Diet Soda Just as Bad For Heart Health, Study Shows
A worker re-stocks sodas during special hours open only to seniors and the disabled at Northgate Gonzalez Market, a Hispanic specialty supermarket, on March 19, 2020 in Los Angeles, California. The vast majority of the shelves in the market were fully stocked. Northgate Gonzalez Market is opening all of its Southern California locations one hour early, from 7:00-8:00 a.m., exclusively to senior citizens and disabled customers, amidst panic buying in some stores during the COVID-19 pandemic. Mario Tama/Getty Images

A major study found that drinking diet soda and other sugar-free alternatives is just as bad as regular sweetened drinks.

Researchers suggest that those who consumed sugar-sweetened or artificially sweetened drinks were more likely to die young. The conclusion was drawn from the 1.2 million adults that patricipated in 14 studies.

Researchers of the said study also tracked some participants for more than 20 years, according to a Daily Mail report.

Consuming sugar-sweetened drinks was linked to a five percent increased risk of dying from any cause and a 13 percent higher risk of dying from heart disease.

"High consumption of both artificially sweetened beverages and sugar-sweetened beverages showed significant associations with a higher risk of cardiovascular disease mortality and all-cause mortality," Dr. Hongyi Li from Zhenzhou University in China, was quoted in a report.

Li added that this information may provide ideas for decreasing the global reach of the disease by reducing sweetened beverage intake.

Professor Graham MacGregor, from the campaign group Action on Sugar, said that people should altogether avoid sugar-sweetened and artificially sweetened drinks and opt for healthier alternatives.

People who drank most were 12 percent more likely to die from any cause and 20 percent more likely to die from heart disease than those who drank less sweetened drinks.

Artificial Sweeteners

The study finds that to have a healthy heart, one should avoid sweetened beverages like diet soda.

Dr. Guy L. Mintz, the director of cardiovascular health & lipidology of cardiology at Northwell Health's Sandra Atlas Bass Heart Hospital in New York, said that the idea that artificial sweeteners are a safe sugar substitute is fake news.

A French study suggested echoed the first study, noting that people who regularly drink sweetened beverages have a higher risk of heart disease as compared to those who avoid sugary drinks.

Mintz said that the study is another proof that artificial sweeteners are unhealthy.

"Artificial sweeteners have been associated with weight gain, insulin resistance, and diabetes," Mintz was quoted in a Healthline report.

The Journal of the American College of Cardiology holds the research.

The data includes over 100,000 participants in the NutriNet-Sante cohort.

Eloi Chazelas, Ph.D. student, lead author of the study, and a member of the Nutritional Epidemiology Research Team, said that sugary drinks consumption has increased globally in recent years.

Chazelas added that there is evidence showing their detrimental effect on cardio-metabolic health.

Professor Susan Swithers from the US Purdue University said that a lot of people are assuming they must be healthy choices as they are sugared beverages.

Swithers added that people should understand that the idea does not have evidence.

The professor added that artificial sweeteners also obstruct the way the body responds to real sugar when consumed again, according to a News.com.au report.

She added that diet sodas might be harmful as it makes it difficult to deal with the real sugar the body is consuming.

A 2015 systemic review in the British Medical Journal discovered that one serving of sugar-sweetened drinks per day increases the risk of type 2 diabetes by 18 percent.

WATCH: Study Shows Diet Soda may cause Stroke, Heart Attack 2/10/2011 - from ABC News