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Drinking two or more diet drinks a day was associated with a 29% increased risk of an incident cardiovascular event and a 26% increased risk of all-cause death compared with less diet drink consumption in an observational study of nearly 60,000 postmenopausal American women.
Although the pathogenic mechanisms behind this "hypothesis-generating" finding remain unclear, a link between high use of diet drinks and increased cardiovascular events and death is consistent with prior reports that linked diet drink intake with metabolic syndrome and cardiovascular disease events, said Dr. Ankur Vyas, who summarized the results of the study during a webcast held prior to the annual meeting of the American College of Cardiology, where he is presenting the data.
"This study is very interesting and clinically relevant given the vast number of people who drink diet drinks daily," commented Dr. Jeffrey T. Kuvin of the division of cardiology at Tufts Medical Center in Boston. "We know that drinking sweetened beverages is associated with weight gain, diabetes, and coronary heart disease, and diet drinks have been linked with metabolic syndrome. This report is very provocative and may shed some light on a subject we need to know more about."
Dr. Kuvin, who admitted to often drinking two or more diet drinks a day himself, added, "I’m not ready just yet to give it up, but the data are compelling to take a closer look at why this could be."
The analysis by Dr. Vyas and his associates focused on 59,614 postmenopausal women aged 50-79 from the observational arm of the Women\'s Health Initiative who enrolled during 1993-1998This subgroup excluded women with preexisting cardiovascular disease, no data available on diet drink consumption, or other reasons. The study examined deaths and cardiovascular disease events during an average 9 years of follow-up among the 5% of women who drank an average of two or more diet drinks daily compared with women who had fewer of these beverages. Women in the subgroup with the highest diet drink intake were significantly younger and had a significantly higher rate of obesity than women with lower intake levels.
In an analysis that adjusted for several demographic and clinical factors, women who drank two or more drinks had, during follow-up, 29% more cardiovascular events compared with the other women, a statistically significant difference for the study’s primary endpoint that combined myocardial infarctions, ischemic strokes, coronary artery revascularization, peripheral artery disease, heart failure, and cardiovascular death, reported Dr. Vyas, a fellow in cardiology at the University of Iowa, Iowa City. The highest level of diet drink use also linked with a statistically significant increase of 52% for the single endpoint of cardiovascular death and a 26% higher rate of all-cause death.
Dr. Vyas suggested that higher diet drink consumption may disrupt normal feedback mechanisms that control intake of food and other beverages, or it may link with various elements of an unhealthy lifestyle.
Dr. Vyas also said that the finding could be the result of inadequate adjustment for confounding factors. "In any observational study it’s close to impossible to control for everything and rule out every possible confounder. Our study faces the same limitations as any retrospective observational study," he said during a press briefing.
Dr. Vyas and Dr. Kuvin said that they had no relevant financial disclosures.
On Twitter @mitchelzoler
Drinking two or more diet drinks a day was associated with a 29% increased risk of an incident cardiovascular event and a 26% increased risk of all-cause death compared with less diet drink consumption in an observational study of nearly 60,000 postmenopausal American women.
Although the pathogenic mechanisms behind this "hypothesis-generating" finding remain unclear, a link between high use of diet drinks and increased cardiovascular events and death is consistent with prior reports that linked diet drink intake with metabolic syndrome and cardiovascular disease events, said Dr. Ankur Vyas, who summarized the results of the study during a webcast held prior to the annual meeting of the American College of Cardiology, where he is presenting the data.
"This study is very interesting and clinically relevant given the vast number of people who drink diet drinks daily," commented Dr. Jeffrey T. Kuvin of the division of cardiology at Tufts Medical Center in Boston. "We know that drinking sweetened beverages is associated with weight gain, diabetes, and coronary heart disease, and diet drinks have been linked with metabolic syndrome. This report is very provocative and may shed some light on a subject we need to know more about."
Dr. Kuvin, who admitted to often drinking two or more diet drinks a day himself, added, "I’m not ready just yet to give it up, but the data are compelling to take a closer look at why this could be."
The analysis by Dr. Vyas and his associates focused on 59,614 postmenopausal women aged 50-79 from the observational arm of the Women\'s Health Initiative who enrolled during 1993-1998This subgroup excluded women with preexisting cardiovascular disease, no data available on diet drink consumption, or other reasons. The study examined deaths and cardiovascular disease events during an average 9 years of follow-up among the 5% of women who drank an average of two or more diet drinks daily compared with women who had fewer of these beverages. Women in the subgroup with the highest diet drink intake were significantly younger and had a significantly higher rate of obesity than women with lower intake levels.
In an analysis that adjusted for several demographic and clinical factors, women who drank two or more drinks had, during follow-up, 29% more cardiovascular events compared with the other women, a statistically significant difference for the study’s primary endpoint that combined myocardial infarctions, ischemic strokes, coronary artery revascularization, peripheral artery disease, heart failure, and cardiovascular death, reported Dr. Vyas, a fellow in cardiology at the University of Iowa, Iowa City. The highest level of diet drink use also linked with a statistically significant increase of 52% for the single endpoint of cardiovascular death and a 26% higher rate of all-cause death.
Dr. Vyas suggested that higher diet drink consumption may disrupt normal feedback mechanisms that control intake of food and other beverages, or it may link with various elements of an unhealthy lifestyle.
Dr. Vyas also said that the finding could be the result of inadequate adjustment for confounding factors. "In any observational study it’s close to impossible to control for everything and rule out every possible confounder. Our study faces the same limitations as any retrospective observational study," he said during a press briefing.
Dr. Vyas and Dr. Kuvin said that they had no relevant financial disclosures.
On Twitter @mitchelzoler
Drinking two or more diet drinks a day was associated with a 29% increased risk of an incident cardiovascular event and a 26% increased risk of all-cause death compared with less diet drink consumption in an observational study of nearly 60,000 postmenopausal American women.
Although the pathogenic mechanisms behind this "hypothesis-generating" finding remain unclear, a link between high use of diet drinks and increased cardiovascular events and death is consistent with prior reports that linked diet drink intake with metabolic syndrome and cardiovascular disease events, said Dr. Ankur Vyas, who summarized the results of the study during a webcast held prior to the annual meeting of the American College of Cardiology, where he is presenting the data.
"This study is very interesting and clinically relevant given the vast number of people who drink diet drinks daily," commented Dr. Jeffrey T. Kuvin of the division of cardiology at Tufts Medical Center in Boston. "We know that drinking sweetened beverages is associated with weight gain, diabetes, and coronary heart disease, and diet drinks have been linked with metabolic syndrome. This report is very provocative and may shed some light on a subject we need to know more about."
Dr. Kuvin, who admitted to often drinking two or more diet drinks a day himself, added, "I’m not ready just yet to give it up, but the data are compelling to take a closer look at why this could be."
The analysis by Dr. Vyas and his associates focused on 59,614 postmenopausal women aged 50-79 from the observational arm of the Women\'s Health Initiative who enrolled during 1993-1998This subgroup excluded women with preexisting cardiovascular disease, no data available on diet drink consumption, or other reasons. The study examined deaths and cardiovascular disease events during an average 9 years of follow-up among the 5% of women who drank an average of two or more diet drinks daily compared with women who had fewer of these beverages. Women in the subgroup with the highest diet drink intake were significantly younger and had a significantly higher rate of obesity than women with lower intake levels.
In an analysis that adjusted for several demographic and clinical factors, women who drank two or more drinks had, during follow-up, 29% more cardiovascular events compared with the other women, a statistically significant difference for the study’s primary endpoint that combined myocardial infarctions, ischemic strokes, coronary artery revascularization, peripheral artery disease, heart failure, and cardiovascular death, reported Dr. Vyas, a fellow in cardiology at the University of Iowa, Iowa City. The highest level of diet drink use also linked with a statistically significant increase of 52% for the single endpoint of cardiovascular death and a 26% higher rate of all-cause death.
Dr. Vyas suggested that higher diet drink consumption may disrupt normal feedback mechanisms that control intake of food and other beverages, or it may link with various elements of an unhealthy lifestyle.
Dr. Vyas also said that the finding could be the result of inadequate adjustment for confounding factors. "In any observational study it’s close to impossible to control for everything and rule out every possible confounder. Our study faces the same limitations as any retrospective observational study," he said during a press briefing.
Dr. Vyas and Dr. Kuvin said that they had no relevant financial disclosures.
On Twitter @mitchelzoler
FROM ACC 14
Major finding: .Women who drank at least two diet drinks daily had 29% more cardiovascular events than women having fewer diet drinks.
Data source: A retrospective analysis of data collected from 59,614 postmenopausal American women enrolled in the Women’s Health Initiative.
Disclosures: Dr. Vyas and Dr. Kuvin said that they had no relevant financial disclosures.
