In the late 1800s, Colonel John Pemberton invented what would come to be known as Coca-Cola. This was one of the first carbonated drinks in history, and in the early days of the company, the drink did contain cocaine. While the modern Coke and its diet counterparts no longer include schedule-1 drugs, some find themselves addicted to the stuff.

Some attribute high levels of obesity to the prevalence of sugary drinks, and for good reason, it is easy to consume hundreds, if not thousands of calories worth of sugared soda without much effort. This has led many to choose a diet or zero-calorie alternative that is just as readily available with a similar taste and is much easier to include in a diet plan when you are watching your calories.

Even more recently, some professionals recommend avoiding even the diet versions of these drinks, claiming that the ingredients in diet soda are just as harmful as excess consumption of the sugary versions. So, what is the truth? Should you drink diet soda? Does it help in your diet or not? Let’s break it down.

If you are seeking to follow a strict organic or whole food only diet, or if you have a severe allergy or sensitivity to specific ingredients in diet soda, like aspartame or some of the acids present in many diet sodas, it’s an obvious no. Diet soda definitely counts as a processed food.

In most other cases, like those following a mostly whole food diet or those just trying to lose some weight, diet soda is not a big deal. If you have a sweet tooth that you feel is holding you back, a diet soda can do wonders to satisfy that sweet tooth and help you resist binging on sweets after a period of severe restriction. Carbonated beverages in general, including sparkling waters, have been reported to increase satiety during a calorie restrictive period.

Many diet professionals and miscellaneous gurus on the internet will testify that diet sodas, specifically the aspartame inside them, cause chronic headaches and can lead to cancers and early death. Studies, however, are inconclusive, showing that in most cases, no significant effect is manifest at regular levels of consumption. To experience a negative physiological effect from aspartame overconsumption, you would need to drink upwards of 50-16oz cans of diet soda to begin to feel an effect, and to get the cancer the gurus talk about, you need to do that every day for an extended period. That being said, personal experience is king for the individual’s case, so if you find that the small amount of aspartame in a soda gives you a big ol’ headache, avoid it.

Getting to the bottom line, it is obviously not advisable to consume gallons and gallons of diet soda each day. You still need pure water and that much carbonation will probably make you sick, but one or two cans will not hurt most people and can help some people in their weight loss journey. As long as you don’t have a sensitivity to the ingredients, and a doctor hasn’t told you to avoid it, diet soda in moderation is completely fine.

*This does not constitute actual medical advise nor does it take the place of advice from your doctor.