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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Huckleberries Online

But it won’t make you fat


Students arrived for the first day of the new school year and found that the soda pop is gone from the vending machines at Capistrano Valley High School in Mission Viejo. Instead of soda, the machines only dispense ice tea and juice.
 (Los Angeles Times / The Spokesman-Review)
Students arrived for the first day of the new school year and found that the soda pop is gone from the vending machines at Capistrano Valley High School in Mission Viejo. Instead of soda, the machines only dispense ice tea and juice. (Los Angeles Times / The Spokesman-Review)

It’s not definitive proof of harm, but new research raises concern about diet soda. It suggests that people who drink it every day have higher risks for stroke and heart attack than those who drink no soda of any kind at all.

 The findings come from a federally funded study of about 2,500 adults in the New York City area.

 Doctors have no explanation for why diet soda might be risky. It could be that people who drink lots of it also fail to exercise, weigh more or have other risk factors like high blood pressure and smoking. However, the researchers took these factors into account and found the trend remained.

 What to do? Drink water, the experts suggest.

 The study was discussed Wednesday at an American Stroke Association conference in Los Angeles.

I don't drink much soda, but when I do it's always diet. Do you drink diet soda?



Huckleberries Online

D.F. Oliveria started Huckleberries Online on Feb. 16, 2004. Oliveria's Sunday print Huckleberries is a past winner of the national Herb Caen Memorial Column contest.