Chosen for less calories and great taste, diet soda may cause serious health problems.
A10-year epidemiological study published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine has found a connection between diet sodas and cardiovascular disease.
Sodas have been linked to obesity and metabolic syndrome, butthis study founddaily consumption of diet soda to beassociated with a risk of stroke, heart attack and death.
In an interview with The New York Times, Hannah Gardener, an epidemiologist at the University of Miamiand the lead author of the study, said the correlation found may be caused by underlying factors.
The message for diet soft drink drinkers is not to be alarmed, Gardener said. What weve found is an association, and it might be due to chance or other unmeasured variables.
Merrill Christensen, a professor of nutrition, dietetics and food science at BYU, said the study may not be viable because the connection was not strong enough to prove it was statistically significant.
The only significant difference in risk is found when comparing those who drink one or more a day versus those who drink one or less a month, Christensen said. What you want to see in order for a study to be significant is an equal increase in increments.If the soda intake increases from one a week to two a week, then risk of heart disease should increase as well.
Christensen said he does recognize that not drinking sodas may decrease the chances of heart disease.
If you are 70-years-old and go from drinking more than one diet soda a day to drinking no diet soda, it may decrease the risk [of heart disease], Christensen said.It also depends on how healthy you are in the first place.
Susan Fullmer, a BYU professor of nutrition, dietetics and food science, said the study does not provide sufficient evidence because it was an epidemiology study.
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Study finds correlation between diet sodas and cardiovascular disease
