Diet soda for heart health is better than regular soda

“Although sugar beverage consumption has increased worldwide in recent years, there is accumulating evidence of adverse health effects on heart metabolism,” he said. Eloy Chazelas, PhD student, lead author of the study, and a member of the Nutrition Epidemiology Research Team, told Healthline by email.

For this study, Chazelas and the team divided the volunteers into three groups. Non-users, low consumers, and high consumers on diet or sugar drinks.

Sweet drinks included soft drinks, fruit drinks, and syrups containing at least 5% sugar and 100% fruit juice. Diet drinks contained artificial sweeteners such as aspartame and sucralose, or natural sweeteners such as stevia.

Chazelas added that artificially sweetened beverages are being sold as healthier alternatives, but “their effects on heart metabolism are being discussed.” So he set out to investigate the relationship between the consumption of sweet drinks, artificially sweetened drinks and the risk of cardiovascular disease in a large prospective cohort.

Chazelas and the team then individually compared sugar / dietary drinking habits to a stroke, heart attack, sudden loss of blood flow to the heart, or Angioplasty, According to research.

Researchers then ruled out early cases of heart disease in the first three years of the study, adjusted confounding factors that could distort the data, and statistically between the use of artificial sweeteners and heart disease. We found a significant association with.

“High intake of sweet drinks and ASB [artificially sweetened beverages] Was associated with a higher risk of CVD [cardiovascular disease], ASB suggests that it may not be a healthy alternative to sweet drinks, “the study authors write.

by Dr. Richard C. BeckerA medical professor at the University of Cincinnati Cardiopulmonary and Vascular Research Institute and director of the Department of Cardiovascular Health and Illness, there seems to be no benefit to choosing artificially sweetened drinks over sweet drinks for heart health.

“Water, water, and more water should be the beverage of choice,” he said. “Given childhood obesity, it’s neither sweet nor sweet. [artificially sweetened] Drinks should be the staple food of their diet. “

While finding a surprising link between sugar-containing drink intake and cardiovascular disease, researchers also drink diet versions of these drinks, including artificial sweeteners such as sucralose, aspartame, and stevia. People have found that they have experienced about the same health risks compared to the participants who drank. Do not report that you drank a sweet drink.

Previously, according to Chazelas the study I support his findings. [artificial sweeteners] It can adversely affect metabolism, such as increased obesity and decreased glucose homeostasis. Hyperinsulinemia, And changes in the gut flora. “

“There is no evidence to suggest a place of heart health,” Becker claimed. “In fact, the opposite may be true.”

He emphasizes that “the determinant mechanism is an area of ​​intensive research,” and at least two possibilities could explain the findings.

“One is that individuals consuming artificial sweeteners can still eat excess calories,” Becker said. The other is that “artificial products can disrupt or alter the intestinal microbiome and have a negative impact.”

“Contrary to the claims made in this publication [the Chazelas study]There is really no evidence that low-calorie / calorie-free sweeteners increase the risk of cardiovascular disease, nor is there a plausible mechanism that can cause heart disease in humans, “said the International Sweetener Association (ISA). I am. statement..

The ISA also argued that Chazelas’s work merely explained “the results of analysis of data from the NutriNet-Santé cohort.”

The association pointed out that this is a non-causal observational study. In addition, the authors of the study acknowledge that other factors that may cause these effects can never be completely excluded from this observational study.

Healthline contacted the American Beverage Association (ABA) for comment, and a spokesperson Daniel Smotokin, Senior Director of Communications, ABA replied by email.

“Low-calorie and non-calorie sweeteners are considered safe by regulators around the world, and these sweeteners, including studies by the World Health Organization, are tools that help people reduce sugar consumption. There’s a lot of research showing that there’s weight control, “she writes.

Smotokin also cited other studies as an indication of the safety of artificial sweeteners.

• 2017 Review Of all the WHO-funded studies decades ago on the effects of low-calorie and non-calorie sweeteners, we reviewed 372 studies and found that these sweeteners gained weight or caused people to gain weight. It turns out that there is “no conclusive evidence” of exposure to the risk of illness. ..

• 2019 Review WHO-funded, low-calorie and non-calorie sweeteners may help lose weight in obese people, and there is some evidence that these sweeteners help avoid obesity in children. I found out. This review also found no evidence that sweeteners make you hungry or feed you more.

A new study reveals a link between ingestion of artificial sweetener drinks and cardiovascular disease, but this study failed to prove sweeteners. Caused Illness, just what happened Association..

Experts say there is no place for a heart-friendly diet for artificially sweetened drinks, and water is the healthiest drink we should drink on a regular basis.

However, the World Health Organization (WHO) has reviewed hundreds of studies and has not found conclusive evidence that artificial sweeteners put people at risk of weight gain or illness.