Free Subscription - The World's Most Popular Natural Health Newsletter
 
 
POSTED BY
Dr. Mercola
February 23 2008
75805 Views
ARTICLE TOOLS
Email a Friend
Print Article
Save this Article
Bookmark & Share

Online Shopping Click Here!
Share your stories here!
 « Previous Article     Next Article  »   
Diet Soda Now Linked to Heart Disease

diet soda, pop, soft drinks, canEating two or more servings a day of red meat increases your risk of metabolic syndrome by 25 percent, compared to those who have two servings of red meat each week, a new study found.

Drinking diet soda also increased the risk of metabolic syndrome.

Metabolic syndrome is a cluster of risk factors such as excessive fat around your waist, high cholesterol, high blood sugar and high blood pressure, all of which can raise your risk of heart disease and diabetes.

The researchers examined the diets of over 9,500 people between the ages of 45 and 64. They were categorized into two groups: a “western-pattern diet” that included processed meat, fried foods and red meat, or a “prudent-pattern diet” that included more fruits and vegetables, poultry and fish.

They concluded that lots of meat, fried foods and diet soda increase your risk of heart disease.

Dr. MercolaDr. Mercola's Comments:
There is a major misconception, even among people who try to eat healthy, that diet soda is a wise choice over regular soda. In reality, there’s no reason to be drinking either one of these atrocities.

What’s wrong with diet soda you ask?

At the top of the list is the fact that the sugar is replaced with artificial sweeteners such as aspartame and sucralose. For an in-depth look at just how dangerous these fake sweeteners really are, I suggest you read my book Sweet Deception, but in the meantime you may be interested to know that they can:
  • Stimulate your appetite
  • Increase carbohydrate cravings
  • Stimulate fat storage and weight gain 
Perhaps even worse, aspartame acts as a neurotransmitter in your brain by facilitating the transmission of information from neuron to neuron. But too much aspartame in your brain kills certain neurons by allowing the influx of too much calcium into your cells. This influx triggers excessive amounts of free radicals, which kill your cells.

The neural cell damage that can be caused by excessive aspartame is why they are referred to as "excitotoxins." They "excite," or stimulate, your neural cells to death.
  
And don’t be fooled into thinking that diet sodas sweetened with sucralose are any better. Animal studies have revealed that sucralose can cause:
  • Decreased red blood cells -- sign of anemia -- at levels above 1,500 mg/kg/day
  • Increased male infertility by interfering with sperm production and vitality, as well as brain lesions at higher doses
  • Enlarged and calcified kidneys (McNeil stated this is often seen with poorly absorbed substances and was of no toxicological significance. The FDA Final Rule agreed that these are findings that are common in aged female rats and are not significant.)
  • Spontaneous abortions in nearly half the rabbit population given sucralose, compared to zero aborted pregnancies in the control group
  • A 23 percent death rate in rabbits, compared to a 6 percent death rate in the control group
The researchers in the study above were surprised by their finding that diet soda may cause heart disease. But if you consider the well-known fact that diet soda, and diet foods of all kinds, contribute to obesity it makes perfect sense that they would also increase your risk of heart disease.

And as for the researchers finding that red meat contributes to this disease, well, that all depends on the type of red meat (processed, grass-fed or grain-fed), and this was not specified.

Quite simply, once you find out your nutritional type, you’ll be able to determine if you thrive on grass-fed red meat, or whether you do better with free-range poultry instead. This is a highly individualized process, and simply stating that “red meat causes heart disease” is not taking any of these factors into account.

How to Lower Your Risk of Heart Disease

You have at your fingertips everything you need to keep heart disease at bay (and this does not include drinking diet soda). What can you do to lower your risk?
 « Previous Article     Next Article  »   
Did you find this article interesting?  Interesting Not Useful
Community Comments ( 76 )
 Comment on this Article
  
  
joebass1
 [ Joined on 06/06 ] [ Posted on February 23, 2008 ]
40 Points        
   
 
Novice User

I'm a retired engineer from St. Louis Missouri, I read all his articles and have learned more from Dr. Mercola than any other site on the internet. I've been eating and drinking a lot of things like veggies, berries, and other food that Dr. Mercola has endorsed as being good for the human body.

I've been doing this for almost 8 years and just turned 60 years old. I look like I'm 45 years old and feel great. I have not received any flu shots and have not had a cold in 5 years. I got a cold last year and it lasted for 2 days and went away because of the high antioxidants I consume every day.

I know for a fact that if I had not been blessed with Dr. Mercola web site, I would not be living today. I realize he sells products, but some of them are just wonderful, and he is the only one on the net that really cares, I'm glad he is successful so he is around for a long time.

I have contacted Oprah & Martha Stewart to see if I can go on their program and show the world how to make a berry drink using 7 different berries. I drink 2 to 3 glasses a day. It took a year to perfect the process, but it's delicious and I believe is keeping me healthy and alive. I would tell people my name or e-mail, but I'm afraid it might get out of hand.

I want to take this opportunity to thank Dr. Mercola for all the good information.....

Thanks Doc....Joe from St. Louis.

PS I believe if I had known at a young age what I have learned from Dr. Mercola I would have been able to live to be at least 150 years old.....and I'd bet on that.

 [ Reply ]
Mercola
  
LadyPam
 		[ Joined on 02/08 ]  [ Posted on February 24, 2008]
3 Points        
   
Apprentice User
  Mercola

Joebass1, thank you so much for sharing your story with us here.  I'm sure many of us who frequent this site would be delighted to learn your recipe/method for your berry drink.

Unlike you, I have not been able to purchase products from Dr Mercola, apart from his Total Health book (which I sadly lost when my old computer blew up last year), mostly because I am in England and very poor, and the costs are prohibitive for me.  I do, however, try to find equivalents here in the UK and also attempt to follow much of the dietary advice, with only mixed success (too addicted to some bad things).  I'm an amateur nutritionist studying to become a qualified one. Like you, I am on no medication and people tell me I look a great deal younger than I am.

I join you in the belief that living this way from an early age may well lead to a much longer lifespan and I'm trying to bring up my daughter accordingly.  She fights me some of the time, resisting many of the fresh veggies I provide, whining for Coke now and then and getting hugely embarrassed by my habit of lecturing her contemporaries on the dangers of, for instance, diet drinks.  However, she also notices how many of her friends suffer allergies, asthma, frequent illness and even frequent injuries while she herself does not. And she notices that this is particularly true of those whose mothers habitually buy many gigantic bottles of fizzy pop bursting with additives (I don't buy any at all), cheap cakes, cookies and snacks containing masses of sugar, preservatives and hydrogenated fats, crisps (chips) and junk ready meals.  

  
  
Russ Bianchi
 [ Joined on 09/06 ] [ Posted on February 4, 2008 ]
21 Points        
   
 
Savvy User
ALL SODA IS DEADLY!!!

Diet sodas have cancer causing levels of sucralose, polyols, aspartame, asulphame potassium, saccharin, SOON TO BE FAKE AND CHEMICALLY CREATED STEVIA FROM CARGILL AND COKE, etc., not to mention the fake and synthetic flavors, colors, acids, and preservatives or stabilizers.

You want ZERO calories with taste in a beverage? Drink NON fluoridated or chlorinated bleached water (tap, not bottled), and squeeze some citrus into it.

Full calorie soda is just a as bad, or WORSE, with High Fructose Corn Syrup or fake and illegally labeled ingredient like red blood cell membrane deteriorating and non GRAS 'Agave Nectar' (the real label is chemically refined 'high fructose hydrolyzed inulin syrup' that is NOT legally certified as "organic") which increase triglycerides, or are bioth stored primarily as body fat, triggering hyper insulinism, hypoglycemia, diabetes, tooth decay, several forms of cancer, cardio vascular disease, and obesity.

SODA remains a four letter word, and a CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER TO ANY HUMAN INGESTION AT ANY LEVEL!!!
 [ Reply ]
Mercola
  
TABM
 		[ Joined on 02/08 ]  [ Posted on February 5, 2008]
11 Points        
   
Novice User
  Mercola
What do I think?.......I think we all should thank 'Uncle Russ' for the information and pay attention for ourselves and our partners and charges in life!
Mercola
  
Mark Fletcher
 		[ Joined on 04/07 ]  [ Posted on February 23, 2008]
5 Points        
   
Novice User
  Mercola

Thanks Uncle Russ!

Mercola
  
Lynn M
 		[ Joined on 06/06 ]  [ Posted on February 23, 2008]
5 Points        
   
Apprentice User
  Mercola

Russ,  I had no idea that Stevia is a poison as well.  i alway's thought that that was the one sweetner that we could use and it would not be harmful to us.  Can you please provide more information on the dangers of Stevia?  I sure would appreciate it.  I do not consume it myself but have suggested it to other's as a "safe" alternative to aspartame/nutrasweet. I Have been a raw foodist since October of 2007 and when I do use a sweetner to make my cocao nut balls, I use raw organic agave nectar.  

Mercola
  
Gussie
 		[ Joined on 10/07 ]  [ Posted on February 23, 2008]
-13 Points        
   
This user is BELOW novice level and all their comments need to be reviewed with great caution.
  Mercola

We don't drink diet drinks or sweetened drinks but we do use Splenda as my husband is diabetic.  He has done well on his diet and has a log of  his blood sugar, blood pressure and weight.  He has had triple bypass surgery in 1978 and a rebypass of one artery in 1984 due to his not quitting smoking.  Three years ago he developed diabetes but has done very well...he takes vitamins and Omega 3 oils.

We do not eat a lot of red meat but I try to buy the kind with no hormones, etc...Groceries stores now carry this meat.

If we ate like Dr Mercola suggests, it would cost a fortune and we would have to live in a BUBBLE but we do the best we can; we are both almost 78 yrs. old. I get Traditional Chinese Accupuncture 3 x a week and also go to a Kinesiologist. I have an autoimmune disorder called CIDP...since 1990 and chose my own form of treatment in 1993 after having had high doses of prednisone, the medicine of choice at that time.  I MUST have some red meat now and then.  Nothing is safe in this world it seems, everything is going to kill us or give us a disease.  What a world!!!

Nell McDiffett, Kansas

Mercola
  
GentleBreeze
 		[ Joined on 02/08 ]  [ Posted on February 23, 2008]
4 Points        
   
Novice User
  Mercola

Hi Lynn M:  Real Stevia, an "herb that is sweeter than sugar," is completely safe and a much better sugar substitute choice than aspartame, sucralose, or the others. Please see below for links to excellent and informative sites on stevia. Russ's comment is against fake and chemically created stevia rather than natural stevia.

www.healthy.net/.../article.asp

http://www.stevia.com/

http://www.stevia.net/

Mercola
  
Ashlie Miller
 		[ Joined on 03/07 ]  [ Posted on February 24, 2008]
4 Points        
   
Novice User
  Mercola

Russ,

I have read your negative comments about Agave Nectar in other posts.  I have attempted to do research on the internet about Agave, but can only find positive information.  Can you please post some sources for all this negative information.  I would really like to research it more for myself, as you have definately put the seed of doubt in my mind.  I sent the Agave good or bad question in to Dr. Mercola about 6 months ago, but never got a reply and I can't find any information on his site, other than the posts that you have made...

I'd really appreciate some sources or links...

Thanks,

Ashlie

Mercola
  
LadyPam
 		[ Joined on 02/08 ]  [ Posted on February 24, 2008]
       
   
Apprentice User
  Mercola

Gussie, I am sorry to hear about your CIDP.  Eating healthily does not have to cost a fortune.  Granted, higher quality foods are often more expensive but most people, at least in the UK, somehow have this idea that a whole chicken should cost no more than GBP 2.50 (or around USD 5).  Just cut all the non-essential food items right out; they're bad for you anyway. What you eat is the most important consideration for your health and is more worthy of our hard-earned cash than most other considerations, such as new cars, cushions or clothes.  

Whilst living in a bubble might protect you from environmental toxins, Dr Mercola does not say you shouldn't eat red meat, nor is it true that everything is going to kill you. Investing in his Total Health book (as I did) is a real eye-opener, a tremendous source of recipes and ideas.  It might well help with your condition and it is cheaper than even one single accupuncture treatment or consultation with a kinesiologist, neither of which I could possibly afford.

  
  
foxtroter
 [ Joined on 09/06 ] [ Posted on February 1, 2008 ]
17 Points        
   
 
Savvy User
Article still talks negatively about "red meat" making no distinction between grass fed and corn fed beef.  It makes no sense that man would have eaten "red meat" for thousands of years and survived if it was all the bad for him. 

We are not meant to have an Omega-6 to Omega-3 ratio of 20:1 or up to 50:1 instead of at worse 3:1.

It is likely the high level of Omega-6 in the fed lot red meat that is the problem.  Omega-6 fatty acids are pro-inflammatory in nature.  Increasing Omega-3 in diets helps counteract the high Omega-6 ratio which decreases heart disease. (Much better than statin drugs I might add).

Feed lots are bad, not "red meat".
 [ Reply ]
Mercola
  
samurai
 		[ Joined on 04/07 ]  [ Posted on February 3, 2008]
5 Points        
   
Savvy User
  Mercola
Foxtroter, 
What is your opinion on Pork?  Should they be fed grass as well?  I shop regularly at Whole Foods, and they sell grass-fed beef, but they feed the animals corn for the last week of their lives to "plump them up".  But I am unsure about the Pork. 
Please advise. 
Mercola
  
proatc
 		[ Joined on 12/06 ]  [ Posted on February 4, 2008]
7 Points        
   
Savvy User
  Mercola
samurai, lets say the beef was truly grass-fed except for the last week of life, would it really make that much of a difference health wise.  I would assume that during the majority of the cow growing from a calf it would have a significant difference.  No different than an extremely healthy human partaking in an occasional piece of chocolate once a month.
Mercola
  
foxtroter
 		[ Joined on 09/06 ]  [ Posted on February 4, 2008]
6 Points        
   
Savvy User
  Mercola
samurai---Since it is the corn that is high in Omega-6 fatty acids, I can't imagine why fattening up pigs with it wouldn't produce similar results. 

Garbage in = garbage out.

From my experience, I have a hard time trying to find pork that isn't raised on corn throughout its life, not just during a fattening up stage.  Maybe there is someone here than knows more about animal husbandry that can help us out on what commercially grown pigs are raised on.

Mercola
  
mama bear
 		[ Joined on 06/06 ]  [ Posted on February 4, 2008]