Metabolic Syndrome Is Tied to Diet Soda
February 8th, 2008I particularly like the retarded musings of one of the co-authors of the research:
“Why is it happening? Is it some kind of chemical in the diet soda, or something about the behavior of diet soda drinkers?”
Holy crap.
Are we to believe that a professor of epidemiology needs to be told about the links between aspartame and diabetes, hypertension and obesity?!
I’m just glad that the slop and idiot ramblings of people who should know better don’t get to me anymore.
Water off a duck’s back, it is.
Water off a duck’s back.
Via: New York Times:
Researchers have found a correlation between drinking diet soda and metabolic syndrome — the collection of risk factors for cardiovascular disease and diabetes that include abdominal obesity, high cholesterol and blood glucose levels, and elevated blood pressure.
The scientists gathered dietary information on more than 9,500 men and women ages 45 to 64 and tracked their health for nine years.
Over all, a Western dietary pattern — high intakes of refined grains, fried foods and red meat — was associated with an 18 percent increased risk for metabolic syndrome, while a “prudent” diet dominated by fruits, vegetables, fish and poultry correlated with neither an increased nor a decreased risk.
But the one-third who ate the most fried food increased their risk by 25 percent compared with the one-third who ate the least, and surprisingly, the risk of developing metabolic syndrome was 34 percent higher among those who drank one can of diet soda a day compared with those who drank none.
“This is interesting,” said Lyn M. Steffen, an associate professor of epidemiology at the University of Minnesota and a co-author of the paper, which was posted online in the journal Circulation on Jan. 22. “Why is it happening? Is it some kind of chemical in the diet soda, or something about the behavior of diet soda drinkers?”
Splenda is still (reasonably) safe though, isn’t it? Please tell me that Splenda is safe. I don’t think I could live without carbonated soft drinks, and I sure ain’t drinking sugared drinks. I do agree that Nutrasweet drinks cause carb cravings, and Splenda doesn’t seem to have that effect.
Unfortunately, the twisted garbage that’s spewed from the NY Times still gets to me. My all time favorite: (pertinent links)
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/03/health/03patient.html?scp=50&sq=%22scott+king%22&st=nyt
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11099821/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coretta_Scott_King
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wendy_Wasserstein
The skinny: On Jan 30, 2006, quite coincidentally, both Coretta Scott King, 78, and Wendy Wasserstein, 55, died of cancer. On Feb. 3, the New York Times, in its infinite wisdom, published an article about how gullible (at best) the masses are becoming, as evidenced by the growing number of people who choose not to follow the usual high-tech/toxin/radiation method of treating cancer. As an example of this tragic gullibility, they pointed to Ms. Scott King, who, in the words of the Paper of Record, “died this week at an alternative hospice clinic in Mexico.” Another example was one Diane Paradise, who, “bet her life on the uncertain benefits of natural medicine, after being burned physically and emotionally by conventional doctors.” Uncertain benefits of natural medicine?! As opposed to the CERTAIN benefits of chemo, radiation, and a slew of other God-forsaken concoctions? Did Wendy Wasserstein get “CERTAIN benefits” from her treatments at Sloane-Kettering, where she died 23 years younger than Coretta Scott King?! (The Times had neither the courage nor the integrity to even mention Ms. Wasserstein.) At the time, my family was trying to convince my wife and me that we were criminally insane for wanting to treat her (my wife’s) recently diagnosed cancer through alternative means. My father, who this past November died of cancer, was, at the time, supremely confident that his “oncologists” had every thing under control. Articles like this one in the Times only strengthened his conviction. At the end, after a failed attempt at brain surgery to remove a tumor, and having rejected the chief oncologist’s recommendation that they perform brain surgery yet again on this 72 year old man with tumors riddling his entire body, my father felt used and lied to. And I’m convinced he was right. I laugh when I see things like Ann Coulter suggesting the Times should be blown up, but I have to say, articles like this make my blood boil.
It’s worth a read. To anyone who isn’t a grade triple-A coolaid-drinker, it reeks of Big Pharma propaganda.
Hey! Go easy on Prof. Steffen — she’s got a B.A. in HOME ECONOMICS and SOCIOLOGY from U of MN, Duluth.
hahahahahaha
This NYT article fits nicely with the ultimate wisdom that can often be found spewing forth from the UK’s Guardian.
A perfect case in point: this article from January entitled “The myths of fruit”.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,,2245178,00.html
Here are a couple of the “killer” quotes:
“It’s a myth that fruit is packed full of vitamins and minerals,” says Tom Sanders, who is director of the Nutritional Sciences Division at King’s College London. “The foods packed full of micronutrients are grains, seeds and nuts, the peas and things.” Bagged salad? “It’s mainly water. Dark green vegetables are a good source of some vitamins, such as vitamin A and folate, but lettuce hasn’t got much going for it at all. The really sad thing is that we don’t eat enough vegetables, such as cabbage, spinach and broccoli.”
“If you liquidise it [fruit] into goo it’s just like drinking ordinary Coke. Or worse, actually,” he [Sanders] says.
So, now we know! Fresh fruit is just marketing hype, dreamed up by supermarkets and smoothie manufacturers to fleece us of our money. Should’ve known, eh?
But it turns out (imagine my shock!) that Prof. Sanders is just a paid mouthpiece for cereal manufacturers:
“Dr. Sanders is professor of nutrition at King’s College London, leading scientist of the OPTILIP trial and acting as a consultant to the cereal manufacturers”
http://www.ourfood-news.com/Archives_April_2007.html
Just do a google search for “Tom Sanders”, “King’s College” and “cereal”…
because, well, making yourself a fruit smoothie in the morning is worse actually than drinking Coke, don’t y’know?!?
Splenda isn’t exactly good for you, but it’s better than NutraSweet. I prefer sacharrin myself.
In this article, they say that some food in China is so steroid laden, that Olympic athletes would be disqualified. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/09/sports/othersports/09olympics.html What about the Chinese athletes? Do working-class chinese kids have widespread lead poisoning/mercury effects by now?