The most current Church literature relating to the question is found in a Priesthood Bulletin statement dated February 1972: Volume 8, number 1, subheaded 6, paragraph 2:

“With reference to cola drinks, the Church has never officially taken a position on this matter, but the leaders of the Church have advised, and we do now specifically advise, against the use of any drink containing harmful habit-forming drugs under circumstances that would result in acquiring the habit. Any beverage that contains ingredients harmful to the body should be avoided.”

Even after I converted, I never had a problem with soda, because it gives me a painful fizzy feeling in my nose. I will occasionally have a caffeine-free root beer or shirley temple, though, and haven’t suffered any ill-effects from these, despite my high susceptibility to migraines. I’ve had a few delicious frappuccinos, too, and felt the spiritual guilt afterward. The last time I was faced with the choice of getting a coffee, I got a caramel macchiato–hold the espresso shots–basically steamed milk with caramel. I was greatly enjoying the drink and my “spiritual triumph” until I remembered my milk protein allergy. Needless to say my body did not forgive me for a while.

What I mean to convey here is, you just can’t win sometimes. So to every man his own, I say.

That’s the biggest thing I’ve noticed so far now that I’m off diet Coke: I wake up feeling well rested in the mornings. I used to wake up and feel like a train had just run over me. I never used to feel well rested waking up in the morning. Instead, I was always in a groggy haze until lunchtime when I’d have my Diet Coke. It’s like my body was waiting until noon to wake up each day. Now, my body wakes up in the morning when I need it to.

I’ve also noticed that my energy level is more constant all day long, instead of peaks and valleys that are dependent on my caffeine intake.

I also don’t get grouchy when I don’t get my caffeine fix at the noon hour like I used to.

At this point, I’m determined to stay off the sauce for life. Not because I fear any divine consequences if I fail to do so, but just because for me it seems . . . wise.

I am 100% addicted to the stuff. Over the years, I’ve quit for periods of time. Not for Word of Wisdom reasons, but for general health reasons (as deatiled above). It never sticks. However, we have a strict “no soda in the fridge” rule, meaning we’ll drink when we eat out, but won’t stock any at home. The idea is that we don’t want out small one to get a taste for soda yet. It’s ultimately a losing battle, but we’re fighting the good fight now.

As a side note, the greatest health benefit I have experienced is to drop soda in any form. The difference is dramatic. When the need arises to ‘do stupid things more quickly’ at work, I resort to Coffee or Tea.

There is a continent-sized (at least twice the size of Texas) floating island of trash between California and Hawaii. It has been growing tenfold each decade since the 1950s.

Speaking of urban legends, I think we should compress the toxic plastic island into that bridge to Hawaii I used to hear about in middle school.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Pacific_Garbage_Patch

There is a continent-sized (at least twice the size of Texas) floating island of trash between California and Hawaii. It has been growing tenfold each decade since the 1950s.

Speaking of urban legends, I think we should compress the toxic plastic island into that bridge to Hawaii I used to hear about in middle school.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Pacific_Garbage_Patch
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_zone_(ecology)

Right now I’m drinking bottled water. I plan to recycle the bottle after, but just in case something goes awry–dolphins, this is your warning!

Hi, my name is Andrew, and I used to be a diet Coke-oholic. I’ve been clean for one day, and counting . . .

I’m someone who has given up the “recreational use” of caffeine, but still use it when I work night shifts. Take it like medicine….though I’ve been volunteering for more night shifts.

Since Mormons aren’t real common where I’m from, I occasionally have someone at work look over and say “Are you allowed to have that?”. I say, “sure, where did you get the idea that I couldn’t?” They then say something about how I don’t drink coffee, I affirm that and then they say “so why don’t you guys drink coffee then?”

I tell them that I could give them a scientific answer or the real answer, but that they probably wouldn’t like the real answer. (Of course they immediately demand the real answer) Which is: “God told us not to.”

This sends the discussion rapidly in one of two directions. They either cut it off quickly, or they follow up with something like “How do you know God told you not to drink coffee?” That’s when the real fun begins. So my nightshift helper actually leads to many gospel conversations. Take that, uptight Mormon teetotallers!

Sorry…it is science speak. Thank you for pointing it out hawkgrrrl….I just read your response after I wrote the above.

Whenever taking any drug..cafeine included…it is about weighing the cost to benefit ratio in our minds and taking the responsibility for our choice like good sensible adults. And my choice is to hold off drinking Aspartame filled drinks as much as I can whilst the evidence is inconclusive.

However I know other medical students and doctors who choose to drink it despite the inconclusive evidence as they are willing to bear the risks which are minimal.

Health benefits certainly are there if you are substituting aspartame for high calorie alternatives. If you can cut both out, you’re probably even better off. But a zero calorie soft drink vs. a 200 calorie soft drink? No brainer!

“In my small town growing up, only McDonald’s would hire me at 15.”

At 17 I was working network support for Internet Service Providers!

Again…data has shown that in small amounts the positive benefits of aspartame outway the negative effects.

I don’t see how there are any “positive benefits” to aspartame or caffeine. They are vanity, not benefit! You cannot scientifically study the “benefits” of vanities!

In my small town growing up, only McDonald’s would hire me at 17. Only fat people (and women) ordered diet sodas with their super-sized value meal. Nobody will convince me that a little fructose would have made these people any fatter… If anything, Aspartame was probably making these people “dumber” rather than skinnier.

I have heard case studies very similar to yours. The most significant quantitative studies on Aspartame have been done on rats and other animals. There is no way of knowing whether they suffered from headaches or other minor neurological symptoms. Again…data has shown that in small amounts the positive benefits of aspartame outway the negative effects.

Yes…we dont have signigicant data to prove your condition Nick, but you are very right to listen to your body.

Aspartame should not be singled out because sugar, E numbers, phosphoric acid in Coke(that is used by dentists to erode teeth), and other additives have shown more significant evidence for being harmful to our health…and these can also be found in sugary soft drinks along with caffeine and aspartame.

Unfortunately NMTony, your logic is as incorrect as your biochemistry. It is important to explain both where the drug comes from, its history and its pharmacokinetics.

Studies have shown that, in rats and subpopulations of humans Aspartame has shown to be safe when used in tiny amounts..
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12180494

However other studies have show that the formaldehyde from metabolized aspartame remains in body tissue.

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6T99-3THHCW2-3&_user=10&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_sort=d&view=c&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=29a262ffaf7d5d51a9a051bd106648de

I am very hesitant about consuming aspartame knowing that it breaks down to formaldehyde…And although the levels are small, and the liver can repair itself, I am still somewhat hesitant given the lack of evidence and unity in the scientific community about this topic.

Evian was the premier bottled water in the beginning. Spell it backwards. Seriously; do it.

The Ramizzini study is interesting, but it is only one study and more need to be done in order for the aspartame controversy to be taken seriously.

Stephen, I like a lot of what you have say, but connecting aspartame to Rumsfeld and his ilk has nothing to do with the other (argument from prior error and guilt by association). Nor does aspartame pickle the liver. The formaldehyde will be excreted from the body through the urine, just as most toxins created through metabolism.

Of course, then came the formative breast-feeding years, where the difference between the outflow from the local 7-11 soda fountain and my wife’s breasts was likely neglible. The Coca-Cola company could have sued my wife for not being a licensed Coca-Cola distributor.

And it should have been no surprise that the second and third words each of my children learned, following the word “Mama,” were the words “diet” and “coke.” “Dada” was a distant ninth, following the words “more please” and “on the rocks.”

So what’s a father to do? Do I just accept them for who they are… after all, they were likely “born that way.” Or do I send them all to a clinic for radical shock therapy and re-wiring?

As for my marriage, do I just accept that it has now become a polygamous threesome… my wife, the silver can, and me? Should we re-write our vows and formally invite D.C. into the marriage… and into the bedroom? Was George Costanza onto something:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHchl4AxsE0&feature=related

In the US, it has been a purely Madison Avenue-driven thing. Even though we get our own water from a well, we have a garage full of Sam’s Club and Kirtland water, just in case. Americans now can’t be without a cell phone and a bottle of water at the ready at all times, even at Church. (that was another post)

We pay $2 (£1) for a 20oz bottle of water that has about $.05 worth of water in it. It’s nuts.

But, you guys are scaring me into laying off the soda.

Several years ago, I was Elders Quorum Pres and was meeting with the Stake Pres on business. My wife was at home with a migrane and we started talking about it. He reached into his desk there at the Stake Center and pulled out a 2-liter bottle of Mt. Dew. Seems he gets migranes every month or so. He finds that taking advil or tylonol, along with large amounts of Mt Dew will kill the migrane if he catches it soon enough. The theory was that that Mt Dew opens up the pathways allowing the medicine to quickly get to where it needed to.

So… I went home and spread the word. Both my wife and daughter get migranes. They started doing this. Right on the onset of a migrane, they pop several advil and chug the Mt. Dew. Migrane turns from a 2 day knock-down fight to a 2 hour lay-down with the drapes closed. It has truly been a wonder drug in our home. We keep an emergency (I can’t use it) stash of Mt Dew in each car, the RV, and in the pantry.

It works great and was suggested by my priesthood leader for drinking. Now, I think you can all use that advice and take it that the church now approves and encourages frequent drinking of Mt Dew. However, it was not cola….

I would say that drinking 10 cans of anything a day would be bad for you (except water). There is definitely need to lessen our levels of consumption.

Of course, then came the formative breast-feeding years, where the difference between the outflow from the local 7-11 soda fountain and my wife’s breasts was likely neglible. The Coca-Cola company could have sued my wife for not being a licensed Coca-Cola distributor.

And it should have been no surprise that the second and third words each of my children learned, following the word “Mama,” were the words “diet” and “coke.” “Dada” was a distant ninth, following the words “more please” and “on the rocks.”

So what’s a father to do? Do I just accept them for who they are… after all, they were likely “born that way.” Or do I send them all to a clinic for radical shock therapy and re-wiring?

As for my marriage, do I just accept that it has now become a polygamous threesome… my wife, the silver can, and me? Should we re-write our vows and formally invite D.C. into the marriage… and into the bedroom? Was George Costanza onto something:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHchl4AxsE0&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLKhJnKrf9M

I totally agree with you about Aspartame. Monsanto produced Aspartame. It took them 7 times over many years to get it through the FDA (without modifying it) and they were succesful on their final run with Donald Rumsfeld as Chief Operating Officer as soon as Reagan became President and Bush Snr. as VP.

I personally avoid aspartame as much as I do caffeine.

The evidence shows that Aspartame cannot be broken down by the liver and ends up as formaldehyde…basically embalming your liver whilst it is inside you.

The evidence from trials does show that in rats small doses are rather safe and tumors do not come in the rats until high doses..doses that are inconceivable in diet drinks. But I have heard that nausea and headaches are common with use amongst diet soda drinkers who drink alot in a day about 6 to 10 cans day or something crazy like that.

Personally…I stay away from aspartame and caffeine as much as I can.

I, for one, live for my diet coke in the morning, you could say it’s addictive, just like you could say that my husband’s constant checking his crackberry, I mean blackberry, for an email is addictive. You could say the endorphines released during my morning run are addictive, or the ice cream I eat every night is addictive (and probably far worse for my health than the diet coke). The pleasure I experience in life without any of these would be noticeably less, why single out my Diet Coke? And double why do it before anyone with stewardship for me tells me to?

Judging the spiritual doctrine of the church by what’s permissible in a temple cafeteria or BYU must be for the western U.S. members, since our access to these spiritual havens is far more infrequent in other parts of the country. I do know from personal experience that the temple cafeteria doesn’t offer lots of things, including vegetarian entrees for those who are following not-so-”semi” official teaching in the canonized WoW to eat meat sparingly and in time of famine. And cougars don’t do a lot of things that I don’t consider immoral - like walk on the grass. But I guess ignorance is bliss since I wasn’t aware of all the sin I was committing by my grass walking and barefeet until I went to education week one year, where I plan my classes for the day by when to leave campus to get my “fix” of Diet Coke.

However I think it is important to remember where the cocoa comes from and how it has been harvested. Often the cocoa is farmed children and laborers who get very little for their labour. If they are farmers, their land is taken from them and sold to large corporations. It is important to find a brand, such as Fair Trade, that is ethical.

My wife, however, has a serious love for Pepsi. Like serious nostalgic addiction type thing. We both, however, love Dr. Pepper, and if we find it in decaf, we’ll buy the occasional two-liter. Our rule is, however:

We don’t buy drinks for ourselves that we won’t share with the kids unless it will be gone before the kids can see it. That means no caffeine. My 4 year old DOES NOT NEED CAFFEINE!!!!

More and more, though, it’s got absolutely nothing to do with caffeine for me, as a matter of the Word of Wisdom, and as a matter of migraine avoidance. Caffeine==migraine==misery. No thanks.

Beyond that in general, however, is the unfortunate truth that most sodas have high-fructose corn syrup, which is really, really, really bad for you on so many levels, and is such a barrier to weight loss that it’s hard to even imagine. So we have started buying sodas that are all-natural. Root beer is my favorite (and if I could get Henry Weinhardt’s on the east coast, I would buy that–it is the best, but I’m not sure if it’s an ‘all natural’ or not), but we love cream sodas as well. Virgil’s is an awesome soda.

So, you can have your diet coke. I’ll be over here with my ambrosia that is Virgil’s Black Cherry Cream Soda (all natural). Yum.

Sorry I meant Diphenhydramine which is an antihistamine found in Benadryl which is an over the counter medication. It has mild sedative side effects. I wont go into the pharmokinetics but it does have side effects like tachycardia, but again these are occasional in patients who use the the medication responsibly.

Caffeine is an ergogenic and stimulates the central nervous system. One problem with Caffeine is that you will develop a tolerance to it making you need more and more of it to get the same stimulation…and hence the addictive nature of the drug. And there is a medical condition called Caffeinism that is described as addiction to caffeine.

Like most stimulants, it can have side effects like heart palpatations, hypertension,nausea,atrial fibrillation and other heart complications. It can induce anxiety, nervousness, tremors etc. It can also cause mild depression and sleeping disturbances.

An overdose of caffeine occurs at 300mg with soft drinks containing anywhere between 30 to 80mg of caffeine in 355ml. Red Bull would have about 100mg in 355ml. It can induse caffeine intoxication and overstimulation of the nervous system….the “the jitters” we call them in the UK. NOT a nice feeling for those who have been there.

I would again consider all the positive and negative affects and then decide for yourself. If you do decide to drink caffeinated drinks then drink them responsibly. I dont see a need to drink them and would advice patients to get enough sleep, exercise and loose weight to increase energy. Avoid it if you have heart problems.

My mission was in Mexico and we did have coke, but no mountain dew and no Dr. Pepper. I remember when a companion would have Dr. peppers sent, it was like blessings from heaven.

Funny thing is, ever since I came back from the mission, I don’t really like the taste of any of it anymore, but will drink it if it is given to me.

Ironically, my pregnant wife, who is the much more devout Mormon is the one that bought a costco pack of Coca Cola because she was having major caffeine cravings. I am the apostate and I don’t buy coke. So I had one with her just to see what it tasted like since I hadn’t had one for a long time, and I didn’t really like it.

As to the “why does BYU eschew caffeine” question - I have to agree with the commenters who’ve stated that BYU creates its own standards for its own reasons. They do not reflect what is and what is not the church’s interpretation of the actual commandments. If BYU’s practices were so indicative, you’d be breaking the law of chastity if you entered the bedroom of someone of the opposite sex or stayed past curfew in their common living areas.

Now, my old man gout keeps me from imbibing pretty much all carbonation, although I used to use Mountain Dew when I was driving 1500-2000 miles per week, often late at night. Those were the days.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aspartame_controversy

“In 1998, a team of scientists in Spain conducted an experiment on rodents to indirectly measure the levels of formaldehyde adducts in the organs after ingestion of aspartame. They did this by radiolabeling the methanol portion of aspartame.[29] The scientists concluded that formaldehyde bound to protein and DNA accumulated in the brain, liver, kidneys and other tissues after ingestion of either 20 mg/kg or 200 mg/kg of aspartame.[30] However, representatives of the manufacturer of aspartame have argued that these scientists were not directly measuring formaldehyde, but simply measuring levels of some by-product of the methanol from aspartame.[31] Tephly thinks that the by-product was not formaldehyde. The researchers have stated that the data in the experiment proves it was formaldehyde.[32]”

“Since the FDA approved aspartame for consumption in 1981, some researchers have suggested that a rise in brain tumor rates in the United States may be at least partially related to the increasing availability and consumption of aspartame.[63] The results of a large seven-year study into the long-term effects of eating aspartame in rats by the European Ramazzini Foundation for cancer research in Bologna, Italy were released in July 2005. In the study of 1,800 rats, the research concluded that aspartame administered at varying levels in feed causes a statistically significant increase of lymphomas-leukemias and malignant tumors of the kidneys in female rats and malignant tumors of peripheral nerves in male rats. The study showed that there was no statistically significant link between aspartame and brain tumors.”

As someone already pointed out: Caffeine promotes osteoporosis. It kills the osteoblasts in your bone.

While I prefer root beers and colas (Coke or Pepsi will do), I recently tried to cut from my diet my love of sugars for Lent, and this included sodas, and I’ve been trying to keep it up since. (No, Hawkgrrrl, I’m not Catholic, but my wife is!) Today I had horchata with dinner.

My friend Jessica Logsdon paints with artificial sweetener wrappers:

http://jessicalogsdon.com/page1/page1.html

I was helping her empty sweetener packets one night, and I ate all the NutraSweet I had dumped out of the packets. I overdosed on Aspartame (I ate probably a 1/2 cup of powder), and let me tell you, it is not fun (talk about migraine) — but it tasted awesome!

I agree that the WoW could use a bit of a re-write. Obesity is clearly a bigger health problem, any way you slice it. Getting worked up over diet soda while wolfing down deep-fat fried fritters and funeral potatoes with potato chip topping seems a little like straining at a gnat and (almost literally) swallowing a camel.

Most of the ill effects of diet soda and aspartame have been de-snoped. To wit:
- Coke is an effective spermicide (FALSE - So congratulations or sorry if that was your previous method of birth control)
- Pouring Coke on raw meat will cause worms to come out of the meat (FALSE)
- A tooth in a glass of Diet Coke will dissolve overnight (FALSE)
- Coke plus aspirin equals a great high (FALSE)
- Mormons own the Coca Cola company (FALSE)
- Little Mikey (Life cereal) died from drinking Coke with Pop Rocks in his mouth (FALSE)
- The acides in Coke make it harmful to drink (FALSE)
- Drinking too much Coke can cause you to die from carbon dioxide poisoning (FALSE)
- Diet Coke contains more calories than listed (FALSE)
- A mixture of Diet Coke and Mentos killed 2 Brazilian kids (FALSE)

For the aspartame conspiracy theorists out there, despite internet hoaxes and claims that aspartame causes brain tumors, cancer, birth defects, brain disease, Alzheimer’s, Gulf War syndrome, lupus, MS and seizures, according to the FDA, MIT, and the CRC there is no merit to these claims. Aspartame is safe for human consumption.

I believe it was a lack of faith that got us to the point we’re at today with caffeinated drinks. Allow me to elaborate. Mormons can’t take anything on faith alone because we’re the religion with all the answers. (I can’t believe I’m saying this) Therefore, when the brethren said that “hot drinks” referred to coffee and tea, we couldn’t accept that at face value. After all, God wouldn’t command something without a good reason. So some enterprising member tried to figure out what the problem was with these hot drinks. Perhaps science could provide a clue of what could be so nasty and common between them. Low and behold, they figured out that besides being hot, both drinks had a mild stimulant called caffeine. That must be it they exclaimed! After all, God wouldn’t tell us not to partake unless there was a really good reason. Now, the all important “they” concluded that what God was actually saying is don’t drink caffeine. Anything with caffeine in it must be by definition evil and therefore really good members wouldn’t partake of such wickedness.

Does this kind of remind you of the Monty Python movie, The Search for the Holy Grail? How did the villagers decide if the nasty woman was actually a witch? I purpose to you that the logic employed there is about as accurate as the interpretation imposed by the all important “they” here with regard to “hot drinks”.

My parents always ordered Colas at Taco Bell, and I but I was told when I tried to follow their example, “YOU do not need to start drinking these things.” Though hypocritical, it was true.

1. My sister has been advised by her doctor to give up her soda habit because of osteoporosis.

2. Reports abound that diet drinks do bad things to teeth.

“Demineralization, or loss of tooth material, begins at a pH of 5.5, although under certain conditions, may even start at a higher pH.” (Acid pH of Diet Coke 3.39)

3. Most recently I saw a headline “Diet Soda Strongly Associated With the Metabolic Syndrome”, which raises your risk of diabetes (even in the absence of sugar!)

I’m with Sam B., #16. If I want to enjoy a rare carbonated beverage, give me one free of high fructose corn syrup. Thinking of the junk squirting out of those ubiquitous soda fountains is not pleasant. If we are going to argue about what should be on the WoW list, I think you would have to add Krispy Kremes, but it shouldn’t be necessary to provide revelation that those things are bad for you.

For three years I worked nights, without my 2 litre of Coke/Pepsi I would have been a real mess. As it was it pretty much rotted my teeth (had all my wisdom teeth out recently because of the acid on Coke and Pepsi) but that was the worst side effect.

For my root beer pleasure, I’ll take Henry Weinhardt’s. It’s sweetened with honey, has a good deeply-sweet flavor (not syrupy-sweet) with the spice and has a real head when you pour it.

And I’ve recently kicked the Diet Coke because I was up to about 64 oz. a day. As a side note, I tend to lose a couple of pounds by dropping caffeine completely.

I should start drinking my caffeine instead of eating it occasionally in the form of chocolate. Maybe if I upped my caffeine intake, my testimony of the devil would be strengthened…

A man of my own heart. I love root beer. There are so many varieties and finding a small brewer who makes a great one is a treasure. On an aside, I think it’s too bad a “hard” root beer has never really made inroads to the market. Yeasted, non-HFCS root beers are yummy.

I’m with ya. The BYUs enjoy a bit of autonomy from the corporate church. I think their stricter policies are more a reflection of the LDS culture, particularly the generally-more-zealous LDS cultures of Utah Valley or Eastern Idaho, than they are a reflection of the proper interpretation of LDS beliefs and practices. But in a pharisaical definition I think you could argue they are “more holy.”

That said, Coke of any variety is nasty. Give me Izzies or a good root beer (not a mass-market, high-fructose corn syrup-laden root beer) any day. But it’s not a WoW thing for me; it’s an aesthetic thing.

This is interesting too:

According to the World Health Organization, “There is no evidence whatsoever that caffeine use has even remotely comparable physical and social consequences which are associated with serious drugs of abuse.” Some sensitive individuals may experience mild, temporary effects, including headache, restlessness and irritability when their daily intake i