Diet Sodas May Hurt Kidneys
Categories: Fitness & Nutrition
12:35 pm
November 3, 2009
by Scott Hensley
You might want to think twice before gulping down that second diet soda today.
Researchers analyzing the health habits of thousands of nurses found that women who drank two or more diet sodas daily had a two-fold increase in the risk of a significantly faster drop in their kidneys' ability to filter blood compared with those who drank one or none.
Another analysis by the same pair of Harvard researchers found that eating a lot of salt also hurt kidney's filtering power over time.
"While more study is needed, our research suggests that higher sodium and artificially sweetened beverages are associated with a greater rate of decline in kidney function," Dr. Julie Lin, a kidney specialist at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, said in a statement.
The analysis relied on data from a long-running project called the Nurses' Health Study that gathered all sorts of information about health and food consumption. The study shows an association between diet beverage consumption and decreased kidney function over 11 years but doesn't prove causation.
Still, the data were analyzed to account for other factors—such as high blood pressure, diabetes and physical activity—that could explain the difference. And consumption of sodas sweetened with sugar, juices, punch and iced tea wasn't associated with any unusual decrease in kidney function.
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