A recent study found that drinking even one diet soda a day may triple your risk for developing dementia. But there's a lot more to the story. Nutrition Diva explains
A study published last week in the journal Stroke found that drinking even one can of diet soda a day triples your risk of dementia. Not surprisingly, this caused quite an uproar.
If you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.
“I'm disturbed by a report I heard yesterday about a possible link between artificial sweeteners and dementia. I'm reluctant to stop using artificial sweeteners on the basis of a single study. I'm in my 60's and use artificial sweeteners daily. So sure, I'm concerned. Are there other studies that support this?”
As a matter of fact, Sharyn, there
don’t seem to be any other studies linking artificial sweeteners to dementia. And I think your reluctance to change your behavior based on a single isolated finding is very reasonable—especially when we take a closer look at what this particular study actually found.
However, there may be other, more compelling arguments against daily consumption of artificial sweeteners. I’ll get back to those in a moment. For now, let’s take a look at what this most recent study does (and doesn’t) tell us about the relationship between artificial sweeteners and dementia risk.
If you enjoyed this article, I’d like to ask for your support. Scientific American has served as an advocate for science and industry for 180 years, and right now may be the most critical moment in that two-century history.
I’ve been a Scientific American subscriber since I was 12 years old, and it helped shape the way I look at the world. SciAm always educates and delights me, and inspires a sense of awe for our vast, beautiful universe. I hope it does that for you, too.
If you subscribe to Scientific American, you help ensure that our coverage is centered on meaningful research and discovery; that we have the resources to report on the decisions that threaten labs across the U.S.; and that we support both budding and working scientists at a time when the value of science itself too often goes unrecognized.
