New health studies link sugary drinks to brain damage – and diet sodas in particular to almost tripling stroke and dementia risk
Soda lovers won’t be sweet on these new health studies.
A pair of new reports drawn from the Framingham Heart Study (FHS) at Boston University Medical Center link sipping sugary drinks with poor memory and smaller brain volume. Worse, they tie a daily diet soda habit to a much higher risk of suffering stroke and dementia.
In the first study, researchers analyzed 4,000 people enrolled in the heart study over the age of 30, and used MRI scans and cognitive tests to measure any relationship between sweetened beverage intake and neurological health markers like brain volumes, thinking and memory. Americans swallowed 11 million metric tons of sugar last year, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, so lead author Matthew Pase and his team were curious about what the sweet stuff does to the brain.
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They found a correlation – although not a direct cause-and-effect just yet – between people who drink more than two or three sweetened beverages like soda, juice and sports drinks a day (or more than three sodas a week alone) and signs of accelerated brain aging. These adverse effects included smaller overall brain volume, poorer episodic memory and a shrunken hippocampus (also important for memory), which can be risk factors for early-stage Alzheimer’s disease. And gulping one diet soda a day was also associated with smaller brain volume.
Matthew Pase is lead author on two studies that link higher consumption of both sugary and artificially sweetened drinks to adverse brain effects. (Photo by Cydney Scott)
The news gets worse for diet drink lovers. The second follow-up study spent a decade monitoring 2,888 participants age 45 and up for any stroke development, and 1,484 participants age 60 and up for dementia due to Alzheimer’s, while measuring their beverage intake at three points over seven years. While they found no correlation between sugary drinks overall and stroke or dementia, they did find that people who drank at least one diet soda a day (typically mixed with artificial sweeteners) were almost three times more likely to develop stroke and dementia than those who didn’t drink diet soda.
“It was somewhat surprising that diet soda consumption led to these outcomes,” lead author Pase said in his report, noting that they did not differentiate between sugar and artificial sweeteners in this study, so “we need more work to figure out underlying mechanisms.”
Diabetes is a risk factor for dementia, and diabetics often drink more diet soda on average to limit their sugar intake, which could account for some of the correlation between diet drinks and dementia. But even after excluding diabetics, sipping diet soda was still associated with higher rates of dementia.
Reps from two of the biggest sweetened beverage makers, Coca Cola Company and PepsiCo, have not responded to Moneyish requests for comments on the health reports yet. The American Beverage Association responded with a blog post on Thursday that, “low-calorie sweeteners have been proven safe by worldwide government safety authorities as well as hundreds of scientific studies and there is nothing in this research that counters this well-established fact,” noting that, “The FDA, World Health Organization, European Food Safety Authority and others have extensively reviewed low-calorie sweeteners and have all reached the same conclusion – they are safe for consumption.”
The ABA also emphasized that the new studies acknowledge they don’t prove cause and effect. “According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), many risk factors can increase an individual’s likelihood of developing stroke and dementia including age, hypertension, diabetes and genetics,” it added. “NIH does not mention zero calorie sweeteners as a risk factor.”
The studies’ senior author Sudha Seshadri, a professor of neurology at Boston University School of Medicine, admitted the reports “are not the be-all and end-all, but it’s strong data and a very strong suggestion.
“Maybe good old-fashioned water is something we need to get used to,” she added.
Up next will be a study showing some previously unknown benefits and then later will be the studies that show the first studies were just BS. And don’t forget the dangers from the chemicals in plastics leaching into your water from the container it is in…….maybe we should all just commit mass suicide? wait, there is a study about the debilitating effects of that too……
My name is el coyote and I am a diet drink-aholic. I started out with Dr. Pepper, the nearest to sugar tasting soda or soda water sold. When I got tired of the repetition, I switched to diet Coke. I’ve tried several diet drink options over time but keep coming back to diet Coke as my drink of choice.
There have been concerned individuals who have tried to intervene in my abuse of diet Coke. I considered hiding my supply for a while. Then, I decided, like Yohimbo, to quit being ashamed of my vice. I began to advocate and promote my lifestyle.
I can quit anytime I want to. This monkey on my back is a victimless crime. It’s not as bad as marijuana which impairs judgement and gets you involved with unsavory women. I can drink diet Coke and drive just fine; if I don’t go over my caffeine limit, I’m simply driving with a minor buzz.
Sugar cooked my brain, it’s true. My thinking ability straightened out quite a bit after I kicked the sugar shack-up. Diet Coke haters abound. This article is just one more hater on a mission like the Daily Stormer and VDARE.
I’m getting stupider and more forgetful all the time. Don’t know if it’s the Diet Coke or the rum. Or getting older. As long as I don’t forget how to say “Get off my lawn!”
You can pray to Kim:
So getting involved with unsavory women is a downside now?
I gave you a thumbs-up EC, NOT because I like diet soda but because I think it is NO ONE ELSE’s business what you drink.
Unless it is unpasteurized milk.
Maggie- Pasteurized milk if far more unhealthy for you than UNpasteurized milk.
Milk must be heated to very high temps for pasteurization which in turn destroys the enzymes and nutrients. Without the enzymes the body has a very difficult time digesting the milk. The majority of milk available in this country is Ultra-Pasteurized and not at all good for you.
I was being sarcastic, but thanks. I grew up on a farm drinking milk practically straight from the Holstein or Jersey, depending on which one was pregnant.
It’s not Sugar in those diet drinks it’s ASPARTAME (also called Nutrasweet & other names). The drug company Searle tried 3 times to get it approved by the FDA and failed each time because it does some really shitty things to the body including brain cancer. Then they hired Donald Rumsfeld (yes THAT Rumsfeld) as their CEO; he pulled some strings and the rest is history. So are 10 or 13 million people killed by it. https://youtu.be/kn5slnNB8h0?t=23s
And Coyote I’ll bet you a dollar to a donut you CAN’T QUIT drinking that crap. I have overweight relatives who are addicted to that crap. Hell one of the craziest people I ever worked for was Pres of a Radio outfit I worked for; every time he would come in for a “market visit”, he insisted we have a case of Diet Dr. Pepper chilled and waiting for him. He would constantly swig that shit while he droned on off-topic about his superior knowledge of the Radio industry. What a maroon! I’ll bet it had already eaten holes in his brain by then.
Diet Coke Ingredients: Carbonated water, caramel color, aspartame, phosphoric acid, potassium benzonate, natural flavors, citric acid, caffeine.
It’s also likely that fake sugar (including stevia) has the same effect on your metabolism as sugar, where stimulating fat storage is concerned. I’ve read some studies on it and they seemed convincing.
I’ve never been able to handle the taste of any of the fake sugars. They all taste like saccharin to me. The HFCS in soda is just as nasty tasting to me. HFCS has to be metabolized by the liver, which changes the mitochondria and is a cause of type 2 diabetes.
Although the foods I now enjoy have become more diverse (I used to *hate* most vegetables; probably because mom cooked the ever-loving shit out of them), I have these days whittled my beverage choices to three: Coffee, water, and whiskey. In that order during the day.
I haven’t had a soda of any kind in at least a decade.
Does this mean that Bloomberg has been vindicated?
No, because he didn’t tax diet sodas. So he incented people to drink diet soda.
100% of people who have swallowed their spit have died. John
True, and also, if you cough and burp and sneeze and hiccup and fart all at the same time, you will die.
On a serious note, does this study even break down diet drinks with aspartame versus sucralose versus saccharine (which I think is still used)? Doubt it. BTW – the diet soda industry could more than offset this bad PR if they could produce a study that says that diet soda will make your dick grow by 1/8″.
Oh gawd. Remember “Tab”? I think it had saccharine in it. Vile, terrible stuff.
Diet soda may not grow your dick by 1/8″ but if you lose some of the fat in that neighborhood, it may have that effect.
Wow, that like a 200% increase. What about the dick brain, any growth there?
You tell me. You’re the diet soda fiend.
Ratdawg, my dick got smarter, it figured out women aren’t worth the drama. No more “cover me, I’m going deep” into the fishpond.
And after I gave you a thumbs-up, publicly. Shithead
Maggie, the comment was not directed at anybody here. The women here are to be respected. I meant sluts like your buddy in the AF. I never knew any like that but I did see an army chick with an ass that just wouldn’t quit. However, her face was going to require lots of beer and some very understanding buddies when they found out.
Mad dog meathead , let’s go have Mountain Dew together. I mean a big one .I’m buying
Besides what else you got to do??
No dice, man. If all I lose is a couple million brain cells but I get some dick growth, I’d call it a fair trade.
Appreciate the offer but no thanks.
A shot of Knob Creek and you got yourself a deal.
Queue the dick jokes…
I kicked the aspartame habit in 1999. It was causing all sorts of issues with me. I had a 1 diet coke a day habit for caffeine while at work. The docs were testing me for systemic lupus at the time. I had aching joints, peripheral neuropathy, flushing, heart palpitations and general nervousness. Cleared up over the Christmas holidays so I started looking into diet and through some web searches found the culprit. I think at the time there were some 90 side effects reported to the FDA and I had 11 of them. That shit is poison.
I find that most women are quite savory…
Bob, have you ever tried a shrimp cocktail? Not the gringo type with ketchup and some shrimp on the rim. I mean the seafood in a stew of shrimp and clam juice. Clamato works well if you’re not a purist. My wife is Salvadoran and seafood is her middle name. My favorite is the viagra concoction called Vuelve a la Vida.
This cocktail will have you asking, where the white women at?
http://www.saveur.com/article/Recipes/vuelve-a-la-vida
EC- Would you post that recipe? thanks.
The link is for the recipe.
I’ve done a homebrew of the stuff and it is something akin to using a spoon, a hypodermic needle and a lighter.
I prepped some cooked shrimp, added a flask of Clamato, some chopped tomato and onion and a couple of stalks of celery.
I saw a guy cooking the shrimp and using the leftover broth in place of the Clamato, he added lime juice.
My wife will not abide any guy concoctions, she insists on the cooked shrimp, shrimp broth, lime, avocado slices, raw oysters, clams, a bunch of other seafood like octopus and squid…she says nay on the Clamato and celery. Dang fanatic.
Don’t use the farm raised shrimp from China, they feed those things pig shit.
http://www.businessinsider.com/disgusting-truths-about-asian-aquaculture-2012-10
Of all of my friends/family/clients who have had bypass heart surgery, ALL were soda drinkers and consumed hamburgers. Also there is a terrible ingredient in sodas called phosphoric acid that is worse than the sugar or artificial sweeteners. Phosphoric acid is used in paint strippers so no wonder you can dissolve a nail in Coca Cola in three days.
I’m making a hamburger right now, for fucks sake. Leave me in peace.
Kim Kardio’s Kooch will dissolve your dick in 3 minutes.
There is so much shit in our food chain approved for consumption and when you read the approval process , HOLY SHIT BATMAN . Nothing is really safe because “THEY” fuck with everything . Moderate sugar intake is probably fine but not even once a week . As for artificial sweeteners , just poor a little DECON rat poison in your drink ! Now to the milk , tested for bacteria and refrigerated from cow to you , not so bad . But not a gallon a day or even a month . Milk is for baby cows ! It is not the end all be all food for kids . Now on to cereal , do you like ROUND UP WEED KILLER ? Because that’s what you get in every bowl of grain product including bread . We have used pesticides to a point where it is in everything . At low levels sure but how much is to much. My one friends grandfather ate lard bread and tomatoe sandwiches smoked eels and a bottle of Madeira and a couple el producto cigars poor old guy had a massive heart attack at 93 . Then my dad was a contender for the olympics as a swimmer started smoking at 24 and died at 50 after a quadruple bypass surgery at 40 . I guess it’s a crap shoot on all fronts . Let’s not start on what shit we find in water but again HOLY SHIT BATMAN !
Apparently, the FDA has decided that testing for glyphosate in grains is hazardous to the health of Monsanto.
http://www.healthnutnews.com/usda-no-longer-plans-test-monsanto-weed-killer-food/
Ho Hum. Eggs are bad for you. Fat is bad for you. Fat is bad for you. Salt is bad for you. Coffee is bad for you. Some college professor is justifying his federal grant with life saving “research”/
Why is aspirin bad for you, because Bayer can make more on Tylenol stock. Ever heard or seen anyone with rye syndrome? Me either. Why is butter bad? It’s because they had a byproduct that was useless that could have flavor added to it call it margarine and sell it to USA to start with. Eggs? High protein good food which the body regulates whether you eat none or two dozen per week. When the surgeon General or the fda says something is bad start asking why. My grandparents lived and raised up nine kids on animal fat potatoes, bread and gravy. All eleven of them made it way past 70. Weren’t we one of the healthiest countries in the world? Not any more. We elect people that vote against us, dumbing us down, voting to legally poison us. GMOs change molecular structure of sugars and fats in all foods. Who knows what they do at the cell levels in the meat that is fed with them. Stock up on natural foods. Henry K. Wrote a paper for Nixon about using FOOD as a weapon. How long ago was that. Wonder why society seems dummern a box of rocks, let alone hormonally lacking. When someone says something is bad for me I want to know who said it. If it has anything to do with big bro, I remember he probably has a big insurance policy on me, pointing to motive. As we boomers age mortality rates are rising not declining. Wehave new diseases popping up every day. The old diseases are being found to be products of our new foods and environment. Patents on GMO are developed so these plants are resistant to roundup and high concentrations of heavy metals. I am to the point that I am curious on wildlife mortality. Roundup, and heavy metals concentrations in all of it. I just walked back in the house. I did not see one robin. There used to be a pair in every tree. Enough metal falls from the skies, and everything becomes sterile passive and extinct. They have been doing it to us for years.
Everything in our soda has been changed to the point that most of the ingredients are carcinogenic. Caramel coloring included. I used to love coke in 16 oz. returnable bottles. The cans we now drink out of are sprayed with sealant containing bph. That crap causes similar symptoms to the rest of the cancer causing agents there. If you really want to be sickened, there is a company called Symantec, if I spell it right. (The speller supplied this spelling) I saw a woman on Alex Jones awhile back that was telling about the ingredients that are no longer in beer. If I like beer I should think imported. How UNAMERICAN!!! I guess I need to go find her website.
I guess I’m done ranting.
Animal fats like lard, tallow, butter, etc. have been replaced with indigestible plant oils such as canola, cottonseed (crisco), corn and soy oils. These are fake fats. They can’t be used in the human body, and they are all rancid when you buy them. Hydrogen added to them to keep them from stinking makes them even worse for you.I use lard instead of crisco, butter instead of margarine, and sunflower oil instead of “vegetable oils”.
Those “vegetable oils” are actually industrial oils fit only for making soap and wax. The only plant based oils that I use for cooking are coconut, sunflower, safflower and palm oils. I buy my coconut and palm oils from this outfit:
Gold Label Virgin Coconut Oil
A Virginia pork producer, Smithfield, packages a non-hydrogenated lard that’s good for frying and baking.
http://www.smithfield.com/products/recipe-ready/
I’ve replaced most wheat flour in recipes with brown rice and buckwheat flours for the rare pancake or waffle breakfasts, and I use organic flours only to avoid the Roundup residues. Baking soda, salt and cream of tartar are the leavenings I use, no aluminum baking powder. A 5 lb bag of sugar lasts 2-3 years in my kitchen and a half gallon of Vermont maple syrup does as well.
I buy only Italian flour of the Einkorn variety, much more expensive, but it’s an heirloom variety of wheat that dates back to the Roman republic days and is unhybridized, so no “wheat belly” inflammation results from eating it, unlike the hybridized dwarf wheat varieties grown here. Baking with wheat flour is not an everyday, or even an every week thing at my house anyway. Also, glyophosate is not used in Italian wheat farming.
It’s a little more trouble and expense to cook the way we do at home, but it has paid off in health over the years. Call me a foodie. It doesn’t bother me.
“A Virginia pork producer, Smithfield,…………..”
I thunk Smithfield was bought out by the Chinks?
Ed- Ditto the sunflower oil and real butter at our house. Still working on the 4lb. bag of sugar bought 9 years ago here at the doomstead. Also use heavy cream in coffee etc.
Yeah, heavy cream. That’s the ticket.
Ed, I don’t like to talk personal stuff here but we’re friends. My sisters have developed Crohn’s. I tell my sister that she should adopt my granny’s diet.
She ate the typical beans and rice with corn tortillas. Her favorite treat was a plate of cooked cactus. At times, she would make jocoque, which was either yogurt or buttermilk, I’m not sure. Unless it was a caldo de res, beef soup, I rarely saw any beef served there. She hated the invention of frozen chicken. In earlier days you could buy a live chicken at the mercado. She made a wonderful chicken soup which would include the feet that you could nibble on, very flavorful!
My wife’s nephews have a McDonald’s addiction. While I look forward to visiting her sisters for a treat of chicharrones and pupusas, these dodos will not eat until dad takes them to McDonald’s to pick up their meal.
El, that reminded me of a story in Tortilla Flat by Steinbeck, where a mother of seven kids cooked tortillas and beans for the little ones. She fell on hard times and couldn’t even buy beans anymore.
The men who knew her plight started bringing all kinds of fine foods and leaving it on her porch at night, abalone steaks, lobster, tenderloin and any fine rich foods they could get. All her kids became cranky and had stomach aches, until one night, someone left her a big bag of flour and sacks of pink beans. The kids all got healthy again, and the lady was happy.
Our grandparents had the handle on food, I think. Probably the best medicine is just the right food.
Ed, the book I read said that the winos in question brought sacks of beans for their possible offspring. The meddling social workers had insisted on changing their meager diet.
Read it again, it’s a fun read. I enjoyed his Sea of Cortez and have yearned to try the beans and tortillas stack he describes.
Thirsty for something sweet and with a nice flavor?
Switchell.
1 ounce maple syrup, 1 ounce apple cider vinegar, add ice, shake, top off with sparkling water.
Tastes like apple soda, quenches your thirst, the acids in the vinegar aid digestion, the stuff in the maple syrup boosts your immune system and the cost is about 1/15th of an equal amount of store bought sodas.
Just sayin’.
HF
I am going to try that drink for sure. I am one of those folks who drink cider vinegar straight like the country folk in VT. The recipe you posted would be much easier going down.
My Chinese buddy recommended a drink of vinegar, lime juice and water. He said drink it on an empty stomach for weight loss.
Coke is mostly lemon flavor with lots of sugar and salt.
Been drinkin’ it since HSF first mentioned it here years ago. I use local honey instead of maple syrup most of the time. Haven’t had a cold or flu since I began drinking it which is a big change from two colds per year and an occasional flu.
Diet soda is not the only thing that we need to avoid for our health. Most of the drinks of these days are not good for our health. On the other hand, when it comes to brain health then you need to be more careful because it a part of our body that is not easier to handle in case of sickness. That’s why; I agree with this study, you should avoid surgery drinks.