Symptoms: Metabolic Syndrome Is Tied to Diet Soda

[fit]

At first glance this may seem like another variation on "diet drinks make you fat". You may remember the recent discussions that maybe the "sweetness" triggered the body to treat diet drinks like sugar and change blood sugar response.

The way I read this, the diet soda drinking could be coincidence... but even I have to admit the findings are "curious".

There's not enough info in the article to jump to any conclusions.

Story

Symptoms: Metabolic Syndrome Is Tied to Diet Soda
By NICHOLAS BAKALAR
Published: February 5, 2008
Researchers have found a correlation between drinking diet soda and metabolic syndrome — the collection of risk factors for cardiovascular disease and diabetes that include abdominal obesity, high cholesterol and blood glucose levels, and elevated blood pressure.

Dietary Intake and the Development of the Metabolic Syndrome. The Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study (Circulation)The scientists gathered dietary information on more than 9,500 men and women ages 45 to 64 and tracked their health for nine years.

Over all, a Western dietary pattern — high intakes of refined grains, fried foods and red meat — was associated with an 18 percent increased risk for metabolic syndrome, while a “prudent” diet dominated by fruits, vegetables, fish and poultry correlated with neither an increased nor a decreased risk.

But the one-third who ate the most fried food increased their risk by 25 percent compared with the one-third who ate the least, and surprisingly, the risk of developing metabolic syndrome was 34 percent higher among those who drank one can of diet soda a day compared with those who drank none.

“This is interesting,” said Lyn M. Steffen, an associate professor of epidemiology at the University of Minnesota and a co-author of the paper, which was posted online in the journal Circulation on Jan. 22. “Why is it happening? Is it some kind of chemical in the diet soda, or something about the behavior of diet soda drinkers?”

[fit]

I have an email in to Lyn Steffen to get details on this. As an observational study, based on what the article says, it proves nothing.

In fact:
Abstract

Dietary Intake and the Development of the Metabolic Syndrome. The Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study.

Lutsey PL, Steffen LM, Stevens J.
Division of Epidemiology and Community Health, University of Minnesota, School of Public Health, Minneapolis, and Department of Nutrition, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.
BACKGROUND: -The role of diet in the origin of metabolic syndrome (MetSyn) is not well understood; thus, we sought to evaluate the relationship between incident MetSyn and dietary intake using prospective data from 9514 participants (age, 45 to 64 years) enrolled in the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) study. Methods and Results-Dietary intake was assessed at baseline via a 66-item food frequency questionnaire. We used principal-components analysis to derive "Western" and "prudent" dietary patterns from 32 food groups and evaluated 10 food groups used in previous studies of the ARIC cohort. MetSyn was defined by American Heart Association guidelines. Proportional-hazards regression was used. Over 9 years of follow-up, 3782 incident cases of MetSyn were identified. After adjustment for demographic factors, smoking, physical activity, and energy intake, consumption of a Western dietary pattern (Ptrend=0.03) was adversely associated with incident MetSyn. After further adjustment for intake of meat, dairy, fruits and vegetables, refined grains, and whole grains, analysis of individual food groups revealed that meat (Ptrend<0.001), fried foods (Ptrend=0.02), and diet soda (Ptrend=< 0.001) also were adversely associated with incident MetSyn, whereas dairy consumption (Ptrend=0.006) was beneficial. No associations were observed between incident MetSyn and a prudent dietary pattern or intakes of whole grains, refined grains, fruits and vegetables, nuts, coffee, or sweetened beverages. Conclusions-These prospective findings suggest that consumption of a Western dietary pattern, meat, and fried foods promotes the incidence of MetSyn, whereas dairy consumption provides some protection. The diet soda association was not hypothesized and deserves further study.[/QUOTE]

[beckie]

Intersting,I always get cravings when I eat artificial sweeteners...

[fit]

I exchanged emails with the author- this was merely an observational study- they have nothing causal and to make any such claims would require more, significant research.