Gulp Soda Linked To Memory Woes Strokes And Dementia
24 April 17
People who often drink soda, with sugar or without it, may be more likely to develop memory problems and have smaller brain volumes, according to two recent studies.
In one study, researchers found that people who drank diet soda every day were three times more likely to have a stroke or develop dementia over 10 years than those who did not consume any diet soda.
In the second study, the same researchers concluded that people who consumed at least one diet soda a day had smaller brain volumes than those who did not drink any diet soda. Moreover, that same study found that people who consumed more than two sugary beverages such as soda or fruit juice a day had smaller brain volumes and worse memory function that those who did not consume any such beverages.
Although both studies show that there is a link between drinking diet or sugary beverages and certain health outcomes, the results do not mean that consuming such beverages directly causes these outcomes, said the lead author of both studies, Matthew P. Pase, a neurology researcher at Boston University School of Medicine.
In the second study, published in March in the journal Alzheimer’s & Dementia, the researchers looked at brain scans and results of cognitive tests conducted in about 4,000 people. The scientists also asked the study participants if they consumed any diet or sugary beverages, and, if so, how much.
Tart Cherry Juice Is Rich In Antioxidants
A 2019 study published in Food& Function found that tart cherry juicespecifically juice made from Montmorency cherrieshelped improve cognitive abilities in Alzheimer’s patients. Researchers think the antioxidants in the juice may be they key. Why? “Several studies suggest that ‘oxidative stress‘ may play a role in the changes in the brain that cause Alzheimer’s disease,” explains the Alzheimer’s Society.
Tart cherry juice has been found to be rich in antioxidants, which can address oxidative stress. According to Healthline, “Tart cherries and their juice contain large amounts of antioxidants and other beneficial plant compounds that may have protective effects on brain cells.”
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Tart Cherry Juice Has Plenty Of Other Health Benefits As Well
Studies have shown that tart cherry juice is rich in vitamins and nutrients, which can help with sore muscles, sleep issues, and hypertension, as well as conditions such as gout and arthritis, says Healthline.
These benefits may be related to the effect cherry juice has on the brain. “The potential beneficial effects of tart cherries may be related to the bioactive compounds they possess, which include polyphenols, anthocyanins and melanin,” explained Sheau Ching Chai, assistant professor of behavioral health and nutrition at the University of Delaware and lead author of the Food& Function study.”They may also be related to tart cherry’s potential blood-pressure lowering effects, outlined in a previous study we conducted in the same population, as blood pressure can influence blood flow to the brain.”
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Diet Soda Study Looks At Dementia Heart Risks
Much has been written about the health risks of sugar-sweetened beverages research has linked sugary drinks to a number of serious health risks, including obesity, heart disease, diabetes, and an early death.
Now, new research suggests diet drinks with artificial sweeteners may have some health concerns of their own.
According to a new study published Thursday in the American Heart Associations journal Stroke, people who drank at least one artificially-sweetened beverage a day had almost three times the risk of developing stroke or dementia.
The researchers caution that the study only shows an association — it does not prove that diet drinks actually cause stroke or dementia. Still, they say the study warrants more research in the area.
The study did not find the same link between stroke and dementia in people who drank sugar-sweetened beverages, but the authors say that doest mean its time for people to start gulping those either.
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, Matthew Pase, Ph.D., the lead author of the study and a senior fellow in the department of neurology at Boston University School of Medicine, said in a statement. We recommend that people drink water on a regular basis instead of sugary or artificially sweetened beverages.
The number of people in the study was also limited.
Should Link Between Dementia And Artificial Sweeteners Be Taken With A Pinch Of Salt
How peoples capacity for forgetfulness and lies may have impacted on research tying stroke and dementia to diet drinks
They were supposed to be the healthy alternative to their sugar-rich siblings. But now lovers of diet colas and other low-calorie drinks have been hit by news that will radically undermine those credentials: a counterintuitive study suggesting a link to stroke and dementia.
The study in the journal Stroke may cause a rethink among those worried about obesity, diabetes or a possible early heart attack from sugar-rich drinks who have been considering making a change. It comes to the alarming conclusion that people polishing off one can a day of artificially sweetened drink are nearly three times as likely to have a stroke or develop dementia.
Its a shocking conclusion. But the first reason to pause is that the study found no such risk in people who drank standard sugary lemonades and colas.
There is little previous evidence with regard to dementia, which is why the researchers were looking at it, but the link between sugar and stroke is very well known. Too much sugar raises the risk of obesity, diabetes, heart attacks and stroke. Its altogether a bad thing, which is why the World Health Organisation is telling us all to cut down. So what was going on in this study?
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Diet Sodas May Raise Risk Of Dementia And Stroke Study Finds
People who drink diet sodas daily have three times the risk of stroke and dementia compared to people who rarely drink them, researchers reported Thursday.
Its yet another piece of evidence that diet drinks are not a healthy alternative to sugary drinks, and suggests that people need to limit both, doctors said.
Does Drinking Diet Soda Raise The Risk Of A Stroke
- By , Executive Editor, Harvard Heart Letter
For diet soda fans, recent news reports linking these popular drinks to higher risk of stroke may have been alarming. A closer look at the study behind the headlines suggests theres no need to panic. But beverages naturally low in calories are probably a healthier option than artificially sweetened drinks.
The study included 2,888 people ages 45 and older from the long-running Framingham Heart Study, all of whom filled out diet questionnaires up to three times over a seven-year period. People who said they drank at least one artificially sweetened soda a day were about twice as likely to have a stroke over the following decade when compared to those who drank less than one a week. Drinking regular, sugar-sweetened sodas or beverages did not appear to raise stroke risk.
However, these types of studies cant prove cause and effect, only an association. Also, only 97 people had strokes during the follow-up, which means only two or three of those strokes could possibly be attributed to drinking diet soda, says Dr. Kathryn Rexrode, an associate professor of medicine at Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Womens Hospital who co-authored an earlier, larger study looking at soda consumption and stroke risk.
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Diet Soda And Stroke Study
The study that is making headlines was published in a journal, appropriately named stroke. The title of the study is Sugar- and Artificially Sweetened Beverages and the Risks of Incident Stroke and Dementia. Here are the basics of the study.
Researchers looked at 2,888 men and women over age 45 for the risk of stroke. They also looked at 1,484 people over age 60 for signs of dementia. In both groups, men made up about 45% of the people .
- Baseline diet soda intake was estimated using food questionnaires that were filled out between 1991 and 2001. Then, starting in 2001, the researchers followed the people for the next 10 years to see what happened.
- After 10 years, the researchers recorded 97 cases of stroke . They also recorded 81 cases of dementia .
- The researchers noted that the more artificially sweetened diet sodas consumed, the greater the odds of getting a stroke or developing dementia .
- More specifically, people who drank diet sodas were almost 3 times more likely to have a stroke or get dementia.
- For those who drank sodas that contained sugar, there was no association with stroke or dementia.
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.
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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 .
âScientific evidence does show us that beverages containing these sweeteners can be a useful tool as part of an overall weight management plan. Americaâs 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.â
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.
âIf you drink a diet soda, that wonât make up for eating a super-size fast food meal,â 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.
Show Sources
Christopher Gardner, PhD, director of nutrition studies, Stanford Prevention Research Center professor of medicine, Stanford University.
American Beverage Association statement.
Diet Soda Is Also Linked To A Higher Risk Of Stroke
The study did not only look at dementia, but also at the stroke risk that comes with regularly drinking diet soda, and found similar results. For this, researchers kept track of 2,888 people age 45 and over for the same 10-year period. They found that those who drank at least one diet soda a day were also about three times more likely “to have an ischemic stroke, caused by blood vessel blockage.”
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How Bad Are The Impacts Of Full Fat Coke On Your Health
Earlier this year, a grim experiment lifted the lid on just how much sugar goes into a bottle of Coke.
After boiling up a pan of Coca-Cola next to companys diet alternative, the difference between the liquids was shocking.
While the vat of regular Coke was left covered in congealed black sugar, the remnants of the Coke Zero showed a small trace of burnt sugar covering barely a quarter of the frying pan.
This was unsurprising, as one can of Coca-Cola contains 35g of sugar exceeding the 30g recommended daily allowance for adults.
Diet Sodas Raise Risk Of Dementia And Stroke Study Finds
While the findings do not prove that diet drinks damage brains, they support other studies that show people who drink them frequently tend to have poorer health.
The researchers, led by Matthew Pase of the Boston University School of Medicine and colleagues, studied more than 4,000 people for their report, published in the journal Stroke.
We found that those people who were consuming diet soda on a daily basis were three times as likely to develop both stroke and dementia within the next 10 years as compared to those who did not consume diet soda, Pase told NBC News.
Both sugar-sweetened and artificially sweetened soft drinks may be hard on the brain.”
Our study provides further evidence to link consumption of artificially sweetened beverages with the risk of stroke, the team wrote.
To our knowledge, our study is the first to report an association between daily intake of artificially sweetened soft drink and an increased risk of both all-cause dementia and dementia because of Alzheimers disease.
The team did not ask people which artificial sweetener they used. Some of those in the diet drinks were likely saccharin, acesulfame, aspartame, neotame, or sucralose, the researchers said.
And other experts pointed out that sugary drinks are a major cause of obesity, diabetes, stroke and other ills.
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And Americans have been encouraged to switch to diet drinks.
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Diet Soda And Five Other Foods That Cause Dementia
An unhealthy diet affects the brain. There are many foods that cause dementia. Consuming processed foods, complex carbohydrates, and sugar stimulates the production of toxins in the body. These toxins can result in a buildup of plaque in the brain, and cause inflammation.
How important is a healthy diet? We know it helps with good heart health, keeps blood pressure in control, helps lower the risk of cancer and diabetes, and keeps many illnesses at bay. One thing which you may not be aware of is that it also impacts your memory. A poor diet increases the chances of developing dementia and Alzheimers disease.
Research on Foods That Cause Dementia
According to a study published in the journals Alzheimers & Dementia and Stroke, people who drink sugary beverages often may have poorer memory. They may also have smaller brain volume and a smaller hippocampus. Hippocampus is an area of the brain that is important for learning and memory.
A follow-up study about diet soda and dementia concluded that people who drink diet soda daily were three times more likely to develop stroke and dementia when compared to those who did not.
Dr. Matthew Pase from the Neurology Department at the Boston University School of Medicine says that excess sugar from these drinks may cause cardiovascular and metabolic diseases like obesity, heart disease, and type 2 diabetes.
Foods that Cause Dementia
Beer: Beer contains nitrites, which can cause Alzheimers disease.
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.
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Why Your Diet Soda May Derail Your Diet
One possible explanation for the link between diet sodas and weight gain and diabetes risk: The sweeteners in diet soft drinks may trick you into overcompensating, or eating a greater number calories than you normally would, says Christopher Gardner, PhD, director of nutrition studies at the Stanford Prevention Research Center. This can happen in one of two ways.
The first, he says, is psychological. If you choose a no-calorie diet soda over a regular soda, you may reward yourself later in the day with a treat. And that treat may have more calories than you saved by avoiding the sugary soft drink.
Your brain chemistry may play a role as well. The sweetness in the diet soda may prime your brain to expect a calorie boost. When no calories are on the way, that could trigger your appetite and lead you to eat more.
âDiet sodas may help you with weight loss if you donât overcompensate, but thatâs a big if,â says Gardner, who’s also a professor of medicine at Stanford University.
Ludwig suggests that drinking artificially sweetened beverages may affect your taste buds in ways that make you less likely to choose healthy foods.
âYou may find fruit less appealing because itâs less sweet than your soda, and vegetables may become inedible,â he speculates.
Both Gardner and Ludwig acknowledge that their theories are just that: Theories.