By Katie Davis I n the largest study done of its kind, by The University of Iowa in which 60,000 women were sampled over ten years shows that diet drinks are no better for you than sugar sweetened drinks and maybe even worse. 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. With growing concerns about health epidemics on both sides of the boarder this study has shown again that aspartame, which is the main sweetener for diet soda, is one of the most dangerous ingredients used in our food and one of the leading factors in many health issues. The study shows that women who drink two or more diet drinks a day havemuch higher cardiovascular disease rates and are more likely to die from the disease. Plus compared 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 heart attack or stroke and 50 percent more likely to die from cardiovascular related
disease. The association persisted even after researchers adjusted the data to account for demographic characteristics and other cardiovas- cular risk factors, including body mass index, smoking, hormone therapy use, physical activity, energy intake, salt intake, diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol, and sugar-sweet- ened beverage intake. Thankfully this study comes on the heels of con- tinuing reports of already slipping sales of diet soda as consumers try to make better choices as there contin- ues to be growing awareness of the obesity epidemic and growing health concerns surrounding sugar and arti- ficially sweetened beverages.
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MAY 2017 • SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE
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