Sugar Drinks=Bad, Diet=OK, right??? Hmmm…..

Continuing our discussion on sugar laden beverages, I want to add a few more points before I turn the guns on diet drinks.  To quote but one of many similar lessons: The Nurses Health Study, which monitored the health status of 90,000 nurses for eight years, showed that a single sugar drink a day added 10 pounds of weight per person over a four year period (all other variables accounted for).

The same study also showed a double the incidence of diabetes with regular sugar drinkers vs. non sugar drinkers and a 40% higher risk of heart attacks or death from heart disease in ‘heavy drinkers’ (greater than 2 drinks a day) vs. others.  Shall I continue?  Maybe later as I optimistically anticipate you will look at sugar drinks as you would a ravaging dog chasing your children.

As we put the cross-hairs on diet drinks, let’s just pull the trigger:  A number of studies have found a similar increase in diabetes, obesity, and other diseases in diet drink users as regular sugar drink users.  I say users in the literal sense as we know they are addictive.  If I had a dollar for every patient that told me “I can’t give up my diet soda”… Diet drinks are also indicative of a general lifestyle they may need some improving.   In comparing a number of healthy habits and activities vs. ‘other’, diet drink users tend to participate in more unhealthy habits then those that do not drink any diet drinks – most certainly a consideration worth thinking about.