According to a new study conducted by the researchers from the Boston’s University School of Medicine, people who consume Diet Soda or a can of artificially sweetened beverage on a regular basis are more prone to suffer from a stroke.
Quenching your thirst by sipping a glass or a can of diet soda can cost you your health. In order to follow a healthy diet, many people have started consuming “diet drinks” in place of their regular bottle of artificially-sweetened beverages.
The study also stated that those consuming diet drink, were 2.9 times more likely to suffer from Alzheimer’s.
However, it was later proven that the risk associated with Dementia was comparatively low vis-a-vis strokes.
The study conducted is a “hypothesis-generating” and not a direct link to the cause and effects associated with the consumption of diet soda. According to researchers, the study is a warning sign and alerts people to be more cautious about their beverage consumption. Compared to the previous studies, which had only focused on how artificially sweetened beverages can cause strokes, the latest one is the first to find a link with Dementia.
The study method
For the study, the researchers observed the self-reported diet for two different sets of people, who were a part of the study conducted at the Framingham Heart Study.
The researchers studied the beverage consumption of 2,888 people, who were above the age of 45, for their stroke analysis. The other set of 1,484 people were analyzed for Dementia, and they were above 60 years of age. For around more than seven years, the researchers used a prepared set of food frequency questionnaires. The next 10 years were studied to see who developed stroke and dementia.
Diet soda increases the risk of strokes?
At the end of the follow-up period, researchers found that 3 percent of the people developed stroke (in total 97 strokes), out of which a confirmed 82 were ischemic. The researchers found that 5 percent of the participants were affected by dementia (81 cases in total), and 63 were identified with Alzheimer’s.
According to the results, it was found that people who consumed diet soda everyday were 2.96 times more likely to develop Ischemic Stroke, when compared to those who had them once a week.
The study’s results were based on smoking habit, age, physical activity, diet quality, sex, as well as calorie intake of the subjects. The research reflected that, diet soda or any kind of sweetened beverages, have higher chances of causing obesity or other heart-related ailments. The study affirms that diet soda consumption can have adverse effects on one’s health.
