Diet Sodas Found to Increase Risk for Strokes and Heart Attacks

As if those who love diet sodas haven't heard enough bad news (they don't help you lose weight, and may lead to Type 2 diabetes), now they have another reason to give them up.  If you have loved ones who drink lots of diet sodas (and I have many of them), you might want to pass this along to them:

As for diet soda, the researchers concluded that:

"This study suggests that diet soda is not an optimal substitute for sugar-sweetened beverages, and may be associated with a greater risk of stroke, myocardial infarction, or vascular death than regular soda."

While more research will likely be needed to confirm this potential link, there’s plenty of evidence showing that aspartame can be dangerous to your health. I believe aspartame is, by far, the most dangerous artificial sweetener on the market. Reports of adverse reactions to the US FDA also supports this, as aspartame accounts for over 75 percent of the adverse reactions to food additives reported to the FDA!

Further on in the article, Dr. Mercola cites several reasons why aspartame (brand names include Equal and Nutrasweet) are so dangerous:


What Makes Aspartame so Dangerous?

Aspartame is made up of:

• Phenylalanine: 50 percent
• Methanol (aka wood alcohol/poison): 10 percent that is formed from breaking the ester bond linkage of aspartic acid and pheylalanine.

Each of these comes with its own set of health hazards, which you can read more about on my aspartame page. Additionally, diketopiperazine (DKP) is created as a byproduct of aspartame metabolism in your body, and DKP has been implicated in the occurrence of brain tumors.

OK, wood alcohol (isn't that the stuff that made people go blind during Prohibition?) and brain tumors!  Scary stuff, indeed.  Here's the link to read the full article:   New Study says Diet Sodas Increase Risk of Stroke

I'll bet that reading about the dangers of Aspartame will make your loved ones (or you?) think twice before gulping down another diet soda.  Seltzer with a squeeze of lime makes a nice soda, for those weaning themselves off of diet sodas.  I know, it ain't sweet, but it is delicious and thirst quenching.