Drinking diet sodas may bring some useful benefits and may keep you awake and energized. Although there's a “diet” in its name, it does not mean that you are safe from gaining weight. Taking too much of it may lead to some serious health problems. In a recent report, a new study linked drinking two or more diet sodas a day to a higher risk of stroke and heart attacks in women over the age of 50. According to the study, those with the highest risk of stroke are usually women with no history of heart disease, the obese, and/or African-Americans. However, critics said that the study does not show that this beverage is the major cause of the said heart disease. They explained that it happens that most people with obesity and poor diet are more likely to use artificially sweetened drinks. This new study looked at nearly 82,000 postmenopausal women from the Women’s Health Initiative Observational Study. Ninety-six thousand of them have been followed and monitored by the group of health experts as early as 1993. The group has asked them to self-report their artificial sweetened beverage consumption as early as 1993. Five percent of the women consumed two or more drinks a day, while 64 percent of them have been categorized as infrequent consumers (they only drink one or less diet soda a week). Those who frequently drank diet drinks “had significantly greater likelihood of all end points,” meaning stroke, coronary heart disease and all-cause mortality, according to Delish. Some women in the study who drank more diet drinks tended to have higher educational levels and have a higher income and were more likely to be overweight or obese. They were also seldom to exercise, consumed more calories and ate a less healthy diet. Most people prefer diet sodas over other sodas because this kind of beverage contains fewer calories and fewer carbs and may curb sugar cravings. However, there are artificial sweeteners that can stimulate the appetite and may increase cravings. Source
