Right up front let me tell you that my husband, David, was a HUGE soda drinker for years. Until it began to interfere with his health and he switched to iced tea.

This change was not only a health benefit (too much sugar); he also lost weight.

Now a brouhaha is brewing over diet soda. Supposedly, those who drink it every day could risk stroke or heart attack, compared to those of us who don’t drink soda.

That’s the news researchers hit us with on Wednesday, February 9, 2011.

Dr. Steven Greenberg is a Harvard Medical School neurologist, and he is warning the findings should be “a wakeup call to pay attention to diet sodas.”

Here’s the dilemma. These doctors can’t tell us why diet soda might be chancy. Maybe those who drink excessive amounts don’t exercise and they smoke; have high blood pressure.

These things were true of David. One good thing, he quit smoking.

Researchers took this information and other factors into account, yet it didn’t change the outcome.

Here’s what they did: took 2,500 adults over 40, had them fill out a form about their diets, and tracked them for 10 years. They did include more Hispanics and blacks because this had not been done before.

The 116 people who drank diet soda every single day had a risk of stroke or heart attack that was 48 percent higher than people who didn’t drink soda at all (901).

This was after taking into account rates of smoking, diabetes, waistline size and other factors.

Hannah Gardner, lead researcher of the University of Miami declares: “It’s reasonable to have doubts because we don’t have a clear mechanism. This needs to be viewed as a primary study.”

Another tidbit he added: “It’s too preliminary to suggest any dietary advice, but other big studies should look at this question.”

Too preliminary? In other words, it’s basic yet they’re going to get us fired up anyway.

Next thing Chicken Little will be on the rooftop yelling diet soda is the main cause of David’s sweet tooth.

Still, something major happened during the survey.

There were 559 strokes or heart attacks … 338 were fatal.

Is this coincidental? Would these have happened anyway?

What’s Your Opinion?

I would love to know.

May Your Glass Always Be Half Full

Chapter Five is ready:
http://maximalone.com

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