Vascular Events in the Northern Manhattan Study
Journal of General Internal Medicine
January 27, 2012 [epub]
Hannah Gardener, Tatjana Rundek, Matthew Markert, Clinton B. Wright,
Mitchell S. V. Elkind and Ralph L. Sacco
KEY POINTS FROM THIS STUDY:
1) This is the first study to examine the association between diet soft drink consumption and incident
combined vascular events, including stroke.
2) The association between sugar-sweetened soft drinks and obesity, insulin
sensitivity, and hypertension may be attributed to their high calorie and sugar load,
and lack of nutrients.
3) “Artificially-sweetened ‘diet’ soft drinks have been marketed as healthier alternatives due to their lack of
calories. However, recent studies suggested that diet soft drink consumption may also be associated with
health consequences, particularly type 2 diabetes and the metabolic syndrome, risk factors for
cardiovascular disease, ischemic stroke, and all-cause mortality.”
4) “Frequent diet soft drink consumption was uniquely associated with white race, former smoking,
hypertension, elevated blood sugar, lower HDL, elevated triglycerides, increased waist circumference, BMI,
peripheral vascular disease, previous cardiac disease, and the metabolic syndrome.”
5) “Frequent regular soft drink consumption was uniquely associated with male sex, black race, current
smoking, carbohydrate consumption, greater diastolic BP, and lower prevalences of diabetes and
hypercholesterolemia.”
6) “We found no association between regular soft drink consumption and risk of combined vascular events,
adjusting for demographic and vascular risk factors.”
7) “Those who drank diet soft drinks daily had a 43% increased risk of vascular events as compared to
those who did not drink diet soft drinks.” The data of this study also tended to show that the more diet sodas
consumed per day the greater the incidence of vascular events.
8) “Light diet soft drink users did not have a significantly increased risk of vascular events.”
9) “Daily diet soft drink consumption was associated with a 66% increased risk of myocardial infarction as
compared to no diet soft drink consumption.” [The greatest risk from daily consumption of diet sodas was
heart attack].
syndrome, there was a “57% increased risk of vascular events among those who consumed regular soft drinks
daily, and a 59% increased risk among those who consumed diet soft drinks daily.” [This means that even
if you are healthier, either daily consumption of regular sodas or diet sodas are bad for you].
11) “After controlling for these potential confounders, daily diet soft drink consumption at baseline was
associated with an increased risk for vascular events during follow-up.”
12) There is substantial literature on the negative health consequences of the consumption of sugar-
sweetened beverages. This study agrees with previous studies that have shown an association between diet soft
drink consumption and metabolic syndrome.
14) Diet sodas are significantly associated with elevated blood glucose levels, increased waist
circumference and metabolic syndrome. [Ironically, people consume diet sodas precisely to avoid these
problems].
15) “The health consequences associated with regular soft drink consumption may be attributed to its high
caloric content, glycemic load and consequential inflammatory responses, and added sweeteners such as high
fructose corn syrup, which may increase the risk of vascular disease due to its association with blood uric acid
levels and triacylglycerol concentrations.”
16) Studies show that consumption of artificially sweetened drinks is associated with gaining weight.
17) Consumption of artificial sweeteners may weaken the ability to anticipate the caloric content of foods,
leading to increased food intake and gain in body weight.
18) “The caramel coloring of both diet and regular soft drinks may contribute to increased levels of
proinflammatory advanced glycation end products.”
[Caramel colored sodas in and of themselves are bad for you].
Dr. Altman’s comments:
Diet sodas act on part of the brain that make them very addicting. It can be very difficult to quit, but you must.
The first step is to stop buying it and putting it in your house. If you have been a regular consumer, you may
want to do our cardiovascular blood panel. It’s easier and cheaper than going to a hospital. It also has more
usable information related to you body’s utilization of sugar.
One of the main reasons you see a marked increase in soda drinkers heart attack rate increases is the sugar load.
This test will give you a much better handle on your risk factors, well beyond cholesterol. It looks at
FASTING insulin, Hemoglobin A1C, and C-reactive proteins. The most important information that people
aren’t getting is their fasting insulin. If you know this number you can prevent type 2 diabetes, instead of
fasting glucose, which just tells you it’s too late. If you want more info, just ask. SLCSAW.com