Excess Diet Soda Consumption Increases Risk of Health Problems

[FarCenter]

By: Madeline Ellis - Published: Wednesday, 4 November 2009

What do heart disease, stroke, cancer, obesity, tooth decay, osteoporosis, diabetes, and dementia have in common? It may surprise you to know that all of these health problems have been linked to the excess consumption of soft drinks. Unless fortified, soft drinks contain little or no vitamins, minerals, fiber, protein, or other essential nutrients, and often displace other healthier choices in people’s diets, such as water, milk and tea. What they do contain—simple sugars or sugar substitutes, carbonation, caffeine, and often food additives such as artificial coloring, flavoring, and preservatives—are the real troublemakers, directly or indirectly contributing to a wide array of illnesses, some of which are listed above. But results of a new study suggest that drinking just two artificially sweetened soft drinks a day can result in an increased risk of declining kidney function; a finding that may change the way we view excess when it comes to sodas.

The study, conducted by researchers from Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, examined the effects of sodium and artificial sweeteners on kidney function among 3,256 women, median age of 67, who were already participating in the Nurses’ Health Study. The participants submitted food questionnaires that asked about their average beverage intake—whether they drank beverages less than once a month, one to four times a month, two to six times weekly, once daily but less than twice, or twice a day or more often, and whether the beverage was sugar sweetened or artificially sweetened soda.

When the researchers compared the kidney function of the women, they found that 372 had a 30 percent or more decline in kidney function. Further analysis of the diet information revealed that the decline was associated with drinking two or more artificially sweetened soft drinks a day. This held true even after considering other factors, such as age, physical activity, high blood pressure, and diabetes. Researcher Dr. Julie Lin, assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and a staff physician at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, said, “Thirty percent is considered significant,” especially since most of the participants had well-preserved kidney function at the beginning of the study.
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http://www.healthnews.com/nutrition-diet/excess-diet-soda-consumption-increases-risk-health-problems-3821.html

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

1. So does excessive worrying.

[Lorien]

6. Got a link for that assertion? nt

[CTyankee]

2. Oh you "Net Nanny," you! Who do you think you are posting this stuff?

We love our soda! Leave us alone! You want to rob us of our freedom!

[Chemisse]

3. It doesn't say which artificial sweetener was in the sodas the women were drinking

Aren't there 2 being used at this time?

[Kurovski]

4. It's just awful shit. All of it.

Booze has more to recommend it, but folks get as defensive AS drunks around the issue of how soda effects health.

I remind myself of that to protect myself from consuming it very often. oddly seductive stuff, despite the fact that most of it tastes absolutely horrible. About as tasty as cigarettes.

Blah-de-blah.

[Lorien]

7. Yep. Anyone doubting just how bad it is should watch the documentary

"sweet misery". Do you think Don Rumsfeld truly cares if he makes you sick when big profits are on the line? Defenders of diet soda must, because he's the man behind the FDA approval of NutraSweet.

[Odin2005]

5. You can take my diet sparkling green tea from my cold, dead hands.

[tilsammans]

8. Diet soda = cancer in a can

:kick: