Remember the big hullabaloo a few years ago about how artificial sweeteners were supposed to cause cancer? That turned out to be a false alarm. But, now, scientists have uncovered what appears to be a strong link between artificially sweetened beverages and increased risk of stroke for older women…
Theresa Rowley from Grand Rapids, Michigan, celebrated her 104th birthday
January 1, 2018. And she told WZZM-TV13 her secret to a long life was…
Diet Coke every day! Doctors and scientists caution that her case is
an exception, and the jury is still out on artificial sweeteners.
The American Heart Association reports new clinical findings showing a significant increase in the risk of stroke for post-menopausal women who consume more than one Diet Soft Drink (Soda) or other artificially sweetened beverage a day.
What they did…
Researchers data-mined ongoing reports from 81,714 post-menopausal women (ages 50-79 years at start) across the U.S. looking at their consumption of ‘diet’ beverages.
A digest of the study report described their method:
Researchers analyzed data on 81,714 postmenopausal women (age 50-79 years at the start) participating in the Women’s Health Initiative study that tracked health outcomes for an average of 11.9 years after they enrolled between 1993 and 1998. At their three-year evaluation, the women reported how often in the previous three months they had consumed diet drinks such as low calorie, artificially sweetened colas, sodas and fruit drinks. The data collected did not include information about the specific artificial sweetener the drinks contained.
Other major stroke risk factors such as age, high blood pressure, and smoking were taken into account in arriving at the final numbers.
What they found…
Compared with women who consumed diet drinks less than once a week or not at all, post-menopausal women who consumed two or more artificially sweetened beverages per day were:
- 23 percent more likely to have a stroke;
- 31 percent more likely to have a clot-caused (ischemic) stroke;
- 29 percent more likely to develop heart disease (fatal or non-fatal heart attack); and
- 16 percent more likely to die from any cause.
The takeaway…
“Many well-meaning people, especially those who are overweight or obese, drink low-calorie sweetened drinks to cut calories in their diet,” said Dr. Yasmin Mossavar-Rahmani, Lead Author of the study and Associate Professor of Clinical Epidemiology and Population Health at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx, New York. “Our research and other observational studies have shown that artificially sweetened beverages may not be harmless and high consumption is associated with a higher risk of stroke and heart disease.”
Since the study did not keep track of which artificial sweeteners were consumed by which subjects, it makes no conclusions about how harmful one sweetener may be compared to others.
But researchers do say their findings definitely show that more, and more-specific research is needed on the issue.
My take…
It would be a shame if specific widely-used artificial sweeteners were positively linked to stroke in older women. As Mossavar-Rahmani noted, many folks in the post-50 demographic rely on ‘diet’ beverages to help control their weight. Most of the people I know in that group do generally choose artificially-sweetened beverages over sugary ones.
I also want to see further research in to the mechanism by which artificial sweeteners effect the cardio-vascular system. And, of course, I support the survey’s call for further research into which artificial sweeteners may be more dangerous than others.
But most of all, I caution women in the survey’s target age group not to panic over the survey’s findings. And always rely on the specific advice of your GP on health matters like this one.
~ Maggie J.