I had terrible burning stomach pains I thought were ulcers.
I consumed gallons of antacids and $$$$ of anti-ulcer drugs. I tried cutting out different foods and found that diet soft drinks seemed to aggravate my condition.
Cutting them out helped but not completely. Then I realized it wasn’t the carbonation that was hurting, it was the Aspartame. Stopping all Aspartame intakes solved my problem. I have challenged this many times and there is no question in my mind that this is the cause. I got pains once while chewing (non-diet, non-sugar free gum. or so I thought). But a look at the fine print of ingredients had “you know what”.