Why diet soda could affect your health

Bhubaneswar: If you’ve been in your ‘self-love’ routine and replaced your regular aerated drinks with diet soda, you might want to re-consider. Researchers have found that artificially sweetened beverages like diet soda are not quite good for your heart health.

A recent study by French researchers demonstrates that people who consume sugary drinks or artificially sweetened drinks like diet soda regularly, are more prone to several heart related diseases including stroke than the non-consumers.

American health information providing website Healthline recently quoted Dr. Guy L. Mintz, a New-York based cardiologist and lipidologist saying that the belief of artificial sweeteners being a safe substitute for sugar is fake news as they have been, time and again, associated with weight gain, insulin resistance and diabetes.

Another cardiologist Dr. Richard C. Becker was also quoted suggesting water only should be the ‘beverage of choice’.

However, industry groups disagree in the context claiming there is no evidence by far to back the proposition. But if you want to opt for a risk-free beverage in your regular diet, naturally infused water may do the trick. Here are four easy recipes for you to try:

• Orange and ginger infused drink: in four cups of water, add 3-4 orange slices and 4-5 peeled ginger slices and your drink is ready.
• Cucumber and mint infused drink: take one litre of water in a jar and add 6-8 thick slices of cucumber and one-third cup of mint leaves to it. Leave the ingredients for some time to infuse, refrigerate if needed and drink throughout the day.
• Watermelon and basil infused drink: prepare this drink with one-third cup of seedless watermelon cubes and 4-6 basil leaves in four cups of water and hydrate yourself with frequent sips.
• Strawberry and lemon infused drink: cut 4-5 strawberries in halves and add them to a jar of water along with 4-5 slices of lemon. Refrigerate the drink and pour some whenever you need to seep.