Study states diet soda may cause health risks

Consuming diet soda might raise the risk of developing serious health problems, according to a study done by researchers at the University of Minnesota and the University of North Carolina.\nThe study associated diet soda with an increased risk of metabolic syndrome, which can include accumulated fat around the midsection, elevated blood pressure, insulin resistance, high cholesterol and an increase of fat in the bloodstream, according to the American Heart Association Web Site. The site states that 50 million Americans are thought to have metabolic syndrome.\n“I found that people who drink one can of diet soda a day have a 34 percent increased risk of developing metabolic syndrome compared to people who don’t drink any,” said Lyn Steffen, co-author of the study and researcher at the University of Minnesota. \nShe said people who eat fried food, including fast food, had a 25 percent increased risk of developing metabolic syndrome and those who drink regular soda had a 10 percent increased risk.\nThe data for the study were collected between 1988 and 1997. The artificial sweeteners used during those times were most likely aspartame and maybe saccharin, but not Splenda, Steffen said.\nAlthough Steffen didn’t know why the results of the study came out the way they did, she thought of two possible explanations.\nThe first possible reason is that some chemical in the drink promoted weight gain. She said there was a study done recently at Purdue University where rats ate yogurt sweetened with saccharin and other rats ate yogurt with real sugar. The rats that ate the artificial sugar ate more food and gained more weight than the rats that ate the real sugar.\nAnother reason, Steffen said, is subjects in the study could have consumed the diet soda and then overcompensated by eating more food.\nThough she didn’t read the study, Bobbie Saccone, a registered dietician at the IU Health Center, said, from her experience and from what she’s read, “a lot of people will drink diet pop while eating high-calorie, high-fat foods.”\nWhatever the cause, Saccone said, she wouldn’t recommend people use diet soda to lose weight unless they were drinking large amounts of soda in the first place. Even then, they should cut back on the soda and start drinking something with nutritional value, she said.\nSome IU students said they would continue to drink diet soda, even if it causes metabolic syndrome.\nFreshman Erin Duffy said she drinks diet soda a lot for the caffeine and because she likes the taste. She said if she knew that it contributed to obesity or diabetes, she would continue to drink it.\n“I’m not going to drink regular soda,” she said, “I prefer the diet stuff.”\nSophomore Kate Farrell used to drink a diet Coke every day, but cut back to about once a month because of the risks of comsuming aspartame. She said she drinks diet soda for the caffeine and said that she, too, would not stop drinking it if she knew it caused symptoms of metabolic syndrome.