I’ve never understood why people on diets exclusively drink “diet” sodas — does advertising work that well? For starters, diet soda tastes like crap, offers absolutely no dietary benefits, and are full of aspartame. Whether or not aspartame converts to formaldehyde, there’s nothing natural about the stuff. So it comes as no surprise that a recent study found a link between drinking diet soda and strokes.
The study tracked the habits and health of 2,500 adults in Manhattan for nearly ten years. Those who drank diet soda had a 48% higher chance of either stroke or heart attack than those who didn’t drink soda at all. So far, the entire science between the finding hasn’t been concluded, but the study says the link exists regardless of factors like exercise, smoking, diabetes, weight and alcohol consumption. Even healthy people are victim to the diet soda. The researchers are now looking to explore the health effects further. Dr. Steven Greenberg, a neurologist and vice chairman of the International Stroke Conference in California, said this is “a wakeup call to pay attention to diet sodas.”
[via blisstree]