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发帖数: 2651 | 1 Diet Soda Tied To Stroke Risk, Though Reasons Still Unclear
Source:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/09/diet-soda-tied-to-stro
LOS ANGELES — It's far from definitive proof, but new research raises
concern about diet soda, finding higher risks for stroke and heart attack
among people who drink it everyday versus those who drink no soda at all.
The beverage findings should be "a wakeup call to pay attention to diet
sodas," said Dr. Steven Greenberg. He is a Harvard Medical School
neurologist and vice chairman of the International Stroke Conference in
California, where the research was presented on Wednesday.
A simple solution, health experts say, is to drink water instead.
Doctors have no chemical or biological explanation for why diet soda may be
risky. It could be that people who drink lots of it also fail to exercise,
weigh more, drink more alcohol or have other risk factors like high blood
pressure and smoking. However, the researchers took these and many other
factors into account and didn't see a change in the trend.
"It's reasonable to have doubts, because we don't have a clear mechanism.
This needs to be viewed as a preliminary study," said lead researcher Hannah
Gardener of the University of Miami.
But for those trying to cut calories, "diet soft drinks may not be an
optimal substitute for sugar-sweetened beverages," she said.
The numbers come from the Northern Manhattan study, which enrolled about 2,
500 adults over 40 in the New York area from 1993 to 2001 through random
phone calls. Half are Hispanic and one-fourth are black, making it one of
the few studies to look at these risks in minorities, who have higher rates
of stroke.
Participants filled out a standard survey about their diets at the start of
the study, and their health was tracked for nearly 10 years. In that time
there were 559 strokes or heart attacks, 338 of them fatal.
Daily diet soda drinkers (there were 116 in the study) had a 48 percent
higher risk of stroke or heart attack than people who drank no soda of any
kind (901 people, or 35 percent of total participants). That's after taking
into account rates of smoking, diabetes, waistline size and other
differences among the groups
No significant differences in risk were seen among people who drank a mix of
diet and regular soda.
Earlier studies have tied diet and regular soda consumption to greater risk
of diabetes and a group of weight-related problems called the metabolic
syndrome.
Some diet soda critics have suggested it can promote a sweet tooth,
affecting behavior and how much of a person's diet comes from sugary sources
rather than healthier fruits, vegetables and grains.
These sorts of studies just observe groups of people and are not strong
enough evidence to prove risk.
"It's too preliminary to suggest any dietary advice," but other big studies
should look at this question, Gardener said.
Greenberg, of the stroke association, called it "a real-world" look at
possible risk.
Dr. Maureen Storey, senior vice president of science policy for the American
Beverage Association, said in a statement that there is no evidence "that
diet soda uniquely causes increased risk of vascular events or stroke."
"The body of scientific evidence does show that diet soft drinks can be a
useful weight management tool, a position supported by the American Dietetic
Association. Thus, to suggest that they are harmful with no credible
evidence does a disservice to those trying to lose weight or maintain a
healthy weight."
The beverage group's statement also noted researchers didn't adjust their
results for family history of stroke. Gardener, the researcher, said that's
not "a substantial weakness."
The same federally funded study also looked at a more conventional health
risk – salt. It found higher risks for people eating more than 1,500
milligrams a day. That's the limit the American Heart Association recommends
, but last week's new dietary guidelines from the government say it's OK to
have a little more.
Researchers found that stroke risk rose 16 percent for every 500 milligrams
of salt consumed each day. Those who took in 4,000 or more milligrams of
salt had more than 2.5 times greater risk of stroke compared to those who
limited themselves to 1,500 milligrams.
A teaspoon of salt contains about 2,300 milligrams of sodium. About three-
fourths of the salt we eat, though, comes from processed foods, especially
tomato sauce, soups, condiments, and canned foods. | s*******e
发帖数: 4188 | 2 they're probably linked through other correlated behavior. |
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