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2 diet drinks a day associated with 26% increase in mortality study finds

What do you make of this study of 450,000 people by the World HealthOrganisation?

“Consuming two diet drinks a day could increase the risk of early death by more than a quarter, the World Health Organisation has warned.

The global study of more than 450,000 adults in 10 countries - including the UK - found that daily consumption of all types of soft drinks was linked with a higher chance of dying young.
But the rates for those drinking artificially-sweetened beverages were significantly higher than those consuming full sugar versions, the WHO research found.
Their experts today said consumers were better off sticking with water.
The research, which tracked participants for an average of 16 years, is the largest study to examine links between soft drink consumption and mortality.
The new research found death rates among those consuming at least two diet drinks a day were 26 per cent higher than among those who had less than one month.
This group also saw their chance of being killed by cardiovascular disease rise by 52 per cent.”
Experts said it was possible that people drinking diet drinks were doing so because they were obese or had diseases such as diabetes, but said the study had tried to adjust for that.

Professor Mitchell Elkind, incoming president of the American Heart Association, said "other studies have suggested biological mechanisms may include an impact on insulin signalling in the liver.

The study, led by the International Agency for Research on Cancer, part of WHO, was observational - meaning it did not prove that the drinking habits caused the higher death risks.

I drink 2 to 5 diet drinks a day on average and find this large study has given me pause for thought.
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Replies

  • puffbrat
    puffbrat Posts: 2,806 Member
    Link?
  • SwindonJogger
    SwindonJogger Posts: 325 Member
    edited September 2019
    Sorry, forgot to add the link;
    https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/article-abstract/2749350

    ah, thank you Puffbrat, beat me to it.
  • puffbrat
    puffbrat Posts: 2,806 Member
    "Results In total, 521 330 individuals were enrolled. Of this total, 451 743 (86.7%) were included in the study, with a mean (SD) age of 50.8 (9.8) years and with 321 081 women (71.1%). During a mean (range) follow-up of 16.4 (11.1 in Greece to 19.2 in France) years, 41 693 deaths occurred. Higher all-cause mortality was found among participants who consumed 2 or more glasses per day (vs consumers of <1 glass per month) of total soft drinks (hazard ratio, 1.17; 95% CI, 1.11-1.22; P < .001), sugar-sweetened soft drinks (HR, 1.08; 95% CI, 1.01-1.16; P = .004), and artificially sweetened soft drinks (HR, 1.26; 95% CI, 1.16-1.35; P < .001). Positive associations were also observed between artificially sweetened soft drinks and deaths from circulatory diseases (≥2 glasses per day vs <1 glass per month; HR, 1.52; 95% CI, 1.30-1.78; P < .001) and between sugar-sweetened soft drinks and deaths from digestive diseases (≥1 glass per day vs <1 glass per month; HR, 1.59; 95% CI, 1.24-2.05; P < .001)"

    The full article was behind a paywall so I only read the summary. I find it interesting that the comparisons in the results summary are usually greater than or equal to 2 drinks per day compared with less than 1 per month. That is a huge range. I agree with SuzySunshine that you can't read causation into this, especially when looking at such a huge sample over a long period of time. I would need to read the full article including methods and results before concluding much more than saying it may not be a great idea to drink 2 or more soft drinks every day.
  • Orphia
    Orphia Posts: 7,097 Member
    People drinking diet drinks are likely trying to lose weight or eat less calories.

    As has been already mentioned, the correlation is there because of the causes of death.

    They would be at risk of circulatory diseases because of obesity.

    They would be at risk of digestive diseases due to obesity from high intake of food with poor nutrition (being the most common form of malnutrition).

    And many more mixtures of these.


    In 2012, only 36 of 177 countries had average weights that were not overweight. No countries had average weights that were underweight.

    You can check your own measurements/average against other countries data in 2012. (I'd love to see this updated.)

    https://www.bbc.com/news/health-18770328


  • Jthanmyfitnesspal
    Jthanmyfitnesspal Posts: 3,515 Member
    So, if my risk was 5%, it's now risen to 6.25%.

    It's a smaller effect than that: Their result says that, if your risk of dying from cancer was 0.1%, drinking two sodas (sugar or artificial) every day increases it to 0.126%. This is always the problem with quoting an increased risk for something that has a pretty low risk.

    (Note that they do not quote the rate of getting cancer, which is pretty high, unfortunately. They only consider the risk of dying from cancer, which is considerably lower, fortunately.)
  • Carlos_421
    Carlos_421 Posts: 5,132 Member
    What do you make of this study of 450,000 people by the World HealthOrganisation?

    “Consuming two diet drinks a day could increase the risk of early death by more than a quarter, the World Health Organisation has warned.

    The global study of more than 450,000 adults in 10 countries - including the UK - found that daily consumption of all types of soft drinks was linked with a higher chance of dying young.
    But the rates for those drinking artificially-sweetened beverages were significantly higher than those consuming full sugar versions, the WHO research found.
    Their experts today said consumers were better off sticking with water.
    The research, which tracked participants for an average of 16 years, is the largest study to examine links between soft drink consumption and mortality.
    The new research found death rates among those consuming at least two diet drinks a day were 26 per cent higher than among those who had less than one month.
    This group also saw their chance of being killed by cardiovascular disease rise by 52 per cent.”
    Experts said it was possible that people drinking diet drinks were doing so because they were obese or had diseases such as diabetes, but said the study had tried to adjust for that.

    Professor Mitchell Elkind, incoming president of the American Heart Association, said "other studies have suggested biological mechanisms may include an impact on insulin signalling in the liver.

    The study, led by the International Agency for Research on Cancer, part of WHO, was observational - meaning it did not prove that the drinking habits caused the higher death risks.

    I drink 2 to 5 diet drinks a day on average and find this large study has given me pause for thought.

    Bolded the important part.

    Correlation =/= causation.
  • weatherwoman94
    weatherwoman94 Posts: 14 Member
    The media loves to scare people. It's profitable
  • phildog50
    phildog50 Posts: 31 Member
    I drink diluted Crystal Light. In other words... water. Hopefully the plastics leaching into the water supply won't kill me
  • Orphia
    Orphia Posts: 7,097 Member
    CSARdiver wrote: »
    90% of people polled stated that propaganda is effective.

    Fear and/or quick assumptions are more energy-efficient than thinking slowly when faced with a lion on the savannah.

    Fear is not much help if you endlessly want to prove a negative.

    Thinking slowly about nutrition can lead to better results.

    Actually, today the WHO recommended more information on nutrition in health services.

    https://www.who.int/news-room/detail/04-09-2019-stronger-focus-on-nutrition-within-health-services-could-save-3.7-million-lives-by-2025
  • Jthanmyfitnesspal
    Jthanmyfitnesspal Posts: 3,515 Member
    phildog50 wrote: »
    I drink diluted Crystal Light. In other words... water. Hopefully the plastics leaching into the water supply won't kill me

    Something is eventually going to get each and every one of us. Personally, I want to die laughing.