Study Shows Links of Diet Drinks on Heart Diseases

Experiencing palpitations can be very normal and Web MD described it as the heart is skipping a beat, beating too fast, or fluttering just like what you experience when you meet that guy on the night of your prom. However, if your heart is skipping a beat because of diet beverages and sweeteners, this is a different story.

A new study reported by CNN suggests that artificially sweetened beverages or diet beverages may also not be a healthy substitute for the sugary ones. In a statement, Eloi Chazelas, a doctoral student and member of the nutritional epidemiology research team at the Paris Nord University, said that the study's data provide additional arguments on fueling the current debate on taxes, regulation, and labeling of artificially sweetened and sugary drinks.

Dr. Andrew Freeman, a cardiologist, and co-chair of the American College of Cardiology, although not being a part of the study said in an interview with CNN that it is not beyond our knowledge that drinking sugar-sweetened beverages are bad for our cardiovascular health.

Dr. Freeman added that a lot of people might think artificially sweetened beverages are better than sugar-sweetened ones, but he added that there is recent evidence in the last two years that suggests possible harms from artificially sweetened beverages particularly in women.

(Photo: Igor Ovsyannykov)

ALSO READ: Should You Completely Remove Diet Soda From Your Diet? Here's What One Expert Says

Effects

According to the American College of Cardiology, a study known as Women's Health Initiative Observational Study involving women completed ongoing medical exams and surveys about their health, lifestyle, and diet. Frequent consumption is defined in this study as two or more diet drinks a day including artificially sweetened ones.

Led by Yasmin Mossavar-Rahmani, Ph.D. from Albert Einstein College of Medicine and also published in the American Heart Association, the study's result shows that frequent diet drinkers have 23% greater risk for stroke, 16% greater risk for mortality, and 29% greater risk for heart disease compared to rare drinkers of diet beverages. Researchers also found out that they also have a greater risk for Ischemic Stroke than those who rarely or never drank diet drinks.

The study also notes that high consumption of diet drinks who were obese and shows no history of stroke risk factors such as heart disease and diabetes were twice as likely to have a stroke due to a clot. Dr. Mossavar-Rahamani stated that more research is needed to find out what aspect of the diet drinks is harmful.

What should you do?

American Beverage Association's spokesperson Danielle Smotkin told CNN via email that low and no-calorie sweeteners are deemed safe by regulating bodies across the globe. He also said that they support World Health Organization's call for people to reduce sugar in their diets and they are doing their part by innovating beverages with less sugar or zero sugar, clear calorie labeling, and responsible practices.

On the brighter side, Sylvia Wassertheil-Smoller, Ph.D., the principal investigator that worked with Dr. Mossavar-Rahamani in the study emphasized that their study should not lead women to panic when they consume diet beverages occasionally. However, she added that it is prudent to try to prevent themselves from these drinks.

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