The idea of a zero calorie soft drink may be appealing to some women, but a new study says those sodas could be detrimental to heart health.
According to a study presented at the American College of Cardiology’s 63rd Annual Scientific Session, diet soda increases a person’s likelihood of suffering a cardiovascular issue by 30 percent and increases their chances of dying from the condition by 50 percent.
“Our findings are in line with and extend data from previous studies showing an association between diet drinks and metabolic syndrome,” said study leader Dr. Ankur Vyas, a cardiovascular researcher at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics. “We were interested in this research because there was a relative lack of data about diet drinks and cardiovascular outcomes and mortality.”
Soda Study
For their study, researchers asked over 60,000 women to fill out a survey about their diet soda consumption over the previous three months. A drink was classified as one 12-ounce diet beverage, and participants were asked to select one of the four following consumptions options:
- 0-2 diet drinks or more a day.
- 5-7 diet drinks a week.
- 1-4 diet drinks a week.
- 0-3 diet drinks a month.
Researchers followed up with study participants years later, with an average follow-up time of 8.7 years, to track how many of them had experienced a cardiovascular event. They found:
- 8.5 percent of women who consumed 0-2 more diets drinks or more a day suffered a cardiovascular event.
- 6.9 percent of women who consumed 5-7 drinks a week suffered a similar event.
- 6.8 percent of women who consumed 1-4 diet drinks a week suffered a heart-related event.
Researchers say their data remained consistent when adjusted for demographic and cardiovascular risks, like BMI, smoking, physical activity and diet. Dr. Vyas also stopped short of calling the study a cause-and-effect relationship.
“We only found an association, so we can’t say that diet drinks cause these problems,” Vyas said. “It’s too soon to tell people to change their behavior based on this study; however, based on these and other findings we have a responsibility to do more research to see what is going on and further define the relationship, if one truly exists. This could have major public health implications.”
Dr. Silverman comments
Dr. Vyas may have stopped short of saying diet soda causes heart issues, but, as the saying goes, if it looks like a duck and walks like a duck, it’s probably a duck.
If it looks like diet soda causes health issues, and people who admit to drinking excess diet soda have experienced more heart issues, it’s probably a good idea to avoid diet soda if you value your health.
Related source: RedOrbit.com