New Study Reveals How Dangerous Diet Soda (Aspartame) Really Is…

According to an article on eatlocalgrown.com entitlted Is This the End of Diet Soda? Huge Study Links Aspartame to Major Problems, Sales Drop, drinking even small amounts of diet soda (which often contains aspartame) may be more harmful than we thought. The article reports,

“In a new study done over ten years and sampling 60,000 women, it was shown that women who drink two or more diet drinks a day have much higher cardiovascular disease rates and are more likely to die from the disease.”

The authors of this study concluded:

“…[C]ompared to women who never or only rarely consume diet drinks, those who consume two or more a day are 30 percent more likely to have a cardiovascular event [heart attack or stroke] and 50 percent more likely to die from related disease.

‘This is one of the largest studies on this topic, and our findings are consistent with some previous data, especially those linking diet drinks to the metabolic syndrome,’ says Dr. Ankur Vyas… the lead investigator of the study.

…The association persisted even after researchers adjusted the data to account for demographic characteristics and other cardiovascular risk factors, including body mass index, smoking, hormone therapy use, physical activity, energy intake, salt intake, diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol, and sugar-sweetened beverage intake.

On average, women who consumed two or more diet drinks a day were younger, more likely to be smokers, and had a higher prevalence of diabetes, high blood pressure, and higher body mass index.”

Read the full article here. 

My take on this:

As you may already know, I hate soda! Especially diet soda. If you (or your children) are still drinking it then please make every effort to remove it from your diet immediately. Even if you’re not convinced by this single associative study, please know that aspartame has been found to have a number of harmful effects in many other studies as well.

For instance, research has also shown that aspartame can interfere with our body’s satiety signals which can increase appetite which makes us eat more. Drinking diet soda has also been associated with weight gain (specifically belly fat) rather than weight loss. Finally, a plethora of studies have linked aspartame to learning and mental disorders, emotional issues, headaches, seizures and other conditions.

Our ancestors would never have touched this nonfood, nor should you. For best results, quench your thirst with high quality, filtered water or organic herbal teas. Aim for half of your weight in pounds in ounces per day. Don’t wait for more science to confirm what we already know. Kick diet sodas to the curb and reduce your risk of heart disease and weight gain immediately!