Diet sodas linked to heart disease, says study

26 July, 2007:

Its now official, sodas are diectly linked with heart diseases. On Monday, US researchers said that even diet sodas may be linked with increased risk factors for heart disease and diabetes.

The Us researchers found out that those people who drink sodas every day had about a 50 percent higher risk of metabolic syndrome. Metabolic syndrome is a condition of a cluster of risk factors such as excessive fat around the waist, low levels of "good" cholesterol, high blood pressure, and other symptoms.

As one starts to develop metabolic syndrome, the risk of developing heart disease or stroke doubles. With metabolic syndrome, the chances of developing diabetes also increase.

Prior studies have linked consumption of sugar-laden sodas with multiple risk factors for heart disease. But this time, the researchers from the Boston University School of Medicine found out that the link to heart diseases extend to even diet sodas.

For conducting the study, 6000 middle-aged men and women were chosen and they were kept in observation for over four years. Those who consumed sodas regularly, had a 31% more chance of becoming obese. They had a 30 percent increased risk of developing increased waist circumference -- which is an indicator of heart disease risk.

Also, soda drinkers had a 25 percent increased risk of developing high blood triglycerides as well as high blood sugar together with a 32 percent higher risk of having low high-density lipoprotein or "good" cholesterol levels.

The study also revealed that the people who drink diet soda also tend to have more or less similar dietary patterns. The study reveals that those soda drinkers eat more calories, without much exercise, take more saturated food and trans fat.