I could never develop the taste for diet soft drinks.  If it wasn’t the real thing, then I didn’t want it.  I know, regular soft drinks are loaded with sugar and aren’t good for you either.  There is just something about that carbonated burn that is thirst quenching and satisfying.  Water is good but I just can’t do it all the time.  Now comes an interesting study, one that may give diet cola drinkers pause.  What if they cause a higher incidence of vascular disease?

Sobering statistics

The Women’s Health Initiative Observational Study found the following statistics:

compared with consuming fewer than one diet drink per week or none at all, consuming two or more per day was associated with:

• a 23 percent raised risk of stroke
• a 31 percent higher risk of a stroke that results from a clot
• a 29 percent higher risk of heart disease, as in a fatal or nonfatal heart attack
• a 16 percent raised risk of death from any cause

This is a little alarming but by no means conclusive.  There are a lot of questions that need answered. 

Questions that need answered

1. What artificial sweeteners were involved and were any more problematic than others?
2. Since this was a study of post-menopausal women, how does it relate to pre-menopausal women and to men?
3. Were underlying or pre-existing conditions taken into account?

While I don’t know how much stock I put into studies such as these, I do feel that excess intake of any substance is harmful.  Water is bad if you drink too much!!!  Use some common sense…switch it up some.  Don’t consume any one thing all the time.