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Metabolic Syndrome Is Tied to Diet Soda
By NICHOLAS BAKALAR
New York Times February 5, 2008
Researchers have found a correlation between drinking diet soda and
metabolic syndrome — the collection of risk factors for cardiovascular
disease and diabetes that include abdominal obesity, high cholesterol
and blood glucose levels — and elevated blood pressure.
The scientists gathered dietary information on more than 9,500 men
and women ages 45 to 64 and tracked their health for nine years.
Over all, a Western dietary pattern — high intakes of refined grains,
fried foods and red meat — was associated with an 18 percent increased
risk for metabolic syndrome, while a “prudent” diet dominated by fruits,
vegetables, fish and poultry correlated with neither an increased
nor a decreased risk.
But the one-third who ate the most fried food increased their risk
by 25 percent compared with the one-third who ate the least, and surprisingly,
the risk of developing metabolic syndrome was 34 percent higher among
those who drank one can of diet soda a day compared with those who
drank none.
“This is interesting,” said Lyn M. Steffen, an associate professor
of epidemiology at the University of Minnesota and a co-author of
the paper, which was posted online in the journal Circulation on Jan.
22. “Why is it happening? Is it some kind of chemical in the diet
soda, or something about the behavior of diet soda drinkers?”
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