4 Alarming Reasons You Should Avoid Drinking Diet Soda, According To A Doctor

Dr. Saurabh Sethi, a clinical gastroenterologist, trained at Harvard and Stanford, is warning men and women about the dangers of drinking diet soda. In a video shared to TikTok on Sept. 20, Dr. Sethi listed four reasons why he doesn’t sip on bubbly diet soda products like Diet Pepsi or its famous revival Diet Coke.

1. Women who drink diet soda are at a greater risk of developing cardiovascular issues.

According to the doc’s TikTok video, individuals who consume two or more diet sodas daily face an increased risk of cardiovascular problems, including strokes and heart attacks, particularly among women. A study from 2019 by researchers at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine found that regularly drinking two or more artificially sweetened beverages raised the risk of stroke by 25% and heart disease by 33% in women. Additionally, the study revealed that compared to non-consumers, diet soda drinkers have a 16% higher risk of early death.

Further studies indicate that diet sodas, which often contain artificial sweeteners, may contribute to metabolic syndrome—a cluster of conditions that elevate the risk of heart diseases such as high blood pressure, obesity, or high blood sugar. A report from the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis, published in the journal Diabetes Care in 2009, found that daily diet soda consumers had a 36% increased risk of developing metabolic syndrome and a staggering 67% higher risk of diabetes. Both of these conditions significantly raise the chances of experiencing a stroke or heart attack. Notably, diet soda drinkers were more likely to exhibit two key aspects of metabolic syndrome: larger waistlines and elevated fasting glucose levels.