News at HSPH

Diet soda and other beverages sweetened with artificial sweeteners do not appear to be linked to type 2 diabetes, according to a new study led by HSPH. The findings contradict prior studies that reported a link.

The study, published in the March 23, 2011, issue of The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, analyzed data from more than 40,000 men followed for 20 years in the Health Professionals Follow-Up study. Frank Hu, professor of nutrition and epidemiology at HSPH, and his colleagues found that the men who drank diet soda were more likely to be overweight or to already have diabetes. Instead the men who drank the most sugar-sweetened sodas – an average of one serving daily – were 16 percent more likely to be diagnosed with type 2 diabetes than men who never drank those beverages.

The new study confirms that it's really differences between people who choose to drink artificially-sweetened beverages – rather than the diet drinks themselves – that is related to type 2 diabetes, endocrinologist Rebecca Brown of the National Institutes of Health told Reuters Health. "People who are at risk for diabetes or obesity ... those may be the people who are more likely to choose artificial sweeteners because they may be more likely to be dieting," said Brown, who did not participate in the current study.

Other HSPH co-authors of the study include Lawrence de Koning, Vasanti Malik, Eric Rimm, and Walter Willett.

Read the Reuters Health article

Learn more

Department of Nutrition

The Nutrition Source: Time to Focus on Healthier Drinks