Diet Soda Drinkers May Be At Higher Risk for Stroke

Bad bubbles.

Step away from the Diet Pepsi. New research suggests that while diet soda may cut out the calories, people who consume it on a regular basis could be at significantly higher risk of suffering a stroke or heart attack.

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The alarming study, which will be presented at the American Stroke Association's International Stroke Conference 2011, followed 2,500 New Yorkers over the course of nearly a decade, splitting them into groups based on how much soda they drank.

The results -- people who said they drank diet soda daily had a 60% higher risk of suffering a stroke or heart attack. This risk was hardly diminshed when the researchers factored in other data like age, sex, race, smoking and alcohol.

However, researchers say the results are preliminary and that more study must be conducted in order to determine the links between diet soda and cardiovascular problems.

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Either way, best to cut back on the bubbly.

"If our results are confirmed with future studies, then it would suggest that diet soda may not be the optimal substitute for sugar-sweetened beverages for protection against vascular outcomes," said Hannah Gardener, the study's lead author and epidemiologist at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine in Miami, Fla.

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