Attention frequent soda drinkers...

[Dexter Dogg]

Diet Soda A Day Linked With Higher Risk Of Stroke, Heart Attack



Here's another reason why you might want to curb that diet soda addiction.

A new study in the Journal of General Internal Medicine shows that drinking diet soda every day is linked with a higher risk of stroke and heart attack.

Researchers from the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine and the Columbia University Medical Center examined the soda-drinking habits of 2,564 people who participated in the Northern Manhattan Study over a 10-year period.

The researchers found that people who reported drinking diet soda on a daily basis had a 43 percent higher risk of having a vascular event than people who didn't drink any soda, even when accounting for conditions like high blood pressure and diabetes.

However, researchers did find that people who tended to drink diet soda more occasionally -- between six a week and once a month -- and people who drank regular soda didn't have the increased risk of a vascular event.

Study researcher Hannah Gardener warned that more research is needed, but said in a statement that the "results suggest a potential association between daily diet soft drink consumption and vascular outcomes. However, the mechanisms by which soft drinks may affect vascular events are unclear." Gardener previously presented her findings last year at the International Stroke Conference.

Health.com reported that people who drink diet drinks -- not just soda -- don't just stop at one: They drink several of the drinks a day.

Diet Soda A Day Linked With Higher Risk Of Stroke, Heart Attack

[Rushpuppy]

Well, somethings gotta kill me.

[Sams Mom]

Well, somethings gotta kill me.

[Nick]

The real question is do diet cokes cause cardiovascular disease, or do people with risk factors for cardiovascular disease drink diet cokes? In full disclosure, I don't drink any kind of soft drink as the acid tends to inflame my reflux and I already have the esophagus of a 90 year old man.

[georgie]

Well I am doomed. I am addicted to diet coke.

[BauersMom]

The real question is do diet cokes cause cardiovascular disease, or do people with risk factors for cardiovascular disease drink diet cokes? In full disclosure, I don't drink any kind of soft drink as the acid tends to inflame my reflux and I already have the esophagus of a 90 year old man.

That was my thought as well (not the 90 year old esophagus part, but the part before that).

[Delmonico]

Well, somethings gotta kill me.

[Delmonico]

Oh I don't drink it because it leaves a nasty taste in my mouth.

[Melissa]

My insides are fairly well pickled in aspartame.

[gregk9]

I'm not surprised. That diet stuff is nasty!!!