Diet Soda: Good or Bad for Your Heart Health
Research is shedding light on the impact drinking diet soda can have on your health. A study with 2,500 participants was presented at the American Stroke Association International Stroke Conference. Study results found those who drank diet soda daily had a 61 percent increased risk of cardiovascular events versus those who did not consume soda. These results remained even when factors such as smoking, physical activity levels, alcohol consumption, and dietary intake were taken into account.
Researchers did go a step further and took into account these 3 situations:
- Metabolic Syndrome
- Peripheral Vascular Disease
- Cardiac Disease History
When these were factored in, the cardiovascular risk associated with drinking diet soda did decrease to 48%… 48% is still significant.
The connection between diet soda and cardiovascular risk appears to be related to metabolic syndrome. Metabolic syndrome is the name given to a group of risk factors that raise your risk for heart disease. These risk factors include: Continue reading
Diet Soda Linked to Vascular Complications
At one time did you make a switch from regular soda to diet as a “positive” change for your health?
I know I made the switch back in about 1993. Fortunately, I don’t drink soda daily and even cut it completely out of my diet for months at a time, but based on the more research that comes out I need to just eliminate it permanently.
According to Hannah Gardener and fellow researchers from the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine and the Columbia University Medical Center in New York, regular soft drink consumption and moderate intake of diet soft drinks are potentially linked to a higher risk of vascular events.
Gardener and fellow researchers analyzed 2,564 patients in the Northern Manhattan Study funded by the National Institutes of Health. The study was designed to determine stroke incidence, risk factors, and prognosis in a multi-ethnic urban population.
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