Fight the fizz

Soft drinks linked to increased stroke risk, reports Arlene Harris.

We all know that carbonated drinks are not the best thing for our health — excessive drinking of these beverages has been linked to weight gain, diabetes, heart disease and some forms of cancer. But now it seems they could be more of a danger than previously realised.

According to scientists in Japan, women who drink just one fizzy drink a day could be increasing their chances of having a stroke by a shocking 80%. And although it isn’t advisable for men to consume too much of the stuff either, it seems women are more susceptible to blood clots and strokes.

The Osaka University findings were the results of a study of 40,000 people aged between 40 and 59 over an 18-year period — during which, almost 2,000 of the participants suffered a stroke. The drinking habits of these stroke victims were analysed and results showed the women who had a soft drink each day were 83% more likely to suffer an ischaemic stroke than women who rarely drank them.

Speaking to the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, researchers were confident that “soft drink intake was positively associated with risk of ischaemic stroke for women”.

Dr Angie Brown, medical director of the Irish Heart Foundation, said although it is difficult to ascertain whether or not fizzy drinks actually cause strokes in women, it is well known that they cause weight gain which in turn is one of the contributing factors to suffering a stroke.

“In Ireland more than 10,000 people suffer from a stroke every year,” she says. “We know by cutting out smoking, checking and controlling blood pressure and identifying and treating atrial fibrillation, we can significantly reduce the risk of someone having a stroke.

“Anything which increases obesity worsens the lipid profile and increases the chance an individual has of getting