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Can Drinking Diet Coke Cause Dementia

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New Study Suggests Diet Sodas Cause Dementia – MedStar Franklin Square Medical Center

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To Drink Or Not To Drink Diet Sodas

The American Beverage Association said in a statement that the FDA and other health organizations consider artificial sweeteners safe, and no research has shown otherwise .

Scientific evidence does show us that beverages containing these sweeteners can be a useful tool as part of an overall weight management plan. Americas beverage companies support and encourage balanced lifestyles by providing people with a range of beverage choices — with and without calories and sugar — so they can choose the beverage that is right for them.

Seattle-based dietitian Angel Planells encourages people to choose water over soda of any kind. But, he says, diet soda can fit into your diet as long as you make other healthy food choices.

If you drink a diet soda, that wont make up for eating a super-size fast food meal, says Planells, a spokesman for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.

Breaking the diet soda habit, if you choose to do so, can be tough, says Planells. He recommends starting with baby steps rather than going cold turkey. If you drink five or six diet sodas a day, drop down to two, to three, and then to one. Just be sure to drink water so you stay hydrated.

Ludwig advises people who want to get off sugary drinks to consider diet soda a temporary choice.

I tell my patients to continue making the transition to unsweetened beverages, he says. We know that diet sodas are better than sugary beverages in terms of body weight, but we dont know if better is actually good.

What Happens If You Drink Too Much Diet Coke

A growing body of evidence suggests that diet soda consumption correlates with an increased risk of a wide range of medical conditions, notably: heart conditions, such as heart attack and high blood pressure. metabolic issues, including diabetes and obesity. brain conditions, such as dementia and stroke.

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Drinking Soda Tied To Poor Brain Health And Alzheimers Risk

Two new studies link soda consumption to early signs of Alzheimers disease and poor brain health. Although the studies do not prove cause and effect, they suggest that drinking sodas whether they are sugar sweetened or diet may be linked to accelerated brain aging and an increased risk of Alzheimers or other forms of dementia.

One study, in the journal Alzheimers and Dementia, looked at more than 4,000 middle-aged adults. They were given brain scans and memory tests and filled out detailed questionnaires about what they ate and drank.

The researchers, from Boston University and other research centers, found that the more sugary sodas someone regularly drank, the worse they tended to do on memory tests.Those who drank the most sugary drinks also tended to have more shrinkage of the brain. In other studies, reduced brain volume has been tied to an increased risk of developing Alzheimers disease years later.

Those who drank one or two sugary sodas a day had shrinkage of the brain that corresponded to one to two years of aging compared with those who didnt drink sugary sodas or other sugar-sweetened beverages. They also tended to do worse on memory tests, scoring about the same as someone five or six years older. A typical can of sugar-sweetened soda or similarly sweetened beverage contains up to 10 teaspoons of sugar, or about 150 calories.

We Turn To A Few Health Professionals About The Possible Health Impacts Of Regular Diet

Can Drinking Diet Coke Cause Memory Loss

Theres nothing quite like cracking open a cold can of diet soda to accompany a late-night pizza order or a piping hot plate of sesame chicken. Some days, it feels like a reward for small victories. Hours of productivity pave the way for a 2 p.m. trip to the vending machine and the bubbly stuff. But weve all seen the scary reports about the possible negative impacts of diet-soda consumption. In fact, if you drink diet soda around enough people, someone will start going off about how bad it is for you. Should we be discouraged from scrounging up quarters for a fizzy drink?

Research so far has been inconclusive. Many studies link low-calorie soda consumption to certain health risks, but science has yet to prove definitively that drinking diet soda causes strokes, heart attacks, vascular disease or depression, as frequently reported. This year, researchers with the long-running Framingham Heart Study published results in the American Heart Association journal Stroke, noting an association between consumption of artificially sweetened beverages and higher risks of stroke and dementiabut not cause and effect.

In this study and many others like it, reverse causality could provide a possible explanation. In other words, people who are already at great risk for disease made the switch from regular soda to diet soda. are already at a higher risk for some of these because of diet, lifestyle and genetics, says Marisa Moore, a registered dietitian nutritionist.

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What Happens If I Drink Pepsi Everyday

Chronic Health Diseases According to the US Framingham Heart Study, drinking one can of soda has not only been linked to obesity, but also an increased risk of metabolic syndrome, impaired sugar levels, increased waist size, high blood pressure and higher cholesterol levels, which can increase the risk of heart

Artificially Sweetened Beverages Linked To Dementia And Stroke

Boston University researchers prospectively evaluated the drinking habits of over 4000 healthy participants between 1998 and 2011. They tallied up everything participants drank including diet soda and sugar-laden soda. Then they calculated the risk of stroke for those over 45 and the risk of dementia if over 65. ;Their findings, published this week in the journal Stroke,;showed a risk of ischemic stroke , Alzheimers disease, and other dementias that increased with the amount of artificially sweetened soft drinks ingested. Even after correcting the findings for confounding factors such as age, sex, education, caloric intake, diet quality, physical activity and smoking, the diet soda-drinking men and women ended up getting Alzheimers disease 2.89 more times and stroke 2.96 more times when compared to those who did not.

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Both Sugary And Diet Drinks Correlated With Accelerated Brain Aging

Americans love sugar. Together we consumed nearly 11 million metric tons of it in 2016, according to the US Department of Agriculture, much of it in the form of sugar-sweetened beverages like sports drinks and soda.

Now, new research suggests that excess sugarespecially the fructose in sugary drinksmight damage your brain. Researchers using data from the Framingham Heart Study found that people who drink sugary beverages frequently are more likely to have poorer memory, smaller overall brain volume, and a significantly smaller hippocampusan area of the brain important for learning and memory.

But before you chuck your sweet tea and reach for a diet soda, theres more: a follow-up study found that people who drank diet soda daily were almost three times as likely to develop stroke and dementia when compared to those who did not.

Researchers are quick to point out that these findings, which appear separately in the journals Alzheimers & Dementia and Stroke, demonstrate correlation but not cause-and-effect. While researchers caution against over-consuming either diet soda or sugary drinks, more research is needed to determine howor ifthese drinks actually damage the brain, and how much damage may be caused by underlying vascular disease or diabetes.

Maybe good old-fashioned water is something we need to get used to, she adds.

Stroke Risk From All Sodas

New study suggests diet soda increases risk of dementia, stroke

That study detected a slightly higher risk of stroke in people who drank more than one soda per day, regardless of whether it contained sugar or an artificial sweetener. Although the latest study didnt detect a higher stroke risk from sugary beverages, that certainly doesnt suggest they are a better choice than diet sodas. Many studies have already shown that drinking sugary beverages on a regular basis can lead to weight gain, diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, and stroke, she notes.

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Why Carbonated Drinks Are Not Good For Health

Soda is not good for a persons health because it contains lots of sugar. Consuming too much soda may lead to weight gain, diabetes, and cardiovascular conditions. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention , most people in America consume too many added sugars, which can lead to health problems.

Your Migraine Headaches Seem Worse

The sugars and artificial sweeteners in Coke and Diet Coke may trigger headaches. Or the combo of sweeteners and the dehydrating effect of the caffeine in Cokes may put your head pain over the top. A review of headache triggers in the Clinical Journal of Pain in 2009 suggests that aspartame, the sweetener in Diet Coke and other diet sodas may make headaches worse when people susceptible to migraines consume the amount of aspartame found in five or more diet sodas.

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How Long Does Gastritis Take To Heal

Acute gastritis usually lasts for a short period of time. In most cases, it resolves spontaneously within a few days or weeks once the inflammation has settled. In other cases, however, acute gastritis can lead to recurrent or long-term inflammation of the gastric mucosa, otherwise known as chronic gastritis.

Seeing A Can Of Soda Triggers A Strong Lust For The Sweet Taste

Diet Soda and Dementia: What You Need to Know

Can you become addicted to sugary sodas? That’s hard to prove, but research does suggest that foods can be addictive. One rodent study found that sugar binging causes a release of dopamine, the so-called “happy hormone” in their brains. Will it do the same in your noggin? Other studies on humans suggest that the same neurobiological pathways that are implicated in drug abuse also control food and drink consumption. Skip the soda and opt for the 11 Healthiest Drinks for Weight Loss.

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Study Says Drinking One Diet Drink A Day Can Triple Risk Of Dementia And Strokes

Boston University researchers;found aspartame, a low-calorie sweetener, wreaks havoc on the arteries as opposed to sugar-sweetened drinks. This means drinking diet soda is far worse for your health than drinking regular soda sweetened with sugar.

The results showed that adults who had one or more diet drinks a day were 2.9 times more likely to develop dementia and 3 times more at risk of strokes compared to those who virtually had none at all. A team of scientists from Boston University believe the artificial sweeteners including aspartame and saccharine may be affecting the blood vessels, eventually triggering strokes and dementia.

This new study involved data on 2,888 adults older than 45 and 1,484 adults older than 60 from the town of Framingham, Massachusetts. The data came from the Framingham Heart Study, a project of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute and Boston University.

Researchers concluded, After adjustments for age, sex, education , caloric intake, diet quality, physical activity, and smoking, higher recent and higher cumulative intake of artificially sweetened soft drinks were associated with an increased risk of ischemic stroke, all-cause dementia, and Alzheimers disease dementia. Interestingly, despite the diet soda dementia risk and increased risk of stroke, no association was made between the naturally sweetened sodas and stroke or dementia.

Are The Results As Strong As They Appear Probably Not

All observational studies have this limitation, but its worth repeating: you simply cannot adjust for all possible covariates that might impact the outcomes and also be related to the exposure . For example, people who drink diet soda may also be, on average, more likely to do yo-yo diets, have higher stress levels, or have any of other countless behaviors that might theoretically be tied to greater risk for disease.

Another problem with the study can be seen in the highlighted numbers below: the group that consumed the most calories had a lower BMI than groups that consumed fewer calories. Very strange. This may be due to random variation, but its also possible that the Food Frequency Questionnaires used by the researchers just werent very accurate. And indeed, FFQs are not very reliable at determining what an individual has eaten over a long period of time, especially in older individuals.

Moreover, in the table below, check out all the effect sizes. They’re not all particularly large and it’s possible that they may deviate depending on what was adjusted for in a particular model. Some researchers have proposed that instead of adjusting only for a few covariates, that all possible combinations of covariates be adjusted for and the median of that be presented instead. Given that the study didn’t do this and was not preregistered, much of these results can be taken as exploratory analyses rather than confirmatory analyses.

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Alternatives To Soda: Waterwater Water

So, what is worse forhealth, drinking regular sodas or dietalternatives? The simple solution is to simply cut out bothsugary soda drinks and diet soda altogether, and just drink water or otherlow-sugar alternatives. While this may seem easier said than done, thecountless benefits of drinking water regularly are quite motivating.; Drinking water helps you lose weight, keeps youenergized, fights stress, regulates body temperature, boosts skin health, andsupports healthy digestion. The list of waters benefits go on and on.

If you are trying to reduce your intake of sugary drinks, here are a few heart-healthy recommendations to make water a little more exciting. Your heart and your body will thank you!

  • Try sparkling water withzero sugar or additives, like La Croix, which gives you that zingy soda feelingwithout the negative side effects.
  • Infuse water with freshfruits to give it a naturally sweetened flavor.
  • Drink unsweetened iced teasand add lemon or mint for an extra kick.

To learn more about cardiovascular health and maintaining a heart-healthy diet, visit our team of experts at CVG today.

CATEGORIES

What Does Coke Do To Your Insides

Diet soda risks

Within 40 minutes, the body has absorbed all of the caffeine from the cola. This caffeine causes the pupils to dilate and the blood pressure to increase. By this point, the Coca-Cola has blocked the adenosine receptors in the brain, preventing drowsiness. Just 5 minutes later, the production of dopamine has increased.

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How To Choose Better Options

I like to sweeten my desserts with natural sugars like maple syrup and honey. In my opinion, those are the best choices if you want to enjoy a sweet treat. Instead of using chemicals, I try to use natural ingredients as much as possible. If you are interested, please take a look at my 5 Sweet Treats You Dont Have To Feel Guilty About post.

If you dont feel like drinking plain water always, please see my Detox Water recipes. They will also help you improve your digestive health, plus they are super tasty and so refreshing.

I also make morning smoothies sweetened with coconut water and fruits. Try to stay away from refined sugars and artificial sweeteners as much as possible. It is really the best thing you can do for your health.

What we put in our bodies will definitely affect our health and our future health. I have seen the difference, and it is truly amazing! And if you want to detox from all the toxins and chemicals in your body, I highly recommend a good detox bath.

Can Diet Soda Increase The Chances Of Dementia

The artificial sweeteners used in diet sodasand thousands ofother processed foodsare anything but sweet. In fact, they can be toxic to thebrain. Consuming these sugar substitutes on a regular basis is not a recipe fora healthy memory.

Sherry, who weighed over 200 pounds on her 55 frame, guzzleddiet soda thinking it would help her lose weight. It didnt. Even worse, shestarted experiencing a host of symptomsdigestive issues, arthritis, forgetfulness,and confusion. In fact, Sherrys diet soda habit was hurting her brain and puttingher memory at risk.

Thats what a growing body of evidence shows. For example, a study in the journal Stroke found that drinking diet soda was linked to an increased risk of Alzheimers disease and other forms of dementia.

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