Boston University diet soft drinks increase the risk of stroke and dementia

Study examines effects of consumption of diet drinks
Many people want to lose weight or just generally eat healthier. Those affected often try to stop consuming sugary drinks or replace them with diet drinks. Researchers have now discovered that drinking diet sodas is linked to strokes and dementia.

Researchers at the Boston University School of Medicine found that consuming diet drinks increases the risk of stroke and increases the likelihood of dementia. The physicians published the results of their study in the medical journal "Stroke".

Diet soda is supposed to cause people to consume less sugar. Researchers now found out in an investigation that consuming diet soda increases the risk of stroke and dementia. (Image: Markus Mainka / fotolia.com)

Diet sodas can triple the risk of dementia and stroke
Are you one of the people who want to eat less sugary drinks and therefore now use diet soda? If this is the case, then consumption could well have negative consequences for your health. Experts found a connection between dementia, strokes and the use of diet sodas. When people drink diet sodas daily, their risk of developing stroke or dementia is about three times higher than people who consume diet sodas only once a week or less, the doctors explain.

Results show only a correlation
The increased risk includes so-called ischemic stroke and Alzheimer's disease, the most common form of dementia, explains author Matthew Pase of the Boston University School of Medicine. The researchers emphasized that the results show no cause-and-effect relationship, but only a correlation. People should still be careful with the consumption of diet sodas.

Disadvantages of consuming sugary drinks
However, consumers of diet soda should not simply switch back to sugary drinks, says the author. Sugary drinks are associated with obesity and its consequences, such as diabetes. In addition, these drinks are associated with poorer memory and a smaller total brain volume, the researchers explain.

Physicians examine over 4,000 subjects
The study tracked a total of 2,888 people from the age of 45 years. The physicians examined thereby the increased probability for a stroke. In addition, 1,484 participants aged 60 years or older were examined for an increased risk of dementia. The research carried out spanned a period of ten years, the researchers say.

How much diet sodas increase the health risks?
The physicians found in the study that people who take diet sodas daily are 2.96 times more likely to be at risk of ischemic stroke and 2.89 times more likely to have dementia compared to humans. who rarely ate diet sodas.

Drink more water instead of lemonade or diet soda
The results have been adapted to variables such as age, sex, calorie intake, dietary quality, physical activity and smoking, the authors explain. The end result of the study is, so to speak, that people should drink more water and less diet sodas. And above all, those affected should not resort to normal lemonades, the experts add. (As)