Consuming seven or more cans of diet pop per week could increase your risk of long-term heart problems, according to a study.
Researchers in China studied 200,000 adults in the United Kingdom who had not previously been diagnosed with heart disease for four years, then followed them up 10 years later.
They found that those who drank more than two liters, about seven cans, of artificially sweetened drinks such as diet soda per week had a 20 percent higher risk of developing atrial fibrillation than those who did not drink these drinks.
Atrial fibrillation, also called atrial fibrillation, is an irregular heart rhythm – arrhythmia – that begins in the upper chambers of the heart. The disease, which affects public figures such as President Joe Biden, kills tens of thousands in the US and Britain every year.
People who drank at least one liter of artificially sweetened drinks per week had a 20 percent increased risk of atrial fibrillation
The findings come months after the World Health Organization classified aspartame, the artificial sweetener in Diet Coke, as possibly carcinogenic, meaning it can cause cancer.
However, independent experts have raised concerns about the study's caveats, saying the data was only short-term and observational, meaning the cause of the rise in atrial fibrillation cases was unclear.
Dr. Ningjian Wang, lead author of the study from Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine in Shanghai, China, said: “The results of our study cannot definitively conclude that one drink poses a greater health risk than another because our diet is complex is and some people may 'drink more than one type of drink.'
“However, based on these findings, we recommend reducing or even avoiding artificially sweetened and sugar-sweetened beverages if possible.”
“Do not assume that drinking low-sugar, low-calorie, artificially sweetened beverages is healthy; it may pose potential health risks.”
The research team evaluated 201,856 adults in the UK Biobank database between 2006 and 2010.
The patients were between 37 and 73 years old and 45 percent were male.
Researchers followed participants for an average of 10 years and collected blood samples to measure their genetic risk for atrial fibrillation. Participants were also asked to complete a 24-hour questionnaire about their diet five times between April 2009 and April 2012.
Those who drank more than two liters of artificially sweetened drinks per day, about seven cans, had a 20 percent higher risk of developing atrial fibrillation than those who did not drink these drinks.
Additionally, those who drank at least two liters of sugary drinks had a 10 percent increase in their likelihood of being diagnosed with atrial fibrillation.
Meanwhile, those who consumed a liter or less of pure fruit juice had an eight percent lower risk of atrial fibrillation than those who didn't drink it.
Additionally, those who drank at least two liters of sugary drinks had a 10 percent increase in their likelihood of being diagnosed with atrial fibrillation
Meanwhile, those who consumed a liter or less of pure fruit juice had an eight percent lower risk of atrial fibrillation than those who didn't drink it.
“Participants who consumed more artificially sweetened beverages were more likely to be female, younger, have a higher body mass index, and have a higher prevalence of type 2 diabetes,” the team wrote.
“Participants who consumed more sugary drinks were more likely to be male, younger, have higher body mass index, higher prevalence of heart disease, and lower socioeconomic status.”
The team also found that those who drank sugar-sweetened drinks and pure fruit juices were more likely to have a higher total sugar intake per day than those who drank artificially sweetened drinks.
“These new findings on the links between the risk of atrial fibrillation and sugary and artificially sweetened drinks and pure juices could stimulate the development of new prevention strategies by considering reducing sweetened drinks to improve heart health,” said Dr. Wang.
“Although the mechanisms linking sweetened beverages to the risk of atrial fibrillation are still unclear, there are several possible explanations, including insulin resistance and the body's response to various sweeteners.”
Insulin resistance occurs when the body does not respond to the hormone insulin, which leads to high blood sugar levels. Over time, high blood sugar damages blood vessels and contributes to heart disease.
Although research on artificial sweeteners is limited, sugar has long been linked to heart disease because it raises blood pressure and increases harmful inflammation throughout the body.
Although atrial fibrillation alone is not fatal, it can lead to more serious heart problems such as heart failure because the heart pumps so hard that it cannot pump blood fast enough to the rest of the body.
The study has several important caveats.
“Limitations of this study include that the results were observational and cannot demonstrate a causal relationship between consumption of specific types of beverages and atrial fibrillation risk,” the researchers wrote.
“In addition, the results relied on participants recalling their own diet, so there may have been memory errors or biases.” It is also not known whether the sugar- and artificially-sweetened drinks contained caffeine.”
Independent experts also expressed concerns about the results and pointed to the need for more long-term data.
Gavin Partington, director general of the British Soft Drinks Association, said: “As the authors of this study themselves admit, this is observational research which, firstly, cannot prove causation and secondly, contains data which could be subject to memory errors or bias on the part of participants .'
“All soft drinks, regardless of their ingredients, are safe to consume as part of a balanced diet, not least fruit juice, of which a 150ml serving counts as one of your 5 drinks a day.”
Victoria Taylor, senior nutritionist at the British Heart Foundation, said: “As this type of study is observational, it can only show us associations, not causation.” “We would need more research and different types of studies to do so to get a definitive answer.”
“We already know that high-sugar diets are linked to high-calorie diets, which can lead to weight gain and obesity. This, in turn, increases the likelihood of developing type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease.”
Dr. Duane Mellor, registered dietitian and senior lecturer at Aston University in the UK, said: “This study found that people who drank more than 2 liters per week had an increased risk of atrial fibrillation.”
“However, the data on which this was based were only five separate food intake memories in one day, collected in the first three years of the study. Therefore, these data had to be extrapolated to estimate weekly food intake.”
“Although there is an increased risk, there are limited explanations as to how sweeteners might increase the risk of atrial fibrillation. Therefore, there are limited biological reasons to explain how sweetened beverages might be related to heart health.”
The study was published Tuesday in the journal Circulation: Arrhythmia and Electrophysiology.