A controversial new study is linking artificially sweetened beverages with increased risk of stroke and dementia.  Although it does not establish causality, but sheds light on an association that might make some people think twice about what quenches their thirst.

The study in the American Heart Association's journal Stroke took a look at 2,888 adults older than 45 and 1,484 adults older than 60.  Those who drank one artificially-sweetened beverage per day were almost three times as likely to have an ischemic stroke - caused by blocked blood vessels - than those who never drink those beverages.  The one a day group was also nearly three times as likely to be diagnosed with dementia.  Subjects who drank one to six artificially sweetened beverages a week were 2.6 times as likely to experience an ischemic stroke but were no more likely to develop dementia.

But the researchers found no such connection between those health risks and other sugary beverages, such as sugar-sweetened sodas, fruit juice, and fruit drinks.

"We have little data on the health effects of diet drinks and this is problematic because diet drinks are popular amongst the general population," said the lead author of the study, Matthew Pase of Boston University School of Medicine.

free picture of soda, ya can't sue us!

"More research is needed to study the health effects of diet drinks so that consumers can make informed choices concerning their health," he said.