Diet Soda Cause for Health Concerns in Older Adults?
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Stockbyte/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) — Diet sodas are popular among weight watchers, with millions of people drinking it to stave off calories. But is it possible some are paying a price in their health? New research suggests the low calories could come with higher risk.
A study, published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine, followed more than 2,500 men and women age 69 and older.
Researchers at Columbia University and the University of Miami found that — over the next 10 years — those who drank a diet soda every day were 44 percent more likely to suffer a heart attack or a stroke.
However, the authors note that daily diet-soda drinkers tend to be heavier and more prone to such risk factors as high blood pressure, diabetes and problem cholesterol. So the association between diet soda and disease does not prove that the drinks alone are at fault.
For now, the study’s lead author Hannah Gardner says there’s not enough reason for diet drinkers to change their behavior.
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