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Drinking soda may lead to heart problems

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Health authorities report that drinking as little as one can of  soda a day is associated with a 48 percent increased risk of metabolic  syndrome, a key predecessor of heart disease and diabetes.
The  results were published online in Circulation:  Journal of the American  Heart Association.
The team focused on the more than 1,000 people who  did not have metabolic syndrome at the start of the study and followed  them for at least four years.
The study found that those who drank at  least one soda a day had a 44 percent higher risk of developing  metabolic syndrome during the four years of the study.
The finding  found that the percentages were the same whether subjects drank regular  or diet soda.
Researchers were uncertain why diet soda seemed to have  such a large effect.
Dr. Ramachandran S. Vasan of the Boston  University School of Medicine said it was unlikely that an ingredient in  soda caused the effect. He said that the risk is associated with  consuming sweet sodas which change dietary patterns.
In the  study,  sponsored by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, Vasan and his  colleagues studied more than 2,400 middle-age white residents of  Framingham, Mass.
At the beginning of the study, those who had  consumed more than one soda per day–either regular or diet–had a 48  percent higher risk of having metabolic syndrome.
Those who drank at  least one soda a day had a 31 percent greater risk of becoming obese; a  30 percent higher risk of having a larger waistline; a 25 percent  higher risk of developing high blood triglycerides or high blood sugar  an 32 percent grater risk of having low levels of good cholesterol; a  trend toward an increased risk of high blood pressure.
The  percentages were the same whether subjects drank regular or diet soda.
Vasan  said that research also indicated that people who drank sodas also  tended to have diets higher in calories, saturated fats and trans fats  and lower in fiber and that they were also more sedentary.
One theory  is that drinking sweet sodas may get people used to a sweet taste and  into the snacking mode, said Dr. Meir Stampfer. Its not the  artificial sweetener, but what goes along with it.
Dr. Stampfer  said he was not surprised by the association. The doctor said that he  had previously reported that diet sodas increase the risk of obesity and  high blood pressure.
Soda makers rejected the study.  Susan K.  Neely, president of the chief executive of the American Beverage  Association, said, It is scientifically implausible to suggest that  diet soft drinks–a beverage that is 99 percent water–can cause weight  gain or elevated blood pressure.
Metabolic syndrome is a cluster of  symptoms including excessive abdominal fat, high blood-glucose levels,  high blood pressure, high blood triglycerides and low levels of  high-density  lipoprotein, the so-called cholesterol.
People who have  three or more of these symptoms have double the normal risk of heart  disease and diabetes.

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