Guzzling as little as one diet soda a day could put people at higher risk for serious diseases, according to a troubling new study.
Those who drank at least one artificially-sweetened drink a day nearly triple their risk of developing stroke or dementia, the American Heart Association’s journal Stroke said.
Researchers said they only found an association between artificially sweetened beverages and the health issues – not that the drinks directly caused them.
And they recommended that people lay off sugary drinks, too.
“Although we did not find an association between stroke or dementia and the consumption of sugary drinks, this certainly does not mean they are a healthy option,” said lead researcher Matthew Pase. “We recommend that people drink water on a regular basis instead of sugary or artificially sweetened beverages.”
The researchers analyzed about 2,900 people who were over the age of 45 for the stroke study and nearly 1,500 people over the age of 60 for the dementia portion.
Study participants were mostly white, and Pase said it is possible that different preferences within ethnic groups may influence how often people select artificially sweetened or sugar-laden drinks.
For seven years, they tracked the participants’ eating and drinking habits and then followed up for the next 10 years to see which ones developed ischemic stroke, caused by a blockage of blood vessels, or dementia.
That’s when they found that people who drank at least one artificially-sweetened drink a day were three times as likely to develop ischemic stroke and 2.9 times as likely to develop dementia.
But Pase said the findings aren’t necessarily cause for concern.
“Even if someone is three times as likely to develop stroke or dementia, it is by no means a certain fate,” Pase said. “In our study, three percent of the people had a new stroke and five percent developed dementia, so we’re still talking about a small number of people developing either stroke or dementia.”