Weight-Loss Diet Cola, No Calories?

[MotherOf2]

I'm wondering how this is possible. I happened to have a bottle of diet cola in my fridge left over from a birthday party. I only bought it because my dads diabetic and loves pop and that all he drinks. So I figured instead of paying for a regular coke can in my calorie intake i would have a look at this bottle of diet cola.
These are the nutrition facts:
per 1 cup (250ml)

calories 0
fat 0g
sodium 15g
Carbs/glucides 0g
sugar 0 g
protien 0.1g
no other significant nutrients

Ingredients:
Carbonated water, Colour, phosphoric acid, aspartame 85mg/250ml (containsphenylalanine), potassium citrate, citric acid, potassium benzoate,natural flavour, aceulfame-potassium 13mg/250 ml, caffeine.

My question in short is, Whats the catch? With nearly the same nutritional information as water (aside from the fact that it has a butt load of things that I dont know what they are). how is it that technically you could drink all you want without affecting your calorie intake? it just doesn't seem right... i know that a lot of things that are named "diet" and "low fat" offer a false sence of security in some dieters, so whats behind this cousin of our high calorie classic?

 

[LowFatMilk]

http://weight-loss.fitness.com/nutrition/7265-diet-soda-bad-you.html

I personally don't think you should worry about it if you're having one a couple times a month. Don't make it a habbit like drinking water, even if it IS calorie free, your teeth, your bladder, and body might suffer otherwise.

Also, I find that going without pop for a long time makes water taste better.

 

[MotherOf2]

http://weight-loss.fitness.com/nutrition/7265-diet-soda-bad-you.html

I personally don't think you should worry about it if you're having one a couple times a month. Don't make it a habbit like drinking water, even if it IS calorie free, your teeth, your bladder, and body might suffer otherwise.

Also, I find that going without pop for a long time makes water taste better.

oh no i am not a pop drinker (my husband though does go through like a case a week) but not me... i dont really find it satisying and I've always been a HUGE water fan since childhood... it just happened to be in my fridge from a birthday party a few days ago, And i had a sudden query when I was looking at it vs the coke classic in my fridge... lol believe me i'm always preaching about caffien and pop lol but thanks for lookin out for me

 

[Fat Lazy Guy]

I can't remember which sweetener it is, either aspartame or phenylalanine, but one of them has been linked to cancer, I believe. But it's probably only in high doses. I'm sure there'd be something on google about it. *edit* oh, just realised the link LowFatMilk has a bunch of info about aspartame

Also, while it says 0 calories, there are probably some, but less than 1, so they're able to label it 0 calories.

 

[Carthonn]

I'm pretty sure the one that causes cancer in lab mice were the results of dosages of around a case of diet soda a day.