I have long advised patients to stop drinking diet soda. While a can does not contain hardly any calories, experience has reliably shown that appetite is invariably stimulated by these drinks leading to increased intake of food. The prestigious journal Circulation just published a study that found a correlation between the intake of diet soda and the development of metabolic syndrome — the combination of risk factors for heart disease and diabetes that include hypercholesterolemia, abdominal obesity, hypertension and hyperglycemia.

The study involved more than 9,500 men and women ages 45 to 64 and followed their health for nine years. Those who partook of the developed world’s dietary pattern (red meat, fried foods and refined grain) were 18 percent more at risk for metabolic syndrome, while those who ate healthy (vegetables, fruits, fish and poultry) showed neither an increased nor decreased risk.

The risk of developing metabolic syndrome was 34 percent higher among those who drank one can of diet soda a day compared with those who drank none. The investigators postulated that there might be a chemical ingredient in diet soda that was responsible for this effect.

To those who want to stay slim and healthy, and to those who drink diet soda just for the taste of it, stick to drinking water exclusively.