartame: a safety evaluation based on current use levels, regulations, and toxicological and epidemiological studies. Crit Rev Toxicol. 2007;37(8):629-727. Review.

3. Butchko HH, et al. Aspartame: review of safety. Regul Toxicol Pharmacol. 2002 Apr;35(2 Pt 2):S1-93.

4. Aspartame. Food and Drug Administration. February 17, 2011. Retrieved April 02, 2013.