In Postmenopausal Women, Diet Drinks May Be Tied to Stroke Risk
New research published in Stroke suggests a potential link between diet drinks and elevated cardiovascular risks among postmenopausal women.1
Particularly, researchers found that greater consumption of artificially sweetened beverages may be tied to increased risks of stroke, especially small artery occlusion stroke, as well as coronary heart disease and all-cause mortality in this patient population.
Many well-meaning people, especially those who are overweight or obese, drink low-calorie sweetened drinks to cut calories in their diet,” said lead study author Yasmin Mossavar-Rahmani, PhD, associate professor of clinical epidemiology and population health at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx, New York, in a press release.2
“Our research and other observational studies have shown that artificially sweetened beverages may not be harmless and high consumption is associated with a higher risk of stroke and heart disease,” Dr Mossavar-Rahmani said.2
In their analysis, Dr Mossavar-Rahmani and colleagues assessed Women’s Health Initiative Observational Study (N = 93,676) data for 81,714 postmenopausal women aged 50 to 79 years upon enrollment between 1993 and 1998. Women were followed for a mean of 11.9 years, and those with a follow-up visit 3 years after baseline were eligible for the present study.
Of these women, 5.1% of women consumed at least 2 artificially sweetened beverages per day, while 64.1% rarely or never consumed them. Data showed women who consumed the greatest quantity of artificially sweetened beverages had substantially greater odds of all end points, except hemorrhagic stroke, even after controlling for several covariates, compared with rare- or never-consumers. Hazard ratios (HRs) were:
- 1.23 for all stroke
- 1.31 for ischemic stroke
- 1.29 for coronary heart disease
- 1.16 for all-cause mortality
Notably, a high intake of artificially sweetened beverages was found to associated with a doubled risk of small artery occlusion ischemic stroke in women with no prior history of cardiovascular disease or diabetes (HR 2.44).
Women with a body mass index of at least 30 kg/m2 who consumed greater quantities of artificially sweetened beverages were found to have a significantly increased risk of ischemic stroke, with an HR of 2.03.
“Although requiring replication, these new findings add to the potentially harmful association of consuming high quantities of [artificially sweetened beverages] with these health outcomes,” the authors of the study wrote.1
—Christina Vogt
References:
1. Mossavar-Rahmani Y, Kamensky V, Manson JE, et al. Artificially sweetened beverages and stroke, coronary heart disease, and all-cause mortality in the Women’s Health Initiative [Published online February 14, 2019]. Stroke. doi:10.1161/STROKEAHA.118.023100.
2. Diet drinks may be associated with strokes among post-menopausal women [press release]. Dallas, TX. American Heart Association. February 14, 2019. https://newsroom.heart.org/news/diet-drinks-may-be-associated-with-strokes-among-post-menopausal-women. Accessed on February 14, 2019.