Diet soft drinks found to increase strokes & heart disease....

Today's Post: Thursday, 2-10-2011

AFP and other news sources had this story yesterday and today.

The key information was: “A pair of studies released Wednesday suggest that --

diet soda drinkers face a higher risk of heart attack and stroke than people who do not drink any soda,

and that salty food boosts stroke risks, too.

The soda study examined 2,564 people in Manhattan and found that those who reported consuming diet fizzy drinks daily had a 61 percent higher risk of vascular events than people who said they did not drink any soda at all.

When researchers factored in allowances for metabolic syndrome, peripheral vascular disease and heart disease history, the risk was 48 percent higher, said the research presented at the American Stroke Association's International Stroke Conference.”

The salt part had this:

“A second study looked at 2,657 participants in the same area and found that high salt intake was linked to a dramatically increased risk of ischemic strokes, in which a blockage cuts blood flow to the brain.

People who reported eating more than 4,000 milligrams of sodium daily -- the amount contained in four large orders of french fries in the United States -- faced twice the risk of stroke as people who consumed less than 1,500 milligrams per day.

The average American consumes about 3,000 milligrams of salt per day, according to the study, though previous research has said it could be as high as 4,000 milligrams per day.

"Stroke risk, independent of hypertension, increased 16 percent for every 500 milligrams of sodium consumed a day," allowing for adjustments for age, sex, ethnicity, education, alcohol use, exercise, daily caloric intake, smoking status, diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure and previous heart disease, it said.

Current dietary guidelines in the United States urge people to consume less that 2,300 milligrams of sodium per day, or about a teaspoon of salt. The American Heart Association recommends less than 1,500 milligrams per day.”

AP’s article had this: "A teaspoon of salt contains about 2,300 milligrams of sodium. About three-fourths of the salt we eat, though, comes from processed foods, especially tomato sauce, soups, condiments, and canned foods. "

My comments:

1. High fructose corn syrup in regular soft drinks give you calories initially without making you less hungry. Then the rebound effect of the blood sugar crash you get after the blood sugar spike makes you hungry for more sugary foods. I read one study even found that more than sugar does , high fructose corn syrup increases your appetite for sugary foods. It seems that because of this effect the same amount of high fructose corn syrup fattens you more than the same amount of calories from real sugar.

It’s now been established that the high intake of sugary foods this is part of and makes worse lowers your HDL that protects your heart and increases your triglycerides. Oops ! We now know that exact combination, just like eating transfats, means that this high intake of sugary foods is causing your body to release the small particle LDL that causes heart disease and helps cause high blood pressure and helps cause both kinds of strokes.

So, to avoid the calories and the fat gain, millions of people drink diet soft drinks. But, because of the way your body reacts to the sweet taste with no sugar in it, drinking diet soft drinks causes you to be even more hungry for other sugary foods than high fructose corn syrup does.

This causes the people who drink diet soft drinks to overdose on sugary foods and the fat gain and health effects of those are almost identical to what drinkers of the same amount of regular soft drinks experience.

So, the best solution is to drink no soft drinks at all – neither regular NOR diet soft drinks!

Water or ice water or carbonated water with no sweeteners of any kind do not have these dreadful effects.

This study found the people who drank those had far fewer heart attacks and strokes.

(It did not report that they were lighter and less fat too. But the other studies done show that they very likely were. One report said that people who drink either regular or diet soft drinks carry about 15 pounds of extra fat for each soft drink of either kind they drink each day.)

2. Note that the second study found that more salt resulted in more strokes. A key point is that this seemed to be true of both people who had high blood pressure and people who did not.

Most commercial baked goods and packaged desserts have added salt. And, virtually all packaged crackers and snacks do also.

So one way to cut back on salt is to simply rarely eat any of them. Since these same foods often contain sugar and refined grains which spike your blood sugar and tend to fatten you, that’s a really good idea.

Eating more fruits and vegetables uncooked or with salad dressings made from extra virgin olive oil and vinegar or chopped onion or minced garlic and perhaps other spices but no salt helps a lot.

Using minimal salt in cooking and then adding salt at the table AFTER tasting the food is another way to get good taste but often taking in a third or less as much salt.

3. Eating blueberries several times a week has been found to be directly protective of your brain and to decrease your risk of stroke. Taking vitamin C and eating other fruits and vegetables high in vitamin C likely has similar effects in protecting you from strokes. The potassium in blueberries, other fruits, and in vegetables also helps lower high blood pressure.

4. A study reported today found that a new drug derived from curcumin from turmeric that is used in mustard and curry and creates their distinctive yellow color prevented nerve damage from strokes and helped the nerves heal in 4 different ways.

The advantage of this drug, called “CNB-001,” is that it passes the blood brain barrier while curcumin eaten in curry or taken as a supplement did not.

That’s huge in treating stroke victims since the window of opportunity before damage sets in is so short.

BUT, guess what? Eating curried foods using curries containing turmeric and/or taking curcumin supplements has been found to prevent Alzheimer’s disease.

I believe that fact and this recent study of the drug also suggests that if you do those two things for Alzheimer’s protection or cancer protection, if you do get a stroke, the damage will be dramatically less. That’s because over several months or years before the stroke these protective effects from the curcumin are already in your brain.