Almost more than for their original sugar-laden colas, Pepsi and Coca-Cola have battled over diet soda supremacy. It wouldn’t take anyone much effort to remember the grand marketing plans and television commercials for both Diet Pepsi and Diet Coke. These drinks, and the oodles of other diet soda options, offered people the chance to keep drinking these ubiquitous beverages without fear of sugar excess.
For a long while now, scientists have been wondering about diet soda. Several studies have been performed, trying to assess whether it is healthier than the regular kind. Now a new piece of research has hit the table. Making waves in the media, it draws diet soda into questionable light (and regular soda along with it).
According to researchers, if you have more than one soft drink a day (regardless of the type), you are at higher risk for metabolic syndrome. This is a condition where one has many risk factors that double the risk of heart attack or stroke. It includes high blood sugar, high blood pressure, fat around the belly, cholesterol problems, and high triglycerides.
It didn’t matter if the soda was diet or regular: people who had one or more a day had a 45% higher risk of metabolic syndrome. This comes from looking at 9,000 middle-aged adults over four years. The soda per day was a can containing 355 milliliters. We live in the age of huge drinks, so for those who guzzle big sodas, this risk is amplified.
What the researchers don’t know is why soda does this. They can guess, though, as soda is known to raise calories and saturated fat. People who drink loads of it are more likely to not focus on exercise. They tend not to eat as much fiber. Amid all this, it is very difficult to pinpoint just what it is about soda that exerts this stressful effect on the heart.
The researchers can’t say people should quit drinking soft drinks. Right now, the link between metabolic syndrome and soda is just that — a link. But it is a very suggestive one. People who drink soda regularly should know that switching to a diet version may not be helping them as much as they thought.
The key word in a healthy lifestyle pops up here again: drink soda in “moderation.”
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