My parents drink ZERO water

Have to agree with the others that water is water no mater how it gets into your body.  Now granted diet soda probably has things that you should not put into your body but they are technically drinking water. 

Now if that is all I need to finish working so I can go home and drink some Beer to get my fill of water for the day.

Unless its one of those pesky fires that water doesn't put out. Then its just an annoyance.

Nonsense.  Search CREDIBLE sites, and you'll find no such information.

audiojan - 2008-08-05 8:19 AM DerekL, How about NY Times? Would be considered credible by most I would think... http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/05/health/nutrition/05symp.html?inca... Obviously you think that it's perfectly ok and I don't agree, so let's just leave it at that and let each and every person decide for themselves. I think we both agree that water would be one much better alternative anyway..

I think that the mainstream press would be among the least credible of scientific sources.  It's often a reporter without a science background paraphrasing research that may or may not be good in the first place.  I didn't read the article as it requires registration, but I'm aware of the current findings regarding this area, and it doesn't support your contention.

I'm all for people deciding for themselves, but they have to be given good information to make that decision.

Now, back to my glass of water.  

Edit to add that I found and read the article.  Linking the two based on that is an enormous reach.  Retrospective, self reported, lack of control of any variables, etc.  Somebody should remind the authors that correlation doesn't equal causation. 

I can't believe people are actually arguing that fizzy drinks are ok to drink in the place of water.

Derek can you point me in the direction of literature that would support an argument like that?  very curious as I would love to read it.  It goes against everything that I have been taught since I was a child about health eating and drinking. 

Firstly my mum is a dentist so we had fizzy drink very very rarely and it was a huge treat.   Now I'm older and have done alot of thinking/research into what I chose to eat, I avoid refined foods and chemicals as much as possible. 

Perhaps a website like this might help sway them in the direction of water.  I know its a website advertising the water company, but it does have a good chart about the nutritional contents of 'soda' v water.

http://www.myspringwater.com/HealthAndFitness/WaterVsOtherBeverages/WaterVsSoda.aspx

The question is about whether DIET sodas are "poison in a can" or provide some hydration and are ok to drink.  You've sorta taken it on a tangent that has nothing to do with the original question.  The link and chart provided is for REGULAR sodas, and that's not what we're talking about.  You're also right in that it's provided to make a point and not as an objective analysis of things.  Phosphoric acid?  Oh no!  If they listed orange juice vs. water, I bet they'd put that nasty citric acid in the bad column too.

The question of literature doesn't really make sense either.  The nature of research is to ask a question that is quantifiable and observable and try to validate or invalidate that.  I'm not sure what your question would be for them.  It's like asking if you know of literature available that says that breathing is ok.  Can you find it?

How about the BIGGEST argument to not drink soda, that no one can really dispute?

Water is free

Haven't paid your water bill lately, have you?  

But the majority of that is running water like showers, the washing machine, dishwasher, etc. I'm sure a VERY small percentage of that cost is for filling the Brita. And it probably works out to be cheaper than buying soda.

Oh, of course.  It's just not free.

Water = good for those wondering.

I don't think anyone said that soda is sufficient to replace water.  The OP was concerned about her parents drinking DIET soda and whether or not they were properly hydrated.  As Derek said above, there isn't enough caffiene in soda to worry about the diruetic effect.  And as far as aspartame is concerned, there isn't really any conclusive evidence (and when I say conclusive I mean from peer-reviewed scientific sources.  The NY Times is definitely NOT that, and I certainly don't consider them a good source of info) that supports aspartame as being harmful.   However, it was thought that artificial sweetners were thought to trigger an insulin response, but I don't know if that has been supported with factual studies (Derek?).

And I am not sure why that chart you posted is relevant.  It just lists the ingredients.  You can look on the back of the can for that.