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DANGERS OF FIZZY DRINKSStory Image

THE LAST STRAW: Some fizzy drinks are linked to kidney damage / posed by model

Sunday November 1,2009By Lucy Johnston

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SOFT drinks with artificial sweeteners could cause kidney damage, according to new research.

Just two colas or sodas a day were found to double the risk of a faster-than-average decline inkidney function, scientists said. However, this problem was not linked to drinks that had beensweetened with sugar.

The researchers in the United States looked at the effect of fizzy drinks on more than 3,000women, comparing those who consumed artificially sweetened drinks with those whose drinks

were sweetened with sugar. They took into account factors such as age, high blood pressure,diabetes, smoking, and heart disease.

But the survey looked only at older white women. The scientists admitted that it was not clearwhether their findings also applied to men or people of different ethnic backgrounds.

Dr Julie Lin, who co-led the survey, with a team from Brigham and Womens Hospital in Boston,Massachusetts, said: While more study is needed, our research suggests that higher sodium andartificially sweetened soda intake is associated with greater rate of decline in kidney function.

The research, presented last week at the American Society of Nephrologys annual conference inSan Diego, California, was carried out as part of a major health and lifestyle investigation in theUS.

A spokesman for the Beverage Association, which represents soft drink manufacturers, said itwas too soon to comment on the research as it had not yet been properly evaluated by otherscientists.

However, he did point out that the two main causes of chronic kidney disease were diabetes andhigh blood pressure not consumption of diet soda.

Here in Britain, the artificial sweetener aspartame is coming under more scrutiny. Thegovernment watchdog, the Food Standards Agency, is calling for volunteers to help test claimsthat aspartame, used in more than 4,000 products, causes illnesses.

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Previous reviews by the FSA and the European Food Safety Authority have concluded that thesubstance is safe but some people have complained of headaches, dizziness, vomiting, -diarrhoea and fatigue after eating food containing the sweetener.

Researchers under Professor Stephen Atkin, head of the endocrinology, diabetes andmetabolism section at Hull Universitys Postgraduate Medical Institute, will look for signs of illnessin volunteers after they eat cereal bars made with or without aspartame.

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They are recruiting 50 people who believe they are sensitive to the sweetener who will bematched by age and sex to 50 volunteers who are happy to eat foods containing it.

A spokesman for the agency said: We know that aspartame can be consumed safely but somepeople consider that they react badly to it. The study will address consumer concerns, includingthese anecdotal reports.