DIET SODAS

New Study Shows Drinking Diet Soda Daily May Severely Increase Risk Of Heart Attack And Stroke

by David Gutierrez, staff writer

(NaturalNews) Regular diet soda consumption may significantly raise your risk of heart attack and stroke, according to a study conducted by researchers from the University of Miami and published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine.

Researchers surveyed 2,564 residents of New York City over the age of 68 about their consumption of both diet soda and non-diet soft drinks. They analyzed the data in such a way as to control for potential confounding factors, including age, body mass index, sex, race/ethnicity, education, alcohol consumption, smoking, and daily consumption of calories, carbohydrates, protein, fat, saturated fat and sodium. They also controlled for any effect of underlying health conditions including metabolic syndrome, cardiac disease, diabetes, hypertension, hypercholesterolemia and peripheral vascular disease.

Even after controlling for all these variables, the researchers found that people who drank diet soda daily had a 44 percent higher risk of certain cardiovascular conditions than those who drank such beverages less frequently. A total of 31 percent of the daily diet soda drinkers had suffered a heart attack, stroke, or death from cardiovascular disease by the end of the study, compared with only 22 percent of the less-regular consumers.

No increase in cardiovascular risk was observed from consumption of regular (non-diet) soda.

Something about diet beverages?
Because the study looked only at correlation, the researchers could not say for certain whether the diet soda itself was causing the cardiovascular problems observed.

"What we saw was an association," lead researcher Hannah Gardener said. "These people may tend to have more unhealthy habits."

Indeed, the researchers did find that daily drinkers of diet soda did tend to weigh more, have less healthy cholesterol levels, and higher rates of high blood pressure and diabetes than other study participants. The researchers' statistical analysis should have controlled for the effect of these factors, however.

Some research has linked artificial sweeteners with increased food consumption weight gain in animals. Other studies have linked the zero-calorie sweeteners aspartame and saccharin with other health problems, including headaches, ringing ears, cancer and disorders of the nervous system.

It was important that the Miami researchers examine diet soda consumption directly, because previous studies have already established a solid link between the consumption of any carbonated beverages and an increased risk of cardiovascular disease. For example, a study published in the journal Circulation in 2008 found that consuming one or more carbonated beverages daily corresponded with a 48 percent higher risk of metabolic syndrome, regardless of whether the soda was diet or sugary. Likewise, participants who began the study without metabolic syndrome were 44 percent more likely to develop it if they drank one or more carbonated soft drinks a day.

Metabolic syndrome is a cluster of linked symptoms associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, such as central obesity, high blood fat, high blood sugar and poor cholesterol levels.

The Circulation study, which was part of the ongoing Framingham Heart Study, found that daily soda consumption also worsened many of these symptoms. Regular soda drinkers were 25 percent more likely to suffer fasting hyperglycemia and to have elevated blood triglycerides, 30 percent more likely to have a larger waist circumference, 31 percent more likely to be classified as obese, and 32 percent more likely to have low levels of HDL ("good") cholesterol.

Sources for this article include:

http://www.reuters.com

http://www.springerlink.com/content/b042807u865853t7/

http://www.naturalnews.com/022588.html

Suzanne

I know of a person who died of a heart attack a few days ago who was addicted to drinking Diet Coca Cola.

Studies Show Diet Soda Is Linked To Belly Fat, Type 2 Diabetes and Obesity

by Raw Michelle

(NaturalNews) While most people who drink diet soda probably know it isn't the healthiest choice, they still may be under the mistaken impression that it will keep their weight down. Scientific studies emphasize this is not true.

This was made clear in a recent study published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society in which 749 people were followed for nine years based on soda consumption, both diet and regular.

Those who eschewed the diet soda gained an average of 0.8 inches around their waists over the course of the study. Conversely, those who drank diet soda on a daily basis gained 3.2 inches. Participants who drank diet soda only occasionally showed an increased waist circumference of 1.8 inches.

Diabetes risk increases with diet soda consumption

In perhaps graver news, a study published by the American Diabetes Association showed that daily consumption of diet soda was linked to a significantly greater risk of select metabolic syndrome components and type 2 diabetes.

The same study demonstrated a 67 percent greater relative risk of incident type 2 diabetes of those who consumed diet soda daily, compared with non-consumption. It also showed a 36 percent greater risk of incidence of metabolic syndrome.

Metabolic syndrome is defined as a cluster of conditions - increased blood pressure, high blood sugar level, abnormal cholesterol levels, and excess body fat around the waist - that occur together, increasing the risk of heart disease, stroke and diabetes.

In more bad news for diet soda fans, a study in France that followed more than 66,000 women for 14 years found a strong correlation between those who drank artificially sweetened beverages and increased diabetes risk.

Particularly disturbing: Women who drank at least one 20-ounce diet soda per week had a risk for diabetes more than double that of women who did not consume any sweetened beverages.

The Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA) showed that drinking diet soda at least once daily was associated with high waist circumference and a 67 percent greater risk of type 2 diabetes seven years later.

Adding insult to injury, in the San Antonio Heart Study, subjects of normal weight who consumed more than 20 diet beverages per week nearly doubled their risk of being overweight or obesity over an eight-year time period.

So if you are hoping to save calories by grabbing a diet soda instead of a sugar-laden one, your intentions are positive, but you will get a poor return on your investment. Have a drink of water instead and you can prevent a multitude of health and weight problems.

Sources:

www.rttnews.com

care.diabetesjournals.org

www.mayoclinic.org

www.diseaseproof.com

www.mesa-nhlbi.org

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Suzanne

Diet soda harms your body, does far more harm than good

by Amy Goodrich

(NaturalNews) Diet soda is the health-conscious choice for those watching their weight, right? It has no sugar, and saves on calories, while still satisfying the sugary urge through artificial sweeteners like aspartame (Equal, NutraSweet), saccharin (SugarTwin, Sweet'N Low), acesulfame potassium (Sunett, Sweet One) or sucralose (Splenda). However, before you pop open that can of diet cola, know that these so-called healthier drinks come with their own set of harmful side-effects.

Have you ever known one single person who actually lost weight by making the switch to diet soda? Probably not. According to an opinion piece published in Trends in Endocrinology & Metabolism, diet soda drinkers have the same health problems as those who drink regular soda.

From adding inches to your waist to increasing the risk of diabetes, diet soda doesn't score any better in terms of health than regular sugary drinks.

Artificial sweeteners playing nasty tricks

The sweet taste of artificial sweeteners in diet soda tricks the body into believing it is getting a proper meal. This, however, creates confusion. While it is expecting calories and energy, it gets a useless chemical instead.

Susan Swithers, a behavioral neuroscientist and professor of psychological sciences, and author of the opinion piece, said that when you mess up your whole system through regular consumption of artificial sweeteners, your body will have difficulties in processing real sugar, because the fake sugar has tricked it so many times. As a result, the body will not release blood sugar and blood pressure regulating hormones when a heavy diet soda drinker consumes real sugar, which in turn can lead to serious health issues.

While for many people diet sodas are associated with weight loss, the report noted that diet soda drinkers often tend to pack on more weight than those who don't. CNN diet and fitness expert Dr. Melina Jampolis explained that the sweet taste of fake sugars triggers the release of insulin which lowers blood sugar levels. If there are no carbs consumed, blood sugar levels will continue to drop, causing hunger and cravings for sweet foods, which can result in overeating and weight gain.

Furthermore, the review highlighted the fact that diet soda drinkers who maintained a healthy weight still had a significantly increased risk of heart disease, stroke and diabetes – the top three killers in the United States.

Swithers noted that though many people believe diet sodas are the healthier option, in reality, besides being mindful about how much sugar we consume, we should also be mindful about our fake sugar intake.

Diet soda industry goes into defense mode

Immediately after the publication, the American Beverage Association went into defense mode, stressing that the report was nothing more than somebody's opinion, not a scientific study, and should therefore not be taken seriously.

"Low-calorie sweeteners are some of the most studied and reviewed ingredients in the food supply today," the association said in a statement. "They are safe and an effective tool in weight loss and weight management, according to decades of scientific research and regulatory agencies around the globe."

Just because the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved these artificial sweeteners doesn't mean they are safe for regular consumption. As reported by Swithers, all these sweeteners are chemicals. Take Saccharin for example: It was one of the first artificial sweeteners on the market, and it's made from tar – yes, that dark, thick, flammable liquid distilled from wood or coal and used to build roads.

And if you thought that you're better off with stevia as your go-to sweetener, think again. Natural sweeteners such as stevia are often highly processed and play the same tricks on your body as the artificial sweeteners.

"Just because something is natural does not always mean that it is safer," Jampolis said.

Sources for this article include:

Edition.CNN.com

Purdue.edu

Cell.com

-Suzanne

That's funny, in a sad sort of way.

Everyone wants to know how to eat junk food without suffering the consequences.

Wonder what about eating actual stevia "leaves"? Do they play the same tricks as the others? My guess is there's something else in the leaves (carbs!) which stops the tricking of your body.

That is sad Daryl. I hope their heart was right with God.

Diet can be such a difficult thing to be disciplined by. We eat so often even when it is only twice a day! But, I generally believe that is a good enough amount of food.

Even though juices can have a lot of sweetness and calories, these healthy sweeteners really don't create the problems we see in the general population.