Melania Trump's Favorite Soda Is Low In Calories But Full Of Artificial Sweeteners

Melania Trump differs from her husband, President Donald Trump, in seemingly countless ways. For instance, she doesn't play golf. She also doesn't indulge in a lot of highly processed foods, while Donald's love of high-calorie McDonald's and other fast food is public knowledge. However, Melania and Donald do share one bubbly habit: the same favorite soda. For the Trump patriarch and matriarch, Diet Coke reigns supreme as the go-to soft drink. In fact, since Donald drinks it every day, he has a button in the Oval Office that he can press to have a Diet Coke delivered whenever he gets a craving.

According to a 2010 interview that Melania gave to New York Magazine, she likes to sip her Diet Coke from classic bottles (glass, not plastic). However, she definitely doesn't drink as much of it as her husband, who reportedly drinks up to 12 cans a day. That may be a problem for him. Although Diet Coke might seem like a healthier soda choice, it actually contains an artificial sweetener and a couple of additives that make the zero-calorie beverage a no-go for some people.

The first additive in Diet Coke that has engendered controversy is aspartame. Roughly 200 times sweeter than sucrose (white sugar) and also much cheaper, aspartame reportedly causes the body to store fat, even though it doesn't contain fat itself. The thing that frightens most people, though, is the rumor that aspartame causes cancer. While there are conflicting reports over how much of a carcinogenic agent aspartame really is, the sweetener remains "generally recognized as safe" by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

For example, according to a 2023 study that was published in the International Journal of Cancer, aspartame consumption did not appear to increase the risk of cancer in otherwise healthy individuals. However, individuals with diabetes who ate foods with aspartame did seem to have a greater chance of developing cancer. That year, the World Health Organization (WHO) noted that aspartame was "possibly" carcinogenic based on scientific evidence, mainly for liver cancer. For its part, the American Cancer Society has made no specific statements about aspartame beyond sharing the available limited evidence.

Diet Coke contains another additive that is being evaluated by some groups for its safety: potassium benzoate, which is on the nutrition label of any bottle and can. Potassium benzoate is a preservative that keeps Diet Coke fresh and is widely used in foods and beverages. Nonetheless, a 2015 review that was published in Clinical and Translational Allergy noted that potassium benzoate could cause allergic reactions like asthma and dermatitis in some individuals.

Phenylalanine is also a chemical additive in Diet Coke, as it's a part of aspartame. Like potassium benzoate, phenylalanine may produce unwanted physical reactions in people who have phenylketonuria. If you have phenylketonuria, exposure to phenylalanine over time may lead to dermatological, neurological, behavioral, developmental, and psychological issues. That said, phenylketonuria is relatively uncommon, affecting about one out of every 25,000 individuals in the United States. Hopefully, Melania Trump isn't one of them.