By Staff Writer | Feb 18, 2019
Study Warns of Diet Drinks’ Health Risks
If you spend any amount of time browsing social media websites, you have probably heard that drinking diet soda isn’t really a healthier alternative. While there are many myths surrounding the effects that diet soda has on the body, a recent study has found that there may be some truth to those online rumors. Researchers studied how diet soda impacted older women and found that, while it may help them to better manage weight, it also poses grave health risks.
The risks were highest for women with no history of heart disease or diabetes and women who were obese or African-American.
Diet Soda Raises Health Risks in Women
The study, which was published in the American Heart Association’s journal, Stroke, urges women to get rid of their diet soda habit. The researchers found that women aged 50 and older who drink more than one serving of diet soda daily increase the likelihood that they will suffer a heart attack or stroke.
Additionally, the study found that women who frequently drink diet soda are more likely to die at younger ages than those women who primarily drink water.
The research project was expansive, studying 81,714 women aged between 50 and 79 years. The researchers started tracking the women in the mid-1990s and followed each participant for a span of 11.9 years. The study sought to look at the effects that the artificial sweeteners in diet soda had on health because so many women switch to diet soda to lose weight.
The leader of the study, Yasmin Mossavar-Rahmani, pointed out that many middle-aged women turn to diet soda as a means of losing weight. While diet soda may help them reach their goals, the research suggests that the women lose weight at a terrible price. According to their findings, researchers warn that the artificial sweeteners used in these beverages raise the risks of suffering heart attacks and strokes. The more diet soda consumed by an individual, the greater that risk is raised.
A Closer Look at the Numbers
Researchers divided the women into two groups. The first group was comprised of women who consumed less than one diet soda per week and the second group was allowed to drink several diet sodas per day. The women who regularly drank diet soda exhibited a 23% increase in the risk of undergoing a stroke. This group was also 31% more likely to develop blocked arteries, which would lead to strokes. There was a 29% hike in the risk of experiencing a heart attack as well. Finally, the study revealed that regular drinkers of diet soda had a 16% higher chance of dying as a result of any causal factor.
Those women who were previously healthy increased their risk of suffering a stroke induced by a blood clot by up to 2.44 times. That number spiked to 3.93 times as likely in African-American women, but dropped to 2.03 times in obese women.
While these results are startling, Yasmin Mossavar-Rahmani warns not to read too much into the findings. The results clearly point to an association between diet soda consumption and these increased health risks, but the study did not uncover evidence to show that diet soda causes these conditions. Together with previous warnings from the AHA, this research should be used to caution women against consuming excessive amounts of diet soda. Additionally, the researchers involved with this more recent study caution against the consumption of any beverages that contain artificial sweeteners.