Diet drinks are just as harmful to health as sugary drinks - Walla! health

2021-05-05T19:21:28.105Z

New research states that drinking sugar-free soft drinks also increases your risk of premature mortality. Here is all the information you need to know to avoid the risk

health
Nutrition and diet

Diet drinks are just as harmful to health as sugary drinks

A new and comprehensive study has found that drinking soft drinks increases the risk of dying prematurely for any reason and especially from heart disease, even if these drinks do not contain sugar.

And even if you drink less than one drink a day

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Consumption of sugar-sweetened soft drinks was found to be associated with a 5 percent increase in the risk of dying from any cause, and a 13 percent increase in mortality from heart disease.

People who drank a lot of soft drinks had a 12 percent higher chance of general mortality, and a twenty percent higher chance of dying from heart disease.

The safest choice.

Water (Photo: Giphy)

Consumption of diet drinks on the other hand was found to be associated with not significantly lower mortality risks: a 4 percent increase in the risk of premature mortality from any cause, and a 7 percent risk of mortality from heart disease.

Study participants with the highest consumption of diet drinks of all kinds had a 12 percent higher risk of premature mortality from any cause and a 23 percent higher risk of mortality from heart disease, compared with participants with low consumption of these beverages.

"High consumption of soft drinks, whether sweetened with sugar or artificial sweeteners, has been found to be significantly associated with a higher risk of cardiovascular mortality as well as general mortality," said Dr. Hongi Li of Zhengzhou University in China, who led the study. The new one, in an interview with the journal Public Health.

The regulation focuses only on sugar

Most of the policies of governments around the world (especially in Western countries) concerning regulation and the attempt to limit and reduce the consumption of sugary drinks are aimed at their sugar content.

Special markings or 'sugar taxes' that are customary in different countries operate according to criteria of the amount of sugar found in foods and beverages and do not necessarily apply to diet drinks, which do not contain sugar, but may contain other sweeteners whose disadvantages are on their side.

However, the findings of this new study emphasize that it is not enough to avoid or reduce the consumption of beverages that contain sugar and that the public health interest also requires consideration of the consumption of various diet drinks that contain sugar substitutes and artificial sweeteners - both at the individual and public policy levels.

And this is also the hope of the researchers who said their conclusions could help governments and public bodies rethink plans to reduce the consumption of soft drinks as a whole, and not just those containing sugar.