Senior Voice -

We are so attached to our food and drink that it pains me when I have to take something away from you. But this is an old story for me. I have never ever recommended artificially sweetened sodas or “diet” anything. To me, that whole industry is a multi-billion dollar campaign effort to get you to drink and eat things that aren’t, by definition, food anymore. The entire industry depends on the illusion of you thinking that diet drinks are healthy.

The latest research is frightening. It’s based upon data collected over 12 years and suggests that consuming just five diet drinks (sodas, juices, other) correlates to a much higher risk of stroke and heart disease, and in fact a dramatically higher risk of dying early from any cause. This data was extrapolated from a study on people over the age of 50, who did not have other major health problems. They were essentially well, but after drinking artificially sweetened drinks for 12 years, a lot of them had a stroke.

What’s wrong with water? Water does not come with the risk that one day someone will have to change your adult diapers. Water makes sense, yet some health practitioners recommend “diet” beverages as a way to cut calories, support weight loss or improve health status. Very sad.

The study that I’ve been referring to is entitled: Artificially Sweetened Beverages and Stroke, Coronary Heart Disease, and All-Cause Mortality in the Women’s Health Initiative.

The study finds your risk for a hemorrhagic stroke is dramatically higher if you drink a lot of diet sodas. No particular brand is the problem, it’s the artificial chemicals inside of these drinks. It’s egregious that these things are not only allowed to be sold, no less pitched to you as some healthy alternative. So it’s really up to you to know better.

The newest research was published in a journal called Stroke. Over 80,000 women were studied, most between the ages of 55 and 79. Drinking a couple of diet drinks each day (335ml which is the amount in a typical can of soda) increases your risk for stroke by 23 percent compared to women who drink less than one per week.

Every 40 seconds, someone in the U.S. has a stroke. If survived, a stroke can leave one paralyzed and sometimes in need of nursing home care or bedridden. Other post-TIA or stroke disabilities include confusion, inability to speak or understand language, poor memory, difficulty swallowing food (requiring a feeding tube) or blindness and/or hearing loss.

Other factors that further raise your risk include being overweight, sedentary, nutritionally deficient in essential nutrients or fatty acids that support brain health, and of course your genes.

Impending signs include sudden eyesight loss or visual changes, slurring, inability to speak or understand, tingling and balance problems.