New Study Raises More Concerns About Diet Soft Drinks and Strokes: Are You Still Addicted?

A new study has been released that raises some serious concerns about the link between the regular use of diet soft drinks and the incidence of strokes. The results of the study were presented at the International Stroke Conference in Los Angeles, California, Wednesday. Kingsport Times-News has the story on Timesnews.net.

The Findings

The study was done in North Manhattan, and the article gave these basic results:

"Daily diet soda drinkers (there were 116 in the study) had a 48 percent higher risk of stroke or heart attack than people who drank no soda of any kind (901 people, or 35 percent of total participants). That's after taking into account rates of smoking, diabetes, waistline size and other differences among the groups."

Preliminary, but Very Significant

While the lead researcher on the project, Hannah Gardener, of University of Miami, does indicate that this is being reviewed as a preliminary study, the results are definitely garnering concern and attention from the medical community. The Times-News tells us that the vice-chairman of the International Stroke Conference had this to say:

"The beverage findings should be 'a wakeup call to pay attention to diet sodas,' said Dr. Steven Greenberg ."

He is a neurologist at Harvard Medical School.

Aspartame Again?

These results do not indicate that the Aspartame used to sweeten soft drinks is the offending substance that raises a drinker's chance of a stroke. However, since its approval for use in soft drinks in the 1980's, Aspartame has been controversial. Some countries have even considered outlawing the substance because it is linked with many different problems, and many groups, agencies, and organizations have called for a ban on its production.

Here is a list of studies and laboratory tests done by independent agencies with no ties to the business end of Aspartame.

You will find references to various physical effects from the Aspartame. Among these problems, there have been mass amounts of people who have reported memory loss while drinking diet drinks with aspartame. Across the Internet, there are frequent references to Aspartame poisoning.

Commentary

I have been a long-term user of diet soft drinks. The evidence presented against Aspartame is compelling, and I have quit drinking them for periods of time. There are certain symptoms that I have seen directly affected by my use of the product: eyesight, memory, and numbing in extremities.

I am drinking a Diet Coke as I write. Addiction to Diet Coke is also an interesting subject to research online. ABC News tells us that Bill Clinton, Victoria Beckham, and Elton John are all self-professed Diet Coke Addicts. Americans spend 21 billion dollars a year on diet soft drinks.