How Thirsty are you? Diet Soda anyone?

fabulousfebe

(BlackDoctor.org) -- Diet soda may seem to be a healthier alternative to calorie-laden regular soda, but a new study shows that people who regularly drink diet soft drinks may be putting their hearts at risk.

Those who drank diet soda on a daily basis were at an increased risk of experiencing stroke, heart attack and death due to these conditions, according to the study.

"Our results suggest a potential association between daily diet soft drink consumption and vascular outcomes," study researcher Hannah Gardener, an epidemiologist at the University of Miami's Miller School of Medicine, said in a statement.

To analyze the relationship between both diet and regular soft drink consumption and heart disease, researchers studied the data of 2,564 participants in the Northern Manhattan Study, which was designed to determine stroke incidence, risk factors and prognosis in a multiethnic urban population.

Working in collaboration with researchers at the Columbia University Medical Center, Gardener and her colleagues looked at how often each participant drank soft drinks, whether the beverages were diet or regular, and the number of strokes, heart attacks and heart-disease related deaths that occurred among the participants over a 10-year period.

After taking into account pre-existing conditions, such as diabetes and high blood pressure, the researchers found that people who drank diet soft drinks daily were 43 percent more likely to have had a stroke or heart attack, or died of heart disease, than those who did not drink diet soda.

The study also showed that those who drank less diet soda (who drank it between once a month and six times a week), as well as people who drank regular soft drinks, were not more likely to suffer suffer vascular events.

Previous research has also linked diet soda with a higher risk of stroke and heart attack.

The researchers noted that it remains unclear how soft drinks may affect a person's risk of heart disease.

"There is a need for further research before any conclusions can be drawn regarding the potential health consequences of diet soft drink consumption," Gardener said.

The study was published Jan. 26 in the Journal of General Internal Medicine.

Pass it on: People who drink diet soft drinks on a daily basis may be putting themselves at an increased risk of suffering vascular events such as stroke, heart attack and vascular death.

By Charlotte Evans, BDO Staff Writer

DieVixen

Did you know that by being alive your chance of death is increased by 100%?

I will continue to enjoy my yummy soda

hauer01

Thank you for sharing. I just gave up Soda for lent, so I am hoping that this will help me kick the habit for ever.

Krizzle4Rizzle

I love diet squirt more than oxygen!

ludogx87

Did you know that by being alive your chance of death is increased by 100%?

I will continue to enjoy my yummy soda

LOL i agree :laugh:

Matt_Wild

What control measures were in place?

crawpapa

Jones Cream Soda....FTW!

PepeGreggerton

If my diet soda doesn't kill me, a car, my ex-wife, or some other random event will.

ninerbuff

"There is a need for further research before any conclusions can be drawn regarding the potential health consequences of diet soft drink consumption," Gardener said.

This should be where the conversation stops. Current science doesn't show that diet soda is as harmful as that article is making it. You have a higher risk of a car accident if you drive. Same if you fly in a plane.

Don't believe the hype unless there is "conclusive" evidence.

A.C.E. Certified Personal Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 28+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

Punkedpoetess

Did you know that by being alive your chance of death is increased by 100%?

I will continue to enjoy my yummy soda

^^^ This. I will continue to enjoy diet soda. There are riskier things I could be doing than drinking diet soda.

tinalatina

So Glad I gave it up 2 months ago! 9 lb loss since!!!

tsh0ck

"There is a need for further research before any conclusions can be drawn regarding the potential health consequences of diet soft drink consumption," Gardener said.

This should be where the conversation stops. Current science doesn't show that diet soda is as harmful as that article is making it. You have a higher risk of a car accident if you drive. Same if you fly in a plane.

Don't believe the hype unless there is "conclusive" evidence.

A.C.E. Certified Personal Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 28+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

but ... but ... but ... artificial flavoring! sugar substitutes! man-made nutrients! non-organic! aaaahhhhhh!

(23 pounds down in 70 days, diet soda on most of them and, every two weeks or so, a 44-ounce diet dr pepper with cherry and vanilla flavoring added. seems my weight loss is still working out.)

carpp107

Captain Morgan and Coke Zero......Low-Cal & Tasty!!!!!!

bobthesmogs

So Glad I gave it up 2 months ago! 9 lb loss since!!!

Yes, as ironic as it sounds... Diet Coke makes you fat! Gave mine up 3 days ago, here's hoping I can stay away from it forever.

mickipedia

Also various artifical sweeteners have been linked to cancer.. Aspartamine is one of them.. can't remember the other.

But this is ridonkilous amounts you have to drink for it to cause issues.. I mean like mulitple cans every day.

I no longer drink any fizzy drinks as they just make me feel bloated.. I much prefer have some sort of juice or ribena

MattBoySlim

I cut down on diet soda over the last few months but havent really noticed any health benefits, although i save a few pennies.

I do wonder with these studies whether or not they are missing an important factor, when you read headlines like, 4x more likely to be obese when drinking diet soda or higher risk of heart disease if drinking diet soda, and that is, are diet soda drinkers generally already obese before they start drinking diet soda, are they already at risk of higher heart disease etc etc etc from being over weight, after all is there any need to opt for diet when your regular sized, so I wonder if these studies look at number of obese diet soda drinkers compared to regular soda's, or what % converted from regular to diet after gaining weight, what proportion are drinking diet to lose weight.

Does diet soda get a bad rep, because people are using it as part of a cure, as opposed to it being the cause.

EricNCSU

Perhaps those who were drinking the diet soda were overweight and already at higher risk of all that stuff? Just maybe? LOL

JeanniebeanL79

Diet soda is the worst !!! I will not put that in my body

NoAdditives

I don't care what healthy risks are associated with diet sodas, I will never be desperate enough to drink one. Artificial sweeteners are disgusting.

sma83

Diet soda just tastes nasty anyway! I dont drink soda anymore, but if I ever wanted one I would just have 1 can of the regular stuff. At least its full of real sugar and not man-made artificial sweetners that cause cancer. And it tastes a hell of a lot better!

LabRat529

Here we go again. *sigh* There's at least one alarmist post about diet soda nearly every day. And I say the same thing in all of them.

The alarmist articles are not based on good science. There are *some* scientific papers that I'd consider quality that demonstrate that:

Artificial sweeteners can increase insulin levels.
Artificial sweeteners can increase appetite.
Artificial sweeteners at high concentrations can increase the risks of tumor development in rats.

But for every paper that makes a negative claim about artificial sweeteners, there are DOZENS that claim the opposite.

Regarding the "oh no, it's acidic" claims- the acid in your stomach is pH 2. The acid in diet coke is pH 3 to 4. The pH of your intestines (where nutrients are actually absorbed) is basic, though I don't remember the exact pH. Your body has no problem neutralizing the acids. None. And there is no evidence that the acid you eat will effect your blood pH and therefore the pH of your body to any significant degree. It's not going to happen. And it's unlikely you can really blame the diet coke for loss of bone density (not impossible, but unlikely).

And regarding the aspartame turns into formaldehyde scare- methanol is turned into formaldehyde and methanol is found at low levels in other foods we eat, even the 'natural' stuff.

And... that's about it.

Any claims that diet coke is making you fat, etc... is in my opinion, alarmist nonsense, despite the 'testimonials' you will read that say 'oh I gave it up and lost weight without making any additional changes to my diet'.

That said... diet coke or diet anything is hardly a 'health drink', so there is nothing wrong with avoiding it if you choose.

But the lets-scare-everyone thing gets old.

IveLanded

Lots of people do plenty of unhealthy things while losing weight and are "successful". That doesn't mean it's good. I have a friend who lost 30lbs by ONLY drinking diet soda. That was it. She didn't eat, she just drank diet soda.

For me, losing weight is about an overall process of treating myself better. I don't HAVE to drink soda, and it's ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS a better choice to put water into your body if you're thirsty. If ANY food or drink has that much control over you, I would question how successful you'll be in the long term in your weight loss and health goals.

I guess anyone can nit pick anything to justify a bad habit.....but if you HAVE to nit pick to justify it then maybe it's not the best thing.

RayRay1500

I do not drink anything but water, however, my mother has been drinking diet coke since the beginning of time. We are both healthy, only I am fatter :laugh: They need to state other factors of the participants in the study. Were they on a high fat diet? Did they have family history of heart problems, diabetes??

Crimson_

90% of the time you can make 50% of any statistac say whatever you want it to, 50% of the time...


did they consider that most the people that are drinking the diet soda may have already been morbidly obese(not to say they all are or everyone who drinks it is) but lets be honest if you weren't on a "diet" you wouldnt drink diet soda, so these people already had problems and then not to mention the average person that particpates in these studies are people in need of money cause they arent paid very well for the study, so they probably were already malnourished...


just sayin.

jilers

Thank you:drinker:

ItsCasey

It drives me nuts to hear people say "diet soda makes you fat." It has ZERO CALORIES!!! Please explain to me how something that has no calories is putting fat on your body.

Now, if you're stupid, and you think that drinking diet soda is a permission slip to eat more calories or drink other calorie-dense beverages, well, it's not the diet soda that is making you fat.

As for other health risks, you don't put anything in your mouth that doesn't carry some level of health risk. In short, I think we should get over it.

rjmwx81

Oh good. Another diet soda thread.

TheDevastator

I don't see the point in drinking diet soda and there's no nutritional value in it. There are many better stimulants out there like ginseng.

Matt_Wild

I don't see the point in drinking diet soda and there's no nutritional value in it.

What like water? Simply taste. We are fickle creatures, we enjoy tasting our food and drink.

rjmwx81

I don't see the point in drinking diet soda and there's no nutritional value in it. There are many better stimulants out there like ginseng.

It allows me to get my caffeine without any calories. Caffeine makes me more awake and puts me in a better mood, and being in a better mood and keeps me from beating up people who annoy me in the morning. This keeps me out of prison, where the food is awful and not particularly nutritious. So that's the nutritional value.

tsh0ck

I don't see the point in drinking diet soda and there's no nutritional value in it. There are many better stimulants out there like ginseng.

I like things that taste good. I will eat and drink things that taste good. I will do so in moderation, lose weight, be healthier and still maintain some of the pleasures of life. sounds like a good equation to me.