Diet, sugary sodas alike linked to heart disease factors

People who drink one or more soft drinks a day have a more than 50 percent higher risk of developing the heart disease precursor metabolic syndrome than people who drink less than one soda a day, a new study has found. And it didn’t matter if it was a regular soda or a diet soda.

Metabolic syndrome is a constellation of health problems — high waist circumference, high blood pressure, low levels of “good” cholesterol,” and other health problems — that have been strongly linked to developing heart disease, stroke, and diabetes.

The study, in the American Heart Association journal Circulation, looked at more than 6,000 healthy people, who showed no signs of metabolic syndrome, and then followed up. After four years, 53 percent of people who drank an average of one or more soft drinks per day developed metabolic syndrome. Those who drank one or more diet soft drinks a day were at a 44 percent higher risk.

“The point is that the risk is high no matter how many soft drinks one consumes and no matter what type of soft drink one consumes,” said Dr. Ramachandran S. Vasan, associate professor of medicine at Boston University School of Medicine and one of the study authors. “This adds to what we already know about how soft drinks may be associated with weight gain and metabolic risk.”

The American Beverage Association took issue with the study, saying that the study proves no link between soft drinks and increased risk of heart disease.

Read more: edition.cnn.com


One Response to “Diet, sugary sodas alike linked to heart disease factors”

  1. Eat healthy to avoid heart disease Says:
    February 23rd, 2009 at 2:50 am

    [...] Drinking and eating a lot of junkfood usually affect your health, but moreso your heart. Not eating the right foods is one of the main causes of heart disease and everyone knows it. Unfortunately, not everyone agrees to stop it until they land in the hospital because of the disease. Share and Enjoy: These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages. [...]