Diet Coke may be massacring my mitochondria

I simply refuse to believe that my daily fix of Diet Coke, a delicious carbonated beverage that tastes like a combination of cola, chemicals and metal shavings, could be unhealthy. But more and more research implies just that.

The latest concerns centre on the safety of ...sodium benzoate, a preservative used for decades by the £74bn global carbonated drinks industry. Sodium Benzoate derives from benzoic acid. It occurs naturally in berries, but is used in large quantities to prevent mould in soft drinks such as Sprite, Oasis and Dr Pepper.

Not only that, but when mixed with the additive Vitamin C in soft drinks, it causes benzene, a carcinogenic substance. (And I was so psyched about Diet Coke Plus, too.)

Worse still, an expert in ageing at Sheffield University, has found that the benzoate [damages] an important area of DNA in the "power station" of yeast cells known as the mitochondria. And there is a whole array of diseases that are now being tied to damage to this DNA - Parkinson's and quite a lot of neuro-degenerative diseases, but above all the whole process of ageing.

Here's another good article.

Heck, at this point, Meth is starting to like a healthy alternative...