Two glasses of diet drink a day increases the risk of early death

A new study looking at hundreds of thousands of individuals has linked higher consumption of soft drinks with greater risk of premature death. The researchers saw that the association held for both artificially and sugar sweetened drinks.

They are in thousands of products we slip into our grocery baskets each week — everything from ‘diet’ colas, soft drinks and yoghurts to chewing gum and toothpaste to slimming ready meals, cakes, ice creams and desserts.  

You’ll find them in sachets to sweeten your tea and coffee. If you pick up any product labelled ‘sugar-free’, ‘reduced sugar’, or ‘low calorie’, it’s almost certain to contain them.  

Yet this week the World Health Organisation delivered a bitter verdict on artificial sweeteners, with a study showing that just two glasses of diet drink a day increases the risk of early death.  

The research, involving more than 450,000 adults in ten countries, revealed that the daily consumption of all soft drinks was linked to a higher risk of dying young.  

But an early death was significantly more likely with diet drinks — the ones that qualify for a green ‘traffic light’ label from the Government, meaning they are supposedly healthy because of their low sugar content.

Their experts today said consumers were better off sticking with water.

The research, which tracked participants for an average of 16 years, is the largest study to examine links between soft drink consumption and mortality. 

The new research found death rates among those consuming at least two diet drinks a day were 26 per cent higher than among those who had less than one month. 

This group also saw their chance of being killed by cardiovascular disease rise by 52 per cent.

The findings suggest Government policies aimed at cutting sugar consumption - such as the sugar tax on fizzy drinks, and “reformulation” of common sweet foods - could have disastrous consequences.

Mortality rates were also higher among those regularly drinking sugary drinks. 

But overall, they were only eight per cent more among those drinking two such drinks a day, compared with those having less than one month. 

Experts said it was possible that people drinking diet drinks were doing so because they were obese or had diseases such as diabetes, but said the study had tried to adjust for that.

The study, led by the International Agency for Research on Cancer, part of WHO, was observational - meaning it did not prove that the drinking habits caused the higher death risks.

The findings were published in JAMA Internal Medicine.