Study: diet soda poses same risks as regular cola

BOSTON (AP) - People who drank more than one diet soda each day developed the same risks for heart disease as those who downed sugary regular soda, suggests a large but inconclusive study.\nThe study’s senior author, Dr. Vasan Ramachandran, emphasized the findings don’t show diet sodas are a cause of increased heart disease risks. \nHowever, a nutrition expert dismissed the study’s findings on diet soda drinkers.\n“There’s too much contradictory evidence that shows that diet beverages are healthier for you in terms of losing weight that I would not put any credence to the result on the diet (drinks),” said Barry Popkin, of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, who has called for cigarette-style surgeon general warnings about the negative health effects of soda.\nSusan Feely, president of the American Beverage Association, said the notion that diet drinks are associated is not common sense.\n“How can something with zero calories that’s 99 percent water with a little flavoring in it ... cause weight gain?” she said.\nThe research comes from a massive, multi-generational heart study following residents of Framingham, Mass., a town about 25 miles west of Boston. The new study of 9,000 observations of middle-aged men and women was published Monday online in the journal Circulation.\nThe researchers found those who drank more than one soda per day, diet or regular, had an increased risk of metabolic syndrome, compared to those who drank less than one soda per day. Metabolic syndrome is a cluster of symptoms that increase the risk for heart disease, including large waistlines and higher levels of blood pressure, blood sugar, cholesterol and blood fats called triglycerides.\nAt the start of the study, those who reported drinking more than one soft drink a day had a 48 percent increased prevalence of metabolic syndrome compared to those who drank less soda.\nOf those who initially showed no signs of metabolic syndrome, those who drank more than one soda per day were at 44 percent higher risk of developing it four years later, they reported.\nResearchers expected the results to differ when regular soda and diet soda drinkers were compared, and were surprised when they did not, Vasan said.