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# Diet soda and stroke link controversy
- URL: https://www.foodconsumer.org/diet_soda_and_stroke_link_controversy_0211110703/
- Published: 2011-02-11T08:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-15T13:09:18.000Z
- Description: A study following more than 2,500 New Yorkers for nine or more years found daily diet soda drinkers had a 61 percent higher risk of vascular events, including stroke and heart attack, than non-drinkers, after adjusting for cardiovascular risk factors. It does not prove cause and effect.
- Author: Food Consumer
- Tags: Food, Nutrition, #vivvo-import

***By Aimee Keenan-Greene***

***February is American Heart Month, and the focus is alerting females to the dangers of heart disease.***  
  
A new study says people who drank diet soda every day had a 61 percent higher risk of vascular events, including stroke and heart attack, than those who didn't, according to researchers who presented their results at the American Stroke Association’s International Stroke Conference in Los Angeles, reported [MSNBC](http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41479869/ns/health-diet%5Fand%5Fnutrition/?ref=foodconsumer.org).

The study followed the diet and soda drinking habits of more than 2,500 New Yorkers for nine or more years.

[WebMD](http://www.webmd.com/stroke/news/20110209/is-diet-soda-linked-to-heart-stroke-risk?ref=foodconsumer.org) says the analysis took into account a host of cardiovascular risk factors including age, sex, smoking, physical activity, alcohol and calorie consumption, metabolic syndrome, and pre-existing heart disease. Still, the study doesn't prove cause and effect.  
  
“\[This study\] was motivated by previous research that has suggested a relationship between diet and regular soda consumption and the metabolic syndrome which is an important risk factor for vascular events,” said Hannah Gardener, ScD**,** epidemiologist at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami, and lead author of the study, in a press conference, later adding in an interview with [Cardiology Today](http://www.cardiologytoday.com/view.aspx?rID=80365&ref=foodconsumer.org) that she and fellow investigators “found a statistically significant increased risked of vascular events including stroke and heart attack among those who drank diet soda daily as compared with those who didn’t drink either diet or regular soda.”   
  
[The American Heart Association](http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/?gclid=CM-%5FoJzs%5FaYCFYXD7QodX3dXbw&ref=foodconsumer.org) says 82 million adults, that's 1 out of 3, people have some kind of heart disease. About 2,200 people die each year because of cardiovascular disease.  
  
More women diet of heart disease than the next 4 leading causes of deaths combined - including all forms of cancer, says the American Heart Association.  
  
90 percent of all women have at least one risk factor for heart disease says the AHA. It is the number one leading cause of death for women over 20\.   
  
In Rhode Island, the Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention (HDSP) Program works to eliminate disease by addressing system changes including better access to care and behavior changes like controlling high blood pressure (HBP), high blood cholesterol (HBC), and increasing knowledge of signs and symptoms of heart attack and stroke.   
  
The State also wants to improve emergency response and the quality of heart disease and stroke care.  
  
**Additional Resources:**  
  
[Rhode Island Department of Health](http://www.health.ri.gov/programs/heartdiseaseandstrokeprevention/index.php?ref=foodconsumer.org)