Soda, we all love it, and yet it seems to bring us nothing but heartache (and diabetes and cancer). Sure, you can switch to the "diet" stuff, but that a) won't actually help your diet and b) also may well lead to heart disease, according to new research. At least water won't kill us, right?
But back to the latest bad news for pop fans. According to a study of 2,564 Manhattan residents over 40, those who drink diet sodas daily have an increased risk of suffering cardiovascular disease—think stroke, heart attacks and death. And that's even after controlling for "age, sex, race/ethnicity, education, smoking, physical activity, alcohol consumption, BMI, daily calories, consumption of protein, carbohydrates, total fat, saturated fat, and sodium" (try and say that five times fast).
At least in the end the researchers admit that "further research is needed before any conclusions can be made regarding the potential health consequences of diet soft drink consumption." Still, the study's lead author assures the Times that if you stop sipping diet sodas you "are not going to be missing out on any important vitamins or minerals." Just sweet, sweet Nutrasweet.
