It uncovered eight WHO panelists involved with assessing safe levels of aspartame consumption who are beverage industry consultants who currently or previously worked with the alleged Coke front group, International Life Sciences Institute (Ilsi).

Their involvement in developing intake guidelines represents “an obvious conflict of interest”, said Gary Ruskin, US Right-To-Know’s executive director. “Because of this conflict of interest, [the daily intake] conclusions about aspartame are not credible, and the public should not rely on them,” he added.

  • Hot Saucerman@lemmy.ml
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    1 year ago

    Around 20+ cans of coke a day which the majority of people don’t do.

    This guy has never met an American. Ever heard of a Big Gulp? We literally had private companies engineer bigger soda cups to handle how much fucking soda Americans drink.

    • jonsnowman@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      I dont necessarily disagree with your overall point about Americans drinking a lot of soda, but I don’t think pointing out that a company makes a cup a little smaller than 3 cans of soda is a very strong counterargument to the claim that it takes 20+ to be harmful…

      • Hot Saucerman@lemmy.ml
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        1 year ago

        The largest Big Gulp is 50oz and when I was a kid, people leaned on free refills for them. A 50oz is almost a whole 2-liter.

        You’re not wrong, it’s not the best example, but I’ve seen people go through numerous Big Gulps a day.

        Hell, when I worked overnight as a security guard, one of my fellow guards who drink an entire 2-liter of Mountain Dew to himself every night.

        It’s hard for me to think about because I can’t even get through a whole 16oz without stopping halfway because it’s too syrupy.

    • Madison_rogue@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      A Big Gulp is 30 ounces, 20 cans of coke is 240 ounces of soda. That’s a lot of Big Gulps. That said the Double Gulp, the largest size 7-11 offers, tops out at 50 ounces. Yet you’d have to drink almost five of those to reach 20 cans.

      in 2018 The United States consumption of soda per capita was 38.87 gallons per year, or 13.6 ounces of soda per day. Which was down from 45.5 gallons per year in 2010.

    • HughJanus@lemmy.ml
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      1 year ago

      We literally had private companies engineer bigger soda cups to handle how much fucking soda Americans drink.

      This is a really weird statement. Like it was some sort of feat of engineering to manufacture larger cups.

      • Hot Saucerman@lemmy.ml
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        1 year ago

        Very arguably, with 1970’s manufacturing standards, and how much 32 ounces of liquid weighs, it was an engineering feat at the time. So much so that the originals looked more like a milk carton.

        https://physicalculturestudy.com/2017/08/31/the-history-of-the-big-gulp/

        Potts’s desperation caught the attention of Coca-Cola, who in 1976 sent representatives to the merchandise manager with a strange proposition. Coca Cola wanted to create a new 32 ounce cup for their drinks, a previously unheard of amount. The largest size at the time was 20 ounces, and even that was considered to be monstrous. Instinctively Potts refused, claiming that the Cups were “too damn big” and in Potts’s defence, he was right. The design for the 32-ounce cups was square on the bottom and resembled your average milk cartoon.

    • ours@lemmy.film
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      1 year ago

      Remind me of the “Parks and rec” joke about “child-sized soda”: it’s the size of a small child!

    • DarkWasp@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      This is fair lol. I’m Canadian and when I was 17-20 I’d consume around 4-6 cans a day which was a crazy amount to myself and most people. 20+ seems nuts just financially.

      • CIWS-30@kbin.social
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        1 year ago

        Agree. Even recently, I would have up to 5-6 cans worth myself (have since cut down a lot), but alongside the financial cost, there’s also the acid eating away at your stomach lining and the excess caffeine to worry about alongside the Aspartame.

        Frankly, given the stomach issues and acid reflux that too much soda can give you, I would imagine that people (even sodaholics) would have to stop much sooner than 20 due to all the other issues involved with sodas before the problems with Aspartame would even come into the picture.

        Not to say that I’m not leery of Aspartame, but diet Soda has other major issues beside it.