Who said diet soda was healthy?

Chennai: Joining the long list of 'ill-advised' consumer products, diet soda or drinks are linked to cardiovascular issues such as heart attack and stroke in healthy, post-menopausal women, according to a US study whose finding were presented recently at the American College of Cardiology's 63rd annual scientific session in Washington, DC.

Around 60,000 women participated in the study conducted by University of Iowa. It is found that women who consumed two or more diet drinks a day were 30 per cent more likely to experience a cardiovascular event, and 50 per cent more likely to die from a related disease. The researchers emphasised how the association between diet drinks and cardiovascular problems raises more questions than it answers, and "should stimulate further research".

Diet drinks also contain aspartame, which is linked to non-Hodgkin lymphoma and leukaemia in men, another study published in American journal of the American society of nephrology said. US National Library of Medicine also determined that long-term consumption of aspartame leads to an imbalance in the antioxidant/pro-oxidant status in the brain.