Diet Drinks Don't Solve the Sugar Problem

 

If you have been drinking diet sodas and other artificially sweetened beverages as a way to reduce your sugar consumption, there is some bad news you should be aware of. A 2019 study of 2,888 people ages 45 and older and published in the journal Stroke concluded that those who drank at least one artificially sweetened soda a day were about twice as likely to have a stroke over the following decade when compared to those who drank less than one a week. Drinking regular, sugar-sweetened sodas or beverages did not appear to raise stroke risk.

In addition, those who drank two diet drinks daily were almost 30% more likely to have heart disease and 16% more likely to die from any cause than those who drank one diet drink a week or less.

It is important to know that this was an observational study and does not conclusively prove cause and effect. But until a clinical study can be done, you may want to consider reducing or eliminating diet beverages.