Diet soda linked to heart risks

UPDATE: 29 April
New information, or I should say confirmation of very old and well known information about phosphates and phosphorus in soda, diet or sweetened, reinforces negative health effects. Worse is the chemical reaction between phosphorous-containing compounds and aluminum cans.

Early death by junk food? High levels of phosphate in sodas and processed foods accelerate the aging process in mice

ScienceDaily (2010-04-28) -- High levels of phosphates may add more "pop" to sodas and processed foods than once thought. That's because researchers have found that the high levels of phosphates accelerate signs of aging. High phosphate levels may also increase the prevalence and severity of age-related complications, such as chronic kidney disease and cardiovascular calcification, and can also induce severe muscle and skin atrophy. ... > read full article

UPDATE: 22 April, 2010
What the ABC News report did not state, is that most sweetened soda and other such beverages contain HFCS, not fructose. There is a difference. Also to be considered is that over 90% of corn used in food products is known to be genetically modified (GMO)and/or controlled by Monsanto as Round-Up Ready. Round-Up is a carcinogen. Atrazine, another very toxic chemical, is used in growing corn crops.
High fructose corn syrup (HFCS)
A sweet problem: Princeton researchers find that high-fructose corn syrup prompts considerably more weight gain
See also - Death of HFCS, this and this.
Originally posted 7/23/07

Dr. Vasan Ramachandran might be on to something. Something the FDA already knows and has known for many decades, according to the history of aspartame toxicity and the extreme measures utilized to cover it up.

Not much is different about sucralose (marketed as Splenda). Both were originally developed as insect poisons.

The only cautions I will offer is to check with the experts on this subject and ignore Ramachandran's advice to use these products moderately.

I'll also mention that diet drinks DO cause weight gain and that study has been done. (Once again no thorough search of the literature Vasan). They also cause diabetes, cancer and other serious health problems.

My advice is not to use them at all. Especially when there are more than 92 registered complaints against aspartame on file with the FDA, and the ones on sucralose are mounting.

Safe sweeteners are available - Stevia and Just Like Sugar are in many of the same products as the toxic ones, and there is no health risk.

Study: Diet soda linked to heart risks

By JAY LINDSAY, Associated Press Writer

People who drank more than one diet soda each day developed the same risks for heart disease as those who downed sugary regular soda, a large but inconclusive study found.

The results surprised the researchers who expected to see a difference between regular and diet soda drinkers. It could be, they suggest, that even no-calorie sweet drinks increase the craving for more sweets, and that people who indulge in sodas probably have less healthy diets overall.

The study's senior author, Dr. Vasan Ramachandran, emphasized the findings don't show diet sodas are a cause of increased heart disease risks. But he said they show a surprising link that must be studied.

"It's intriguing and it begs an explanation by people who are qualified to do studies to understand this better," said Vasan, of Boston University School of Medicine.

However, a nutrition expert dismissed the study's findings on diet soda drinkers.

"There's too much contradictory evidence that shows that diet beverages are healthier for you in terms of losing weight that I would not put any credence to the result on the diet (drinks)," said Barry Popkin, of the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, who has called for cigarette-style surgeon general warnings about the negative health effects of soda.

Susan Neely, president of the American Beverage Association, said the notion that diet drinks are associated with bulging waistlines defies common sense.

"How can something with zero calories that's 99 percent water with a little flavoring in it ... cause weight gain?" she said.

The research comes from a massive, multi-generational heart study following residents of Framingham, Mass., a town about 25 miles west of Boston. The new study of 9,000 observations of middle-aged men and women was published Monday online in the journal Circulation.

The researchers found those who drank more than one soda per day — diet or regular — had an increased risk of metabolic syndrome, compared to those who drank less than one soda. Metabolic syndrome is a cluster of symptoms that increase the risk for heart disease including large waistlines and higher levels of blood pressure, blood sugar, cholesterol and blood fats called triglycerides.

At the start of the study, those who reported drinking more than one soft drink a day had a 48 percent increased prevalence of metabolic syndrome compared to those who drank less soda.

Of participants who initially showed no signs of metabolic syndrome, those who drank more than one soda per day were at 44 percent higher risk of developing it four years later, they reported.

Researchers expected the results to differ when regular soda and diet soda drinkers were compared, and were surprised when they did not, Vasan said.

But Popkin said that result isn't that surprising. He said much of the market for diet sodas are people who have unhealthy lifestyles and know they need to lose weight — with the other portion being thin people who want to stay that way. That means many people drinking diet sodas have unhealthy habits that could lead to increased heart disease risks, whether they drink diet soda or not.

In studies in which some users were randomly given diet sodas and others were given regular soda, diet soda drinkers lost weight and regular soda drinkers gained weight, Popkin said.

In a statement, the American Heart Association said it supports dietary patterns that include low-calorie beverages.

"Diet soda can be a good option to replace caloric beverages that do not contain important vitamins and minerals," the association said, adding further study is needed before any association between diet soda and heart risk factors would lead to public recommendations.

Vasan also said poor overall health habits may be one reason diet soda drinkers did not show lower heart disease risks in the Framingham study, but there hasn't been enough research to say for sure.

Another possible reason is a controversial theory called "dietary compensation," which holds that if someone drinks a large amount of liquids at a meal, they aren't satisfied and will tend to eat more at the next meal, Vasan said.

Other theories, Vasan said, are that people who drink a large amount of sweetened drinks are prone to develop a taste for sweeter foods, or that the substance that gives soda its caramel color promotes resistance to insulin, which is needed to process calories.

Without a more definitive explanation, Vasan offers only this advice to diet soda drinkers: "Consume in moderation and stayed tuned for more research."
___

On the Net:

Framingham Heart Study: http://www.framinghamheartstudy.org/

American Heart Association: http://www.americanheart.org

http://naturalhealthnews.blogspot.com/2008/09/affecting-unborn.html
http://naturalhealthnews.blogspot.com/2009/11/soft-drinks-with-artificial-sweeteners.html
http://naturalhealthnews.blogspot.com/2008/02/maybe-its-pink-maybe-its-not-breast.html
http://naturalhealthnews.blogspot.com/2008/04/words-on-water.html
http://naturalhealthnews.blogspot.com/2008/10/bone-health-is-not-helped-with-soap-or.html
http://naturalhealthnews.blogspot.com/2008/05/better-than-rx-for-gerd.html
http://naturalhealthnews.blogspot.com/2005/07/nutraceutical-hype.html
http://naturalhealthnews.blogspot.com/2008/12/problems-with-new-sweetener.html
http://naturalhealthnews.blogspot.com/2009/12/zerose-zevia-or-what-ever-you-wish-to.html
http://naturalhealthnews.blogspot.com/2010/02/heart-month-hype.html
http://naturalhealthnews.blogspot.com/2009/12/lethal-science-of-splenda.html
http://naturalhealthnews.blogspot.com/2010/02/soft-drinks-and-pancreatic-cancer.html
http://naturalhealthnews.blogspot.com/2007/07/diet-soda-linked-to-heart-risks.html
http://naturalhealthnews.blogspot.com/2010/03/diet-soda-for-kids-brings-more-obesity.html
http://naturalhealthnews.blogspot.com/2010/03/clintons-soda-deal-reinforces-obesity.html

Diet Soda for Kids Brings More Obesity

Some very definitive studies have been done showing the increase in obesity when diet soda is used in place of this with high fructose corn syrup.

This obviously is being ignored by Bill Clinton, the American Heart Association, Pekka Puska from the World Heart Federation, and PepsiCo in school sales schemes.

In primary schools, PepsiCo will sell only water, fat-free or low-fat milk, and juice with no added sugar. In secondary schools, it will sell those drinks along with low-calorie soft drinks, such as Diet Pepsi. Sports drinks are permissible when they're sold to students participating in sports or other physical activities.

Complete article

NB: Cutting down on drinks sweetened with high fructose corn syrup may help, put selling artificially sweetened drinks is a direct path to obesity and diabetes plus more than 100 known health issues.

March 17 - In a related discussion, one "...prominent cardiologist accused leading heart organizations of being too cozy with industry and allowing those ties to influence its policies and education programs for doctors."
Complete article

As long as the money flows around the Beltway moat, good luck in getting any REAL and SUBSTANTIAL health insurance reform that makes a difference for the people!

Soft Drinks and Pancreatic Cancer

Most soda today is made with HFCS (high fructose corn syrup) and it seems as if this, along with the very toxic artificial sweeteners used in soda, causes many health problems often not discussed in the media.  It comes as no surprise that soda consumption can lead to this serious disease.  However, don't overlook the use of green tea and risk of pancreatic cancer.

Most HFCS is made from GMO corn and this genetic modification may also be a contributing factor.

The better news is that there are things you can do for pancreatic health, and also for pancreatic cancer naturally.

See also: www.leaflady.org/sweet_but_not_so_innocent.htm
www.leaflady.org/fructose.htm
http://naturalhealthnews.blogspot.com/2008/12/dangers-of-hfcs.html

Monday Feb 8,2010 WASHINGTON (Reuters) – People who drink two or more sweetened soft drinks a week have a much higher risk of pancreatic cancer, an unusual but deadly cancer, researchers reported on Monday.
People who drank mostly fruit juice instead of sodas did not have the same risk, the study of 60,000 people in Singapore found.
Sugar may be to blame but people who drink sweetened sodas regularly often have other poor health habits, said Mark Pereira of the University of Minnesota, who led the study.
"The high levels of sugar in soft drinks may be increasing the level of insulin in the body, which we think contributes to pancreatic cancer cell growth," Pereira said in a statement.
Insulin, which helps the body metabolize sugar, is made in the pancreas.
Writing in the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, Pereira and colleagues said they followed 60,524 men and women in the Singapore Chinese Health Study for 14 years.
Over that time, 140 of the volunteers developed pancreatic cancer. Those who drank two or more soft drinks a week had an 87 percent higher risk of being among those who got pancreatic cancer.
Pereira said he believed the findings would apply elsewhere.
"Singapore is a wealthy country with excellent healthcare. Favorite pastimes are eating and shopping, so the findings should apply to other western countries," he said.
But Susan Mayne of the Yale Cancer Center at Yale University in Connecticut was cautious.
"Although this study found a risk, the finding was based on a relatively small number of cases and it remains unclear whether it is a causal association or not," said Mayne, who serves on the board of the journal, which is published by the American Association for Cancer Research.
"Soft drink consumption in Singapore was associated with several other adverse health behaviors such as smoking and red meat intake, which we can't accurately control for."
Other studies have linked pancreatic cancer to red meat, especially burned or charred meat.
Pancreatic cancer is one of the deadliest forms of cancer, with 230,000 cases globally. In the United States, 37,680 people are diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in a year and 34,290 die of it.
The American Cancer Society says the five-year survival rate for pancreatic cancer patients is about 5 percent.
Some researchers believe high sugar intake may fuel some forms of cancer, although the evidence has been contradictory. Tumor cells use more glucose than other cells.
One 12-ounce (355 ml) can of non-diet soda contains about 130 calories, almost all of them from sugar.
(Editing by John O'Callaghan)
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100208/hl_nm/us_cancer_pancreas_sodas/print

SOFT drinks with artificial sweeteners and kidney damage

As we have said for decades on aspartame, and in the past several years on Splenda (sucralose, which has already shown it calcifies the kidneys) - artificial sweeteners  have a serious health impact on the kidneys.   Time will tell about Truvia and similar erythritol based products.

SOFT drinks with artificial sweeteners could cause kidney damage, according to new research.

By Lucy Johnston

Just two colas or sodas a day were found to double the risk of a faster-than-average decline in kidney function, ­scientists said. However, this problem was not linked to drinks that had been sweetened with sugar.

The researchers in the United States looked at the effect of fizzy drinks on more than 3,000 women, comparing those who consumed artificially sweetened drinks with those whose drinks were sweetened with sugar. They took into account factors such as age, high blood pressure, diabetes, smoking, and heart disease.

But the survey looked only at older white women. The scientists admitted that it was not clear whether their findings also applied to men or people of different ethnic backgrounds.

Dr Julie Lin, who co-led the survey, with a team from Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts, said: “While more study is needed, our research suggests that higher sodium and artificially sweetened soda intake is associated with greater rate of decline in kidney function.”

The research, presented last week at the American Society of Nephrology’s annual conference in San Diego, California, was carried out as part of a major health and lifestyle investigation in the US.

A spokesman for the Beverage Association, which represents soft drink manufacturers, said it was too soon to comment on the research as it had not yet been properly evaluated by other scientists.

However, he did point out that the two main causes of chronic kidney disease were diabetes and high blood pressure “not consumption of diet soda”.

Here in Britain, the artificial sweetener aspartame is coming under more scrutiny. The government watchdog, the Food Standards Agency, is calling for volunteers to help test claims that aspartame, used in more than 4,000 products, causes illnesses.

Senator Ortiz y Pino Continues Fight to Ban Aspartame

Please support this important FDA action. And hopefully, this time around, Ajinmoto will not send big checks - like the 10K Bill Richardson accepted - to interfere with fact and the people's will.

New Mexico Senate
Santa Fe, New Mexico
February 12, 2009

The Honorable Frank Torti, M.D.
Acting Commissioner, United States Food and Drug Administration
5400 Fishers Lane
Rockville, Maryland

Dear Dr. Torti:

I am the New Mexico sponsor of the enclosed Senate Memorial 9, 2009, asking the Food and Drug Administration to rescind its approval for the artificial sweetener, aspartame.

You may know that the FDA, to its credit, turned down G.D. Searles application for aspartame's approval from 1966 to 1981, at which point, approval was forced through the FDA at the insistence fo Searles CEO, Donald Rumsfeld.

Numerous physicians petitions as well as many private petitions have been filed with FDA since 1981 asking for the rescinding of aspartames approval. These have all been routinely ignored and responded to with industry assurance about how many industry financed "tests" aspartame has been through, all of which showed "aspartame to be safe."

FDA used to keep records on consumer complaints on aspartame, accruing a minimum of 92 alleged symptoms from ingesting aspartame, ranging from headaches, blurred vision, skin rashes, epilepsy and multiple sclerosis to that ultimate symptom, DEATH.

Dr. Torti, this chemical has produced a massive mountain of medical and neurodengenerative evidence, which I believe would lead you to order it removed from the market. While it is too late to do this now as a "precaution"; it is even more imperative to do this as a means of preventing further medical harm to future victims.

This Memorial is advancing in the New Mexico Senate, after being cosponsored by ten of my colleagues. A similar version of the Memorial has also been introduced by Hawaii Senator Chun Oakland, and is cosponsored by ten members of the Hawaii Senate. That resolution will create an evidentiary repository for Hawaii victims, especially those with diabetes and epileptic seizures, now statistically epidemic in Hawaii, with links to aspartame.

In January 2009, Hawaii Senator Kalani English introduced SB576 in that state. It would ban aspartame entirely in Hawaii. This bill is cosponsored by an astonishing 14 members of the 25 member Hawaii Senate. At the same time, Representative Mele Carroll has introduced HB669, also banning aspartames sale and use in Hawaii.

I realize a permanent FDA Commissioner has not yet been selected by the Obama Administration, but when one is appointed, I will send a similar letter to him/her to again request this action in order to protect the American public from further harm from a chemical that the FDA has known for 43 years is metabolized as methanol, formaldehyde, aspartic acid, phenylalanine, and the proven carcinogen, diketopiperazine.

This regulatory failure of epic proportions entirely resulted from the actions of Donald Rumsfeld when he was with the original patent holder for aspartame. There is sufficient evidence to warrant such a rescinding, a situation not unlike that in 1969 when President Richard Nixon similarly ordered the FDA to take away the approval for another group of carcinogens, cyclamates, which occurred very quickly.

Our concern must be the overarching concerns of preventing further neurodengenerative and carcinogenic damage to hundreds of millions of Americans, who have no other government entity to trust and depend on than the United State Food and Drug Administration!

I believe that President Obama, Congressman Bart Stupak, and Congresswoman Rosa Delauro all want to see the rebuilding of an FDA that merits the restored trust of the American people. I certainly want to see this come about, and I hope you do as well.

Rescinding aspartames FDA approval would be a major credible first step in the right direction.

Sincerely yours,
Gerald Ortiz y Pino
New Mexico State Senator
District 12
Albuquerque