Sometimes the biggest scientific discoveries happen because scientists do slightly questionable things that would give today’s lab safety officers a heart attack.
Take James Schlatter, a chemist working at G.D. Searle & Company in 1965.
While researching treatments for ulcers (already an unlikely origin story for anything you’d want in your Diet Coke), he accidentally got some mystery powder from his experiment on his fingers.
Most of us would immediately rush to the emergency shower, but Schlatter? He casually licked his finger to get a better grip on some papers – as if he wasn’t surrounded by substances that could turn him into either a superhero or a workplace safety poster.
That questionable decision revealed he’d created something 200 times sweeter than sugar. His accidental finger-licking became aspartame, now one of the most extensively studied food additives in history.
Poor Schlatter had no idea his ulcer research would spawn decades of heated debates about diet sodas, or that nearly 60 years later, I’d be getting weekly emails from people genuinely concerned about whether their afternoon Diet Coke habit is harming their health.
From one accidental lab taste-test to millions of anxious sippers, artificial sweeteners have come a long way. Fast forward to 2025, and diet sodas are still fizzing with controversy.
When a recent client told me they’d switched back to regular Coke “because at least sugar is natural,” I realised it was time to pour out some facts.
Oh, sweet summer child. Let’s pop open this can of misconceptions, shall we?
The Chemical Reality Check
First up: the “chemicals are scary” narrative needs a reality check.
Here’s a fun thought experiment: if I handed you a bottle containing dihydrogen monoxide, would you drink it?
Sounds terrifying, right?
Congratulations, you’ve just been scared of water (H₂O). Everything is chemicals – including that organic kale smoothie you’re sipping while nodding smugly.
But what about those artificial sweeteners?
Let’s break it down (which is exactly what your body does with aspartame). When you drink a diet soda, your body splits aspartame into three basic components: two common amino acids (the building blocks of protein) and a tiny bit of methanol. If you’re worried about the methanol part, you might want to sit down for this: fruits, vegetables, and their juices naturally contain methanol in similar or higher amounts.
Your body is well-equipped to handle these small quantities, whether they come from your morning juice or your afternoon diet soda. (No, this still isn’t an excuse to replace your vegetable intake with Diet Coke. Nice try, though.)
The Weight of Evidence
Here’s where it gets interesting: research shows that people who drink diet sodas tend to lose more weight than those drinking regular sodas. Some studies even suggest better weight loss results than water drinkers—possibly because satisfying that sweet craving with zero calories helps prevent the 3 PM vending machine raid. File that under “surprisingly useful facts your nutritionist wishes you didn’t know.”
Now, before you start replacing your water bottle with Diet Coke, let’s be clear: I’m not suggesting you make artificial sweeteners your primary source of hydration (Though I do admire your commitment to finding loopholes in health advice.)
The Bottom Line
- Diet sodas aren’t your enemy (unlike that vending machine calling your name on a daily basis).
- The sugar in regular sodas isn’t your friend just because it’s “natural” (arsenic is natural too, and I don’t see anyone adding that to their smoothies).
- Everything in moderation—yes, even your moderation.
Remember: making informed choices about your health means looking at actual evidence, not falling for scary-sounding chemical names. After all, if we avoided everything with a complex chemical name, we’d have to stop eating blueberries (hello, anthocyanins). And then what would we put in our supposedly healthy muffins?
Here’s to making evidence-based decisions—and maybe enjoying a guilt-free diet soda now and then.
And if you’re wondering about my personal preference—yes, that’s a Pepsi Max on my desk right now. After years of taste-testing every diet soda on the market (all in the name of science, of course), it’s still my favourite afternoon companion.
P.S. If you’re still worried about the “chemicals” in your diet soda, let me tell you about the ethyl butyrate in your “all-natural” bananas. Spoiler alert: nature’s been doing chemistry a lot longer than we have.