Drinking two or more diet beverages a day linked to high risk of stroke, heart attacks
Uh oh. Two or more diet drinks a day? I’m in big trouble. I ain’t no spring chicken so I have to look at these habits. I love diet drinks. I love coffee too. Lets look at the article. Here is the link. https://www.cnn.com/2019/02/14/health/diet-soda-women-stroke-heart-attack/index.html
“More bad news for diet soda lovers: Drinking two or more of any kind of artificially sweetened drinks a day is linked to an increased risk of clot-based strokes, heart attacks and early death in women over 50, according to a new study by the American Heart Association and American Stroke Association.
The risks were highest for women with no history of heart disease or diabetes and women who were obese or African-American.
These data are concerning because of the number of subjects in the study. If you look at studies and there are 20 people in the study, the results of that study can be questioned. In this study there were 80,000 women who were being asked about how many artificially flavored drinks they were having per day. The thing that is most eye opening is the fact that even if you had no increased risk of heart disease, you increased your risk of heart attack and stroke just by drinking two or more diet drinks a day. This suggests to me that any benefit you get from having both sides of the family devoid of heart disease is negated by just two or more diet drinks a day. I am not suggesting totally negated, but it is clear that these numbers should make us stop and think about our diet drink habit.
“After controlling for lifestyle factors, the study found that women who consumed two or more artificially sweetened beverages each day were 31% more likely to have a clot-based stroke, 29% more likely to have heart disease and 16% more likely to die from any cause than women who drank diet beverages less than once a week or not at all.
The analysis then looked at women with no history of heart disease and diabetes, which are key risk factors for stroke. The risks rose dramatically if those women were obese or African-American.”
The key statement here is “after controlling for lifestyle factors”, probably smoking, diet or activity levels.
Should you be concerned if you are female over 50, obese or African-American? I would definitely consider keeping my diet drink consumption to one a day, and even better, stick to water.
“This study, as well as other research on the connection between diet beverages and vascular disease, is observational and cannot show cause and effect. That’s a major limitation, researchers say, as it’s impossible to determine whether the association is due to a specific artificial sweetener, a type of beverage or another hidden health issue.”
Remember that this is only an association. There is no cause and effect. That is a limitation, but until we have more answers. I would limit diet drinks.