Posted on 07/23/2007 3:13:48 PM PDT by HarmlessLovableFuzzball
TORONTO (CP) - For those who drink diet pops in the belief that sugar-free beverages are healthier than regular soft drinks, new research suggests they should think again.
A huge U.S. study of middle-aged adults has found that drinking more than one soft drink a day - even a sugar-free diet brand - may be associated with an elevated risk for metabolic syndrome, a cluster of factors that boosts the chance of having a heart attack or stroke and developing diabetes.
"We found that one or more sodas per day increases your risk of new-onset metabolic syndrome by about 45 per cent, and it did not seem to matter if it was regular or diet," Dr. Ramachandran Vasan, senior investigator for the Framingham Heart Study, said Monday from Boston.
"That for me is striking."
Metabolic syndrome is associated with five specific health indicators: excess abdominal fat; high blood sugar; high triglycerides; low levels of the good cholesterol HDL; and high blood pressure.
"And other than high blood pressure, the other four . . . all were associated with drinking one or more sodas per day," said Vasan, a professor of medicine at Boston University.
Having metabolic syndrome is known to double the risk of heart attack and stroke, as well as boosting the risk of diabetes.
The study included nearly 9,000 observations of middle-aged men and women over four years at three different times. The study looked at how many 355-millilitre cans of cola or other soft drinks a participant consumed each day.
The researchers found that compared to those who drank less than one can per day, subjects who downed one or more soft drinks daily had a:
-31 per cent greater risk of becoming obese (with a body mass index of 30 or more).
-30 per cent increased risk of adding on belly fat.
-25 per cent higher risk of developing high blood triglycerides or high blood sugar.
-32 per cent higher risk of having low HDL levels.
But Vasan and his colleagues, whose study was published Monday in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association, are unsure what it is about soft drinks that ratchets up the risk of metabolic syndrome.
"We really don't know," he said. "This soda consumption may be a marker for a particular dietary pattern or lifestyle. Individuals who drink one or more sodas per day tend to be people who have greater caloric intake. They tend to have more of saturated fats and trans fats in their diet, they tend to be more sedentary, they seem to have lower consumption of fibre."
"And we tried to adjust for all of these in our analysis . . . but it's very difficult to completely adjust away lifestyle."
Dr. David Jenkins, director of the Risk Factor Modification Centre at St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto, said previous studies have suggested that diet pops did not have the same effects on weight and health as do naturally sweetened soft drinks.
"The unusual thing that needs comment is they (the study authors) say that the diet colas are the same as the calorically sweetened colas," said Jenkins. "So I think that is the piece that they've put into this puzzle . . . I think we need a lot more scrutiny of that."
Jenkins said he believes that high consumption of soft drinks likely goes along with eating a high-calorie diet.
"I think the disappointing thing is if you thought you were doing (yourself) a major service - which you always used to think - by taking diet drinks, this is not helping you," he said. "Before we were saying take the diet (drink) and you're OK. Now were saying: 'Watch it."'
The study also begs the question whether there is some ingredient in soft drinks - regular or diet - that may encourage metabolic syndrome.
But Dr. Arya Sharma, chair of cardiovascular obesity research at McMaster University, said there is nothing suggested by the authors of the study that would lead to that conclusion.
"One thing that they say and other people have said before is if you drink a lot of sweet things, then you are sort of conditioning yourself for that sweet taste," Sharma said Monday from Hamilton. "So people who drink diet pop may be eating other sweets, whether that comes in the form of dessert or other things, I don't know."
"It may be that people who are drinking diet pop - and we have this effect often with people who go on diets or when people go running or whatever - that you do a little bit of something that you think is good, and then you overcompensate by doing more of something that is bad."
"The idea could be because I'm drinking diet pap, I can afford to splurge on dessert."
Vasan said he cannot out-and-out recommend that people stop drinking soft drinks based on this study, because the findings are based on association, not clear cause and effect.
"The simple message is eat healthy, exercise regularly and everything should be done in moderation," he said. "If you're a regular soda drinker you should be aware that this study adds to the evidence that regular soda may be associated with metabolic consequences."
"If you're a diet soda drinker, stay tuned for additional research to confirm or refute these findings."
I drink diet soda, and I'm not fat.
APf
The Wikipedia article mentions that there is a strong genetic link. However I have never heard anything about the cause of Type II diabetes being narrowed down to a single recessive gene. An awful lot of people seem to have it these days.
Thanks for the explanation. My doc has never mentioned this testing method and I’m a little surprised it’s news to me as i try to keep up on these matters; I’ll see if he’s aware of it next checkup.
That simply is not true. They have no more unnatural chemicals than regular colas ,Preservatives etc.
Yeah, that was my point. They are filled with unnatural chemicals, just like regular sodas.
20% of the people over age 65 is probably still less than 20 million people. So both of these facts could be true.
If you look at the label, you will find that there is also a lot of sodium in soft-drinks. I’ve cut back, but not quit entirely. I like my fake sugar fix too much.
I drink at least a two liter of diet Sundrop a day (0 calories) with average caloric intake around 2800 a day. Last visit to the doc heartrate of 64, total cholesterol 145 (with all the other tris and bad in the right places) and I exercise 4 times a week. So much for being sedentary.
People with Type II diabetes tend to be THIRSTIER than people who don't have Type II diabetes.
This frequently happens, both here and in Wikipedia.
When you have a genetically linked disease the incidence simply cannot exceed the number of folks with the gene (or combination of genes)in the requisite configuration.
5% of the US population is 15 million people. That's going to include those who have only one set of either allele grouping (of the requisite genes), and they don't develop Type II (assuming this is a recessive situation). Only 1/4 of that 15 million can have two sets of the alleles. That yields just under 4 million people with type II.
If it's not a "recessive" situation, then those who have either set of the requisite alleles are going to have it. That gets us up to 3/4 of the 15 million who have the suspect gene grouping. That would get you a maximum of just over 11 million people who will ultimately be diagnosed with Type II. This also means that nearly half of all those who can develop Type II actually show symptoms of Type II.
It's been known for many decades that people who adhere to a low glycemic diet which is high in vegetable oils and vegetables will not show symptoms of Type II diabetes, and that those who do show those symptoms can actually reverse course by adopting a new low carbohydrate diet.
It’s a blood test. It costs more. I have 4 of them a year.
It wasn’t linked to a single gene but to a group of genes. The group seems to be dominant. However, with correct diet and exercise regimes the genes will work correctly and you won’t suffer Type II.
I’m from the Government. We want y’all to live almost forever. That is why we have the “Nanny State.” That way, we can turn some of you into Soylent Green. The rest will get either Alzheimer’s Disease or dementia and (1) fall down elevator shafts or (2) get hit by subways as you wander around in your adult diapers.
Those dying young increase greenhouse gases through worm emissions.
Have a nice day and keep paying your taxes.
GS-22 Frank Sheed
Dept. of Population Genetics
Please ignore the fact that auto accidents kill hundreds of times more people than diet cola in any given year.
This is one article about it. There are others.
The science is very new. Notice the reference to 10 genes. They are not all linked but I'm pretty sure that the one for high triglycerides is associated but not all Type IIs have it.
VEry good point, and even if they aren’t they are told to increase their fluids (water, beer, diet soda) to assist their kidneys.
That proves two things ~ 1. Type IIs pay attention to their doctors, and 2. Somebody's spying on them.
Hmmmmm?!?!?!?!?!@@@@@@
Sorry for the misunderstanding
There is a problem with construct validity here. Caloric high fructose corn syrup laden soda and non-caloric artificial sweetener soda must have different mechanisms for creating metabolic syndrome, unless it is the CO2 to blame.
I have read several articles in scientific journals that say aspartame can provoke an insulin response, even if blood sugar levels do not go up. And it’s a fact that the body cannot store excess energy as body fat unless insulin is present. So it does make sense that one could still become insulin resistant (and ultimately a diabetic) from consuming lots of aspartame. BTW, Splenda doesn’t have that same effect.
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