I've got doubts about this.

Overweight people probably tend to drink diet soda more than thin people, and overweight people are more at risk for strokes.

Saccharin has been around since World War Two after being developed in Germany. I don't see an unusual number of Germans dropping dead early.


Print Story: The Bitter Side of Diet Soda: Strokes - Yahoo! News
The Bitter Side of Diet Soda: Strokes

LiveScience.com livescience.com Sat Feb 26, 9:01 pm ET
Drinking diet soda is associated with a 50-percent increase in stroke risk, according to a study presented earlier this month at the American Stroke Association's International Stroke Conference in Los Angeles.


Not surprisingly, reaction to the news among dieters has been disparaging and defensive, as each person cycles through the Kubler-Ross five stages of grief, from denial and anger to bargaining, depression and acceptance.
"Now the health police tell us we can't drink Diet Coke," captures the tone on many of the diet blogs.


If it's any consolation for diet-soda fans, the results presented at the meeting — based on preliminary analysis from a 2,500-person subset of the ongoing Northern Manhattan Study (NOMAS) — are far from definitive. There's no way to tell yet, for example, what ingredient would be associated with strokes or whether lifestyle choices among drinkers are the real cause.


That said, is drinking diet soda safe? Of course not, especially when it is the main source of liquid refreshment every day. You're drinking copious amounts of phosphoric acid, artificial colors, artificial flavors, and some laboratory-crafted chemical that tricks your brain into perceiving the sensation of sweet.


Diet soda is an alternative to regular soda, but neither is healthy. You are merely trading calories from sugar for chemicals of questionable nature.


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