Artificially sweetened beverages, a new study has found, are as bad for the heart as the sugar-laden kind. A study by the nutritional epidemiology research team at the Sorbonne Paris Nord University, in a statement, said: “Artificially sweetened beverages may not be a healthy substitute for sugar drinks, and these data provide additional arguments to fuel the current debate on taxes, labelling and regulation of sugary drinks and artificially sweetened beverages.”
“We already know that sugar-sweetened beverages are bad news when it comes to cardiovascular and other health outcomes,” said cardiologist Dr Andrew Freeman, co-chair of the American College of Cardiology nutrition and lifestyle workgroup, who was not involved in the study. For example, compared to women who drink sugary sodas, sports drinks and juice less than once per month, a 2019 study found women who had more than two servings a day — defined as standard glass, bottle or can — had a 63% increased risk of premature death. Men who consumed more than two servings had a 29% increase in risk. The new research, published Monday in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, analyzed data from over 100,000 adult French volunteers.
The volunteers had been divided into three teams: nonusers, low customers and excessive customers of food regimen or sugary drinks. Sugary drinks included mushy drinks, fruit drinks and syrups that had been not less than 5% sugar in addition to 100% fruit juice. Diet drinks contained solely non-nutritive sweeteners similar to aspartame or sucralose and pure sweeteners similar to stevia.
The volunteers were divided into three groups: nonusers, low consumers and high consumers of diet or sugary beverages. Sugary beverages included soft drinks, fruit drinks and syrups that were at least 5% sugar as well as 100% fruit juice. Diet drinks contained only non-nutritive sweeteners such as aspartame or sucralose and natural sweeteners such as stevia. During follow-up from 2011 to 2019, sugary and diet-drinking habits were separately compared to any first cases of “stroke, transient ischemic attack, myocardial infarction, acute coronary syndrome and angioplasty,” the study said. The authors said they eliminated early cases of heart disease during the first three years, adjusted for a “range of confounders” that might skew the data, and found a small but statistically significant result.
Danielle Smotkin, a spokesperson for the American Beverage Association, told CNN via email that “low- and no-calorie sweeteners have been deemed safe by regulatory bodies around the world and there is a substantial body of research, including a study by the World Health Organization, that shows these sweeteners are a useful tool for helping people reduce sugar consumption and manage weight. “We support the WHO’s call for people to reduce sugar in their diets and we are doing our part by creating innovative beverages with less sugar or zero sugar, clear calorie labeling, responsible marketing practices and smaller package sizes,” Smotkin said.
Another 2019 study found drinking two or more of any kind of artificially sweetened drinks a day was linked to an increased risk of clot-based strokes, heart attacks and early death in women over 50. Risks were highest for women with no history of heart disease or diabetes and women who were obese.
