Health Effects of Diet Soda
|  Video
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| Anne Kelly |
| 11/6/2009 |
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| Some call it diet pop, others call it diet soda. But some researchers are calling it detrimental to your kidneys. A recent study questions how safe it is to drink the bubbly beverage. Even though the findings are compelling, you don`t have to drop your diet soda habit quite yet. "I drink Diet Coke more than I should," says Janelle Johnson. She knows she pounds pop a little too much, at least 32 ounces every morning to start off her day. "I kind of look at Diet Coke as my only vice and I tell myself, `I don`t drink alcohol, I don`t smoke cigarettes, I drink Diet Coke,`" she says. Few would say that Diet Coke, or any other type of diet soda, is as unhealthy as cigarettes, nor is it as toxic to the body over time as too much alcohol...but researchers are now finding that downing diet soda may have a negative effect on your health. "It is, I think, compelling evidence," says Nephrologist Dr. Michael LeBeau. He says a recent study concluded that two or more cans of diet soda a day can lead to a 30 percent drop in kidney function, and should be taken seriously. But, like the study researchers said, LeBeau believes the subject needs to be studied further. Because the 25-year study only points out that drinking diet soda is associated with kidney decline, it doesn`t answer why the two are linked. "I wouldn`t go out and say `Don`t have it` based on one study," says LeBeau. Still LeBeau says this one study is enough for him to encourage patients to reconsider drinking mass quantities of diet pop a day. "To me, it`s just another thing that points to, everything we do should be in moderation," he says. A harsh reality Johnson says she knows, and will try to go by, even if it means giving up a few ounces of her sweet soda every day. Something to consider, all 3,200 participants in the study were women. Researchers say they can`t say for certain if the association between diet soda and kidney function decline would hold true for men, although they add there`s no reason to believe it wouldn`t. |
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