Study: Drinking more sugar-free beverages increases cardiovascular risk

After eating greasy pizza or fast food, it is extremely refreshing to have a can of "energizing" carbonated drink to remove the oil and greasiness. However, with the rise of health awareness, beverage companies have gradually used "sugar substitutes" to replace the original sucrose and launched "low-calorie" or "zero-calorie" carbonated drinks. After a long investigation, a group of research teams in the United States found that people who often drink these "sugar-free" carbonated drinks as water have a 40% higher chance of suffering a stroke or heart attack. It can be said that this is not healthy at all!

Is it healthier to switch to sugar-free carbonated drinks? Long-term research in the United States has proven that it is more harmful to the cardiovascular system! (Photo/taken from Germany's Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung)

Germany's Frankfurter Allgemeine recently reported that a study conducted by Columbia University and a medical school in Miami found that 2,564 people who participated in the experiment were divided into three groups according to the frequency of drinking sugar-free carbonated drinks. After 10 years of observation, it was discovered that people who "drank a can" a day had a 43% higher chance of developing cardiovascular disease (der Gefäßschaden) than the average person. Many of them suffered from stroke, heart disease, or high blood pressure. The report was published in the journal General Internal Medicine.

In fact, people who often drink low-sugar or sugar-free carbonated drinks have been proven to be more prone to metabolic problems. Some people also believe that it is because of health warning signs and they cannot give up the addiction to carbonated drinks that they switch to sweetened carbonated drinks. However, whether it is fat or sugar metabolism, cardiovascular disease will follow as they age.

A previous Danish survey of 60,000 pregnant women found that those who loved to drink such beverages had a significantly higher risk of miscarriage or premature birth (die Frühgeburt). This shows that no matter whether high fructose syrup or artificial sweeteners are added to them, drinking carbonated beverages as water is definitely not a healthy practice.