Drinking diet sodas and your health

Pop could be hard on your hearing!)

Drinking sugar-added beverages is a known risk for obesity, and drinking one to two cans daily puts you at a 26 percent greater risk of Type 2 diabetes! And an observational study in the journal Stroke reveals that artificially sweetened beverages may be a health risk, too: Researchers found that those who drink at least one diet soda daily are 2.9 times more likely to have an ischemic stroke and 3 times more likely to develop dementia than abstainers.

Now, it may be that folks who are overweight and have Type 2 diabetes or heart disease give up sugary sodas for diet versions — and then develop health problems, like stroke and dementia, that are repercussions of their chronic medical conditions. So, the researchers want to make it clear: In this study, the association of diet soda to dementia and stroke doesn’t mean that it CAUSES those conditions or that giving it up can help you avoid them. Instead it’s a red flag, saying “Hey, what’s going on with your health?”

So if you’re a diet-soda drinker (Dr. Mike was — 36 cans a day before his assistant Beth and Dr. Oz intervened in 2010; his last soda of any kind was 9/4/10 at 4:30 p.m.), it’s time to assess your health and stress levels, and make a plan to get in 10,000 steps a day (dispels stress, burns fat and tones muscle), eat 5-9 servings of produce daily (fights heart disease and diabetes), and rely on water, coffee and tea for your beverages.