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The Artificial Heart Attack Connection
Think your diet soda is protecting your heart? New Cleveland Clinic research shows that consuming foods with erythritol, a popular artificial sweetener, increases risk of cardiovascular events such as heart attack and stroke. The troubling part isn’t just the risk – it’s how quietly this sweetener has crept into thousands of products without most people realizing it.
In 20 healthy volunteers, researchers found that the average erythritol level after eating increased over 1,000 times in the group that consumed erythritol compared to their initial levels. Results also revealed participants showed a significant increase in blood clot formation after consuming erythritol, but no change was observed after consuming glucose. What makes this particularly alarming is that you’d consume this amount just from drinking one “sugar-free” soda or eating a keto-friendly muffin.
Your Brain Under Artificial Assault
Here’s something that might shock you: those who had at least one per day suffered three times more strokes, and were three times more likely to develop dementia compared to people who didn’t consume diet drinks. Yet somehow, consumption of regular (non-diet) soft drinks was not linked to a higher risk of these brain problems.
The mechanism behind this neurological damage is becoming clearer. These cognitive deficits and associated symptoms are partly attributed to dysregulated excitatory and inhibitory neurotransmitter balance due to aspartate released from aspartame, resulting in an excitotoxic effect in neurons, leading to neuronal damage. Aspartame consumption might affect the microglia phenotype directly via methanol-induced toxic effects and indirectly via aspartic acid-mediated excitotoxicity, exacerbating symptoms of cognitive decline. This isn’t just theory – it’s happening in your brain every time you crack open that diet cola.
The Blood Sugar Deception Game
The cruel irony is that diet drinks were supposed to help with blood sugar control. Instead, individuals who consumed a specific artificial sweetener (sucralose) had increases in both insulin and blood glucose levels. Frequent rises in insulin have been linked to insulin resistance and an increased risk of Type 2 diabetes.
Studies have shown a link between diet soda and an increased risk for metabolic syndrome, a cluster of symptoms that may include low levels of HDL (good) cholesterol, high blood sugar, increased belly fat, high triglycerides and high blood pressure. Metabolic syndrome greatly increases the risk of developing type 2 diabetes. Your zero-calorie drink is essentially training your body to become diabetic.
Gut Microbiome Under Attack
Your digestive system houses trillions of beneficial bacteria that keep you healthy, but artificial sweeteners are waging war on them. The artificial sweeteners found in diet soda might negatively affect your gut microbiome, which is the community of beneficial bacteria in your digestive tract. The gut microbiome plays a key role in many aspects of health, including immune function, nutrient absorption, heart health, and more.
Some studies suggest that artificial sweeteners may disturb the balance of bacteria in the digestive tract, called the gut microbiome. Saccharin and sucralose in particular have been shown to dramatically alter healthy bacteria levels in the gut and may affect blood sugar control. Changes in the microbiome caused by artificial sweeteners may also inhibit some aspects of the immune system’s ability to respond to infections. Essentially, your diet drink is compromising your body’s natural defense system from the inside out.
The Kidney Stone Factory
While you’re focused on avoiding calories, your kidneys are paying the price. Excessive soda consumption, diet or regular, may increase the risk of chronic kidney disease and the formation of kidney stones. This isn’t just about the artificial sweeteners – it’s about the entire chemical cocktail in these beverages.
Research has established a strong correlation between diet soda and NAFLD, which affects approximately 25-30% of people globally. Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease is becoming increasingly common, and diet sodas appear to be contributing to this epidemic. Your liver, which is responsible for detoxifying your body, is ironically being damaged by what you thought was a healthier choice.
Bone Density Breakdown
Every sip of diet soda could be stealing calcium from your bones. Diet soda contains several compounds that may negatively affect bone health and lead to bone loss. One study found that excessive caffeine intake can negatively affect bone health. Another study found that excessive phosphoric acid consumption could lead to the same thing.
Diet soda contains phosphorus, which may decrease bone density and increase the risk of osteoporosis, especially in older adults. Think about this: the very drink marketed as a healthier alternative might be setting you up for fractures and brittle bones later in life.
Dental Destruction in Disguise
Sugar-free doesn’t mean tooth-safe. Although diet soda doesn’t contain sugar like regular soda, it’s still highly acidic. One test-tube study found that regular and diet soda significantly affected the surface roughness of tooth enamel, indicating that both can contribute to tooth erosion. Another study suggests that diet drinks slightly increased the risk of dental erosion in U.S. adults, but further research is needed.
Diet sodas often contain phosphoric and citric acids which can erode tooth enamel. Weakened tooth enamel can lead to tooth sensitivity, pitting of the tooth’s surface and changes to the color of the teeth, giving them a chalky appearance. Your smile is literally dissolving from the inside, one diet soda at a time.
The Headache Highway
If you’ve been wondering why you get headaches more often, your diet drink habit might be the culprit. For some people, drinking multiple servings of diet soda per day could cause headaches. This may be due to certain artificial sweeteners found in diet soda, such as aspartame.
People who are prone to migraines may be more likely to get headaches after consuming artificial sweeteners, such as those found in diet soda. The irony is painful – literally. You’re trying to cut calories to feel better, but you’re creating a cycle of chronic pain instead.
Weight Gain Paradox
Here’s the ultimate betrayal: diet drinks might actually make you fatter. Some research suggests that your brain reacts to artificial sweeteners much like it does to sugary sweets. Ingesting them frequently may increase your desire for high-calorie foods, putting you at a greater risk of weight gain.
Another study found that people with overweight or obesity who switched to diet soda were likely to consume more calories in food than people with overweight or obesity who drank regular soda. In fact, those who drank diet soda had a higher BMI than their counterparts. Your zero-calorie drink is triggering your brain to seek out the calories elsewhere, often with interest.
Hormonal Havoc and Thyroid Trouble
Your endocrine system is a delicate orchestra, and artificial sweeteners are like a drunk conductor. Some studies have found that drinking diet soda can cause the thyroid gland to work less efficiently, potentially leading to increased fat storage and weight gain.
The artificial sweeteners in diet soda trigger the same response in the brain as real sugar. The moment “sweetness” is detected, it signals the body to release hormones to process the sugar. And because diet soda is hyper-sweetened, it can trigger cravings for more sweet, high-calorie foods leading to weight gain and belly fat in particular. Your hormones are being hijacked by chemicals pretending to be sugar.
Cardiovascular Complications
Your heart doesn’t know the difference between real and artificial sweeteners – and that’s the problem. Studies show that drinking just one diet soda per day may increase the risk of cardiovascular problems including AFib (irregular heartbeat) and high blood pressure.
Despite having identified the high body weight of soda drinkers as a confounder, they found that soda consumption, especially DS, was associated with higher left atrial dimension (LAD) and left ventricular mass (LVM), compared to no soda consumption. DS consumption in high quantities might increase not only metabolic risks but also cardiovascular risks, which should prompt clinicians to educate patients on the regulation of ASBs. Every can is potentially remodeling your heart in dangerous ways.
Mental Health Mayhem
DS drinkers were more likely to report binge eating and purging than regular soda drinkers, who were more likely to report these behaviors than non-soda drinkers. Individuals with eating disorders, particularly bulimia nervosa, consumed more DS than controls. Eating disorder symptoms that reflect increased appetitive drive or increased weight concerns were associated with increased DS intake.
Others showed memory and learning impairments in rodents after aspartame ingestion, as well as an association with mood disorders such as depression and anxiety in both human and rodent models. Similarly, adults who frequently consumed beverages containing aspartame were found to exhibit increased levels of depression. The very drink you reach for during stressful times might be making your mental state worse.