So all the headlines today say, “diet soda linked to heart disease!”

The copy says:

It could be, they suggest, that even no-calorie sweet drinks increase the craving for more sweets, and that people who indulge in sodas probably have less healthy diets overall.

The study’s senior author, Dr. Vasan Ramachandran, emphasized the findings don’t show diet sodas are a cause of increased heart disease risks. But he said they show a surprising link that must be studied.

Emphasis mine.

Meaning there’s no “link” at all. The far more likely correlation here is that people who crave sweets and eat high-sugar diets probably also drink a lot of soda, diet and otherwise. It doesn’t mean diet soda causes heart disease, that it leads to heart disease, or even that it leads to other habits that lead to heart disease. It means many people who will eventually develop heart disease probably hit the 7-11 for a bag of Doritos, some Ben & Jerry’s, and….a Diet Coke.

Given how much the taste of diet soda now resembles the real thing, you can substitute diet for regular without sacrificing pleasure in the way you would by substituting, say, a a bowl of strawberries for a bowl of ice cream. It’s a cheap way to save some calories without giving up flavor.

Now I realize my explanation is speculative, too. But it’s a far more plausible explanation for the “link” than the idea that substituting diet soda for high-sugar soda will have no effect on your risk for heart disease, or that diet soda is bad for you–both of which are implied by the way the study was reported today.

The study reveals almost nothing about heart disease and diet soda at all. But that doesn’t make for a sexy headline. “Coca-Cola is poisoning the country!” sounds much better, doesn’t it?

(Link via Fark)

This entry was posted on Monday, July 23rd, 2007 at 7:29 pm by Radley Balko and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.