Diet soda could give you the blues
By: Nikki Henderson
Updated: January 16, 2013
Drinking diet soda may help your waistline but it could be harmful to your brain.
A new study finds that people who drink diet soda are more likely to be diagnosed with depression.
Researchers looked at more than 263,900 U.S. adults ages 50 to 71 who answered questions about their beverage consumption between the years 1995 and 1996.
About 10 years later from 2004 to 2006, the same people were asked if a doctor had diagnosed them with depression since the year 2000.
Dr. Honglei Chen of the National Institutes of Health, who led the study, said people who regularly drank four or more cans of any type of soda a day were 30 percent more likely to have received a diagnosis of depression than people who did not drink soda.
The risk of depression was especially high for people who drank diet soda, a 31 percent increased risk compared to a 22 percent increased risk for those who drank regular soda, the researchers said.
Those who drank four or more cans of diet fruit drinks were 51 percent more likely to be diagnosed with depression compared to those who did not drink diet fruit drinks.
The study only found an association and did not determine whether diet soda or fruit drinks caused depression.
Chen said "More research is needed to confirm these findings, and people with depression should continue to take depression medications prescribed by their doctors."
The study will be presented at the American Academy of Neurology's annual meeting in San Diego in March.
