A recent study has determined that diet drinks aren’t quite as harmless as consumers might previously have thought. According to the American Heart Association’s findings, drinking two or more diet drinks a day has shown a link to a higher risk of stroke in women over the age of 50.
“We all worry about our weight. So you choose a diet drink, thinking, ‘OK, there’s no calories in it. I’m doing something good for my body,’” said the senior author. “But you are also tricking your brain to start a metabolic process for sugar that isn’t there.”
The problem with that, is when the body doesn’t get what it’s expecting, it becomes confused on how to respond. In essence, your pancreas produces insulin to deal with anticipated sugar. But when no sugar arrives, the metabolic process is disrupted. As a result, when you actually do consume sugar, your body isn’t sure what to do. It’s been fooled too many times. Consequently, over time this disruption can lead to obesity, diabetes and a host of health problems.
In the AHA study, researchers analyzed data on 81,714 postmenopausal women between the ages of 50 and 79. The study had an average follow-up time of nearly 12 years.
Researchers found that women who reported drinking more than one diet soda or other artificially sweetened drink a day had a higher risk of stroke caused by a blood clot. The association between diet drinks and stroke risk was even stronger in African-American women.
In fact, compared with women in the study who consumed diet drinks less than once a week or not at all, women who consumed two or more per day were:
-
23 percent more likely to have a stroke.
-
31 percent more likely to have a clot-caused (ischemic) stroke.
-
29 percent more likely to develop heart disease (fatal or non-fatal heart attack).
-
16 percent more likely to die from any cause.
Additionally, women who drank two or more artificially sweetened beverages a day but had no history of heart disease or diabetes were 2.44 times more likely to have a stroke caused by blood clot than those who didn’t. That disparity rose to 3.93 times in African-American women.
The study did not focus on specific brands of drink or artificial sweeteners.
The AHA recognizes that diet drinks may help replace high calorie, sugary beverages but recommends water (plain, carbonated and unsweetened flavored) as the best choice for a no-calorie drink.
“The key here — like it is with just about anything — is moderation. Sure, it’s not the fun answer, but we just need to be smart about how much of anything we eat or drink,” the author said. “If something seems too good to be true, it probably is.”
https://web.musc.edu/about/news-center/2019/03/14/diet-sodas-linked-to-increased-risk-of-stroke-in-women-over-50
https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/full/10.1161/STROKEAHA.118.023100
http://sciencemission.com/site/index.php?page=news&type=view&id=publications%2Fartificially-sweetened&filter=22
Latest News
Abusive drugs hijack natura…
By newseditor
Posted 23 Apr
Mechanism of action of the…
By newseditor
Posted 23 Apr
Role of fat in rare neurolo…
By newseditor
Posted 23 Apr
How protein synthesis in de…
By newseditor
Posted 22 Apr
Atlas of mRNA variants in d…
By newseditor
Posted 22 Apr
Other Top Stories
A missing link between tau and memory loss
Read more
Regulating monocyte differentiation and atherosclerosis development
Read more
Transcription factor mediated signaling in axonal regeneration
Read more
The science behind bodily secretions
Read more
A protein with power to improve heart function
Read more
Protocols
A programmable targeted pro…
By newseditor
Posted 23 Apr
MemPrep, a new technology f…
By newseditor
Posted 08 Apr
A tangible method to assess…
By newseditor
Posted 08 Apr
Stem cell-derived vessels-o…
By newseditor
Posted 06 Apr
Single-cell biclustering fo…
By newseditor
Posted 01 Apr
Publications
Exploiting pancreatic cance…
By newseditor
Posted 23 Apr
Structure of antiviral drug…
By newseditor
Posted 23 Apr
Type-I-interferon-responsiv…
By newseditor
Posted 23 Apr
Selenium, diabetes, and the…
By newseditor
Posted 23 Apr
Long-term neuropsychologica…
By newseditor
Posted 23 Apr
Presentations
Hydrogels in Drug Delivery
By newseditor
Posted 12 Apr
Lipids
By newseditor
Posted 31 Dec
Cell biology of carbohydrat…
By newseditor
Posted 29 Nov
RNA interference (RNAi)
By newseditor
Posted 23 Oct
RNA structure and functions
By newseditor
Posted 19 Oct
Posters
A chemical biology/modular…
By newseditor
Posted 22 Aug
Single-molecule covalent ma…
By newseditor
Posted 04 Jul
ASCO-2020-HEALTH SERVICES R…
By newseditor
Posted 23 Mar
ASCO-2020-HEAD AND NECK CANCER
By newseditor
Posted 23 Mar
ASCO-2020-GENITOURINARY CAN…
By newseditor
Posted 23 Mar