Diet Soda Linked To Heart Risks?

maybe stress..since ppl may consume soft drinks for the caffeine..and stress+agression iso proven t raise blood pressure and increase Coronary heart disease. But this seems farfetched as well since lots of ppl who are NOT stressed drink pop

Fortunately, with all of my fondness for 'junk' food, soda was something I never cared for. I hope reseach into this continues...especially with so many kids drinking sodas...

I think there is definately a connection between health problems and consumption of soda. I have noticed how my cravings for healthy food versus junk food increases or decreases when I drink soda or not. I don't know why, and I suppose it really does not matter why, but for me, drinking soda encourages my cravings for junk food. It also does not make a difference to me if it is diet or regular. If I drink soda, I crave junk food. So if I drink water instead, my cravings for good wholesome food starts coming back.

I just saw this article myself come across EurekaAlert. Andrea's observation is interesting. I think that it is likely that there is some factor X that, when increased, increases both metabolic syndrome and the likelihood of drinking soda of some form.

Definitely weird.

My vote goes to the "behaviour". People who are nutrition conscious are (I assume) less likely to drink soda excessively, whereas people, who eat junk food or have otherwise bad eating habits, are usually those, who take soda instead of "cleaner hydration methods" (ie, drinking water or natural teas etc).
This reminds me of a popular belief that meat is a root of all cardio+cancer evil. It is simply neglecting the fact that some people CHOOSE which meat they eat (and what they eat along), while the others stuff themselves with (excessive quanitites) of fat meat, eat too much in too few meals, have a high intake of sugar, they smoke, don't excercise and lead a very unhealthy lifestyle. They end up with cardiac arrest and all the "civilization" illnesses. But is the meat consumption to blame?

So is the soda consumption to blame?

It's not just the caffeine - I switched to caf-free sodas about 15 years ago. Didn't have a single soda with caffeine or calories since. No caffeine in anything. But I drank caf-free diet Coke for the whole time - at least 2-3 a day. 150 pounds increase later, there are other reasons for the weight increase, but I'm wondering now how much of it was the sodas!

I never knew of heart risks associated with diet soda's, but we try our best to stay away from diet drinks due to the mood factor. In the past my husband consumed a daily amount of diet soda. We found he frequently was very depressed and withdrawn. I, on the other hand, noticed whenever I had too much diet soda I would lose my temper extremely easily and almost become a raving lunatic. We eventually came to the conclusion that when we stopped drinking the diet soda, the mood swings went away. We are much happier now that we have found some green, white and herbal teas that are great iced, and keep a pitcher always on hand, when we want a touch of flavor.

I had a cousin who had similar symptoms to certain artificial sweetners. Perhaps it is a predisposition in some people. I thought I remember hearing about research that was done to look into that connection, but thought the outcome was that it was unrelated.

We just know that we feel much better without it and so we choose to stay away from it.

I agree with Andrea. Having been on a low carb no sugar diet I could not find anything to drink without having aspartimine in it. So I drink water and an occasional diet rite (which has splenda in it) I feel a 100 times better. I don't crave junk food at all and to date I have lost 41# and many inches. I feel great!! I have also stop buying any type of soda for my family. We are all feeling much better. Unsweetened decaffinated tea is also really good....Come on everyone give it a try. Stop drinking any type of soda and I promise you will drop your weight and feel so much better!!! Good Luck!!

tjasa:

Meat gets a bad rap. There's nothing wrong with everyday moderate consumption of lean beef, turkey, chicken, fish. It's the triple-bacon cheeseburger that gives meat a bad reputation. But is that mystery-patty the same as a NY Sirloin? I think not. One has benefits(sirloin), the other not.

I don't know if I'm completely convinced. My mother in law has metabolic syndrome and she never drinks soda and never has. She does eat a lot of crap, though...simple carbs and lots of high fat, high sugar foods.

I was always SUSPICIOUS of diet soda for quite sometime wasn't surprised that this report came out(DUH!)I have been avoiding all sodas diet and regular for more than a year now and lost inches and never gained any new weight as a result I now religiously drink brewed tea and good old filtered FREE tap water, bottled water from the store has a lot of sodium and you'll end up losing money than weight!

My freinds said recently she heard on the radio that each diet drink you consume daily effects your metabolism, but didn't hear how. Does anyon know if it lowers your metabolism?

Maybe it is not the "soft drink" drink... but the carbonation?!?

Heh...........thats weird. Maybe it's the caffeine?
..........is it even healthy for a 13 yr-old to drink caffeine?

I stopped drinking anything with artificial sweeteners long ago. Every couple of years a new report surfaces trying to link them to cancer. That's enough warning for me, the F.D.A isn't what it used to be.

My Diet "How I lost over 100lbs"
http://my-gut.blogspot.com/

Thanks for your article. Now I'm aware that diet or not, soda has bad effect on our health. It is never too late to try healthy drinks such as Rice and Shine, with its vitamins, minerals and antioxidants, it will make you healthier and looking younger.

I am not surprised by the results of the research linking diet soda to the metabolic syndrome since all the dark colored sodas have caramel color added which is an Advanced Glycation Endproduct (AGE). These compounds are created by fusing a sugar to a fat or protein under high heat. They are also formed in your body whenever your blood sugar levels are elevated. They are known to cause damage at the cellular level and lead to the metablic syndrome.

Besides being in diet and regular sodas (see caramel color), they are created whenever we cook with high heat and brown or carmelize food. They are also in coffee and chocolate because the beans are roasted.

They are frequently added to manufactured food for coloring and flavor, i.e. pumpernickel bread, syrups, soups, gravies, eggnog, and canned meats. Donuts and french fries turn golden because of these compounds.

Caramel color is called a "natural color" and sometimes that is all you will see on the label.

About the study mentioned above:
It would have been interesting to separate out the diet soda drinkers who drank a clear diet soda (without caramel color) vs the colored varieties to see if the link with metabolic syndrome remained.

want diet soda's has no sugor's and no salt's either and has no cal help me please want to lose weigth lease.

i think its very intresting that people would drank so much diet soda lik yea

yea i think its very intresting that people who drink diet soda can have a risk of many diseases and i think they should make a drink that dosnt give you those risks

I would like a clear, colorless soda beverage that contains nice flavor (could be cola flavor or fruit) that has 50 milligrams of caffeine. Any such product that you know of?

Or shall I just wash a half of a No-Doze pill down with some Wal-Mart colorless flavored soda water?