Should I Switch to Diet Soda?

Researchers are continuing to take a hard look at soft drinks, and coming up with data that indicates that sodas -- whether they’re sugar-laden or sugar-free -- are bad for our health. The latest study focused on 450,000 people living in 10 European countries, and followed their lives over a 16-year period. The results, published in JAMA Internal Medicine, indicated that people who drink two or more glasses of any type of soda every day are 17 percent more likely to die prematurely, when compared to people who drink less than a glass per month.

Sweeter drinks, shorter lives:

• Seventy percent of the participants had an average age of 50, and about 70 percent were women. None had a history of cancer, heart disease, stroke or diabetes. About 41,700 of the participants died during the course of the study.
• Researchers factored in various lifestyle factors, but the results weren’t affected. Use of tobacco and alcohol, body mass index, level of physical activity, caloric intake or diet choices didn’t skew the numbers.
• Animal studies suggest that artificial sweeteners may change the way the body handles real sugar, scientists say.