The Diet Soda Conundrum

Some friends and I were debating the recent news that diet soda may be linked to an increased risk of stroke. In a study which followed 2500 people over 9 years, 61%(or so, I'm paraphrasing) of those people who also consumed diet sodas later went on to have strokes. The study implies that diet soda somehow increases your risk for stroke. The study did not mention how many were overweight, had a family history of stroke, or other increased risk factors, so it's difficult to pinpoint whether the diet sodas themselves caused the problem or merely contributed to it. Also, the study was a questionnaire, which asked the participants at one point in time whether they drank diet soda; it didn't ask them again later, so there is no way to know what habits they may changed during those 9 years.


It got me thinking about my own diet soda consumption. I drink diet soda. But I used to drink A LOT of diet soda, so much so that other people knew I was at work when they looked in the staff refrigerator and saw my 6-pack of 12 oz Diet Pepsi in there. Thankfully, I consume a lot less soda these days, opting for less processed food and chemicals as a general rule. But for all my diet soda consumption I was still pretty fat. I mean, it's not like it helped my diet or anything. Maybe all it did was allow me to feel justified in eating all kinds of fattening processed food, since I was cutting out calories on soda. I don't know. Diet soda is a crutch for the overweight masses, it seems. 


One thing I did read at the end of that study, was a comment by one of the clinicians who said they think there is a possibility that diet sodas contribute to metabolic syndrome in some way. Now what is that, you ask? Simply put, metabolic syndrome is a group of medical problems that when combined increase the risk of cardiovascular disease and diabetes. Things like high blood pressure, elevated cholesterol and triglycerides, raised fasting blood sugar, a BMI >30, and abdominal girth. Basically, being overweight and unhealthy. In a NY Times article,  a study of 9500 people aged 45 to 64 were tracked over a period of 9 years. They found that people who ate a typical "Western" diet of grains, red meat and fried foods had an 18% increased risk for metabolic syndrome. People who ate a diet of fruits, vegetables, fish and poultry showed no increased 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."http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/05/health/nutrition/05symp.html?adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1298811640-w5TOVg/D2/QfTvl3IG7v1A


The study doesn't offer an explanation of why this may have happened, but it certainly makes a compelling argument against drinking diet soda. 
When I think about what is actually in a diet soda, it mostly seems to be made up of chemicals, carbonation and some food coloring. It's the chemicals part that bothers me. I've decided that I will gradually eliminate diet soda from my diet, my family history being what it is; my Dad had a stroke 2 years ago. 
But he never drank a diet soda in his life.