Diet Soda linked to Dementia and Stroke

 

Can Diet Soda Do More Harm Than Good?

A recent study in the medical journal Stroke (see below), showed that people who consumed one or more cans of artificially sweetened diet soda daily had a three times increased risk for stroke and/or dementia over a decade compared with those who never drank diet soda.

Although many studies have documented the negative effects of sugary drinks, the study raises the possibility that diet drinks may not be healthy alternatives.

Can Diet Soda Do More Harm Than Good?

AORIGINAL CONTRIBUTion: 

Matthew P. Pase, Jayandra J. Himali, Alexa S. Beiser, Hugo J. Aparicio, Claudia L. Satizabal,Ramachandran S. Vasan, Sudha Seshadri, Paul F. Jacques

https://doi.org/10.1161/STROKEAHA.116.016027 

Stroke. 2017;STROKEAHA.116.016027

Originally published April 20, 2017

Abstract

Background and Purpose—Sugar- and artificially-sweetened beverage intake have been linked to cardiometabolic risk factors, which increase the risk of cerebrovascular disease and dementia. We examined whether sugar- or artificially sweetened beverage consumption was associated with the prospective risks of incident stroke or dementia in the community-based Framingham Heart Study Offspring cohort.

Methods—We studied 2888 participants aged >45 years for incident stroke (mean age 62 [SD, 9] years; 45% men) and 1484 participants aged >60 years for incident dementia (mean age 69 [SD, 6] years; 46% men). Beverage intake was quantified using a food-frequency questionnaire at cohort examinations 5 (1991–1995), 6 (1995–1998), and 7 (1998–2001). We quantified recent consumption at examination 7 and cumulative consumption by averaging across examinations. Surveillance for incident events commenced at examination 7 and continued for 10 years. We observed 97 cases of incident stroke (82 ischemic) and 81 cases of incident dementia (63 consistent with Alzheimer’s disease).

Results—After adjustments for age, sex, education (for analysis of dementia), caloric intake, diet quality, physical activity, and smoking, higher recent and higher cumulative intake of artificially sweetened soft drinks were associated with an increased risk of ischemic stroke, all-cause dementia, and Alzheimer’s disease dementia. When comparing daily cumulative intake to 0 per week (reference), the hazard ratios were 2.96 (95% confidence interval, 1.26–6.97) for ischemic stroke and 2.89 (95% confidence interval, 1.18–7.07) for Alzheimer’s disease. Sugar-sweetened beverages were not associated with stroke or dementia.

Conclusions—Artificially sweetened soft drink consumption was associated with a higher risk of stroke and dementia.