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Scary sh*t.
By Shannon Ullman — Written on Dec 20, 2022
Put the diet Coke down. I repeat, put the diet Coke down! You’re probably aware that drinking soda is bad for you, but your choice to go on diet isn’t much better.
Sure, diet soda is marketed to have no calories or sugar, but what exactly IS it that you’re drinking anyway? It’s really a bunch of carbonated syrup with artificial, mystery ingredients.
Why are people drinking this in the first place? It has absolutely no nutritional value, right? I don't even taste a difference between diet and regular soda, which is a little scary because it feels like they add so much more to compensate for it being diet when it's much more harmful to you.
But people drink their diet soda despite the lack of sense that it makes to do so. And these people, it turns out, are three times more likely to suffer from a stroke and dementia. That's right, dementia has been linked to diet soda.
Just one Diet Coke or Pepsi Max a day can triple your risk of stroke.
According to a study, drinking just one diet drink a day can triple the chances of a deadly stroke. Researchers have also found links to dementia but British authorities say that it needs further investigation.
This US-based study found that people who consume only one diet drink per day triple their chances of suffering from the most commonly occurring stroke compared to people who don’t consume any diet drinks. It turns out that they are also 2.9 times more likely to develop Alzheimer’s.
When looking further into the dementia argument though, researchers found that the data was insignificant.
Researchers from the Boston University School of Medicine looked at over ten years of data on over 4,000 people. But the National Obesity Forum in the UK says that people should be drinking water instead.
The spokesman, Tam Fry said: “Don’t be fooled by the use of the word ‘diet.’”
However, a professor from Public Health England, Louis Levy, said, “This study doesn’t show the full picture and more evidence is needed before any definite conclusions can be drawn.”
Finally, doctor James Pickett from the Alzheimer’s Society said, “This research does not show that artificially sweetened drinks cause dementia. But it does highlight a worrying association that requires further investigation.”
Diet drinks are just bad all around. Besides these deadly diseases, they are also known to cause weight gain, diabetes, and heart issues.
If you drink a lot of soda, especially diet, it might be time to make a life change and start to get healthy.
Skip the diet stuff, guys, water will do you good.
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Shannon Ullman is a writer and editor at Healthline. She focuses on relationship, wellness, and lifestyle topics, and has bylines on Huffington Post, Elite Daily, PopSugar, and MSN.