Diet Soda May Up Dementia, Stroke Risk

First, the bad news. New research shows that sugary beverages, especially those with lots of fructose, may damage your brain, literally shrinking it while impairing memory. Then, some more bad news. Diet soda, which doesn’t have fructose, is also bad for you, but in different ways. A Boston University news release reports that when researchers measured beverage intake and evidence of stroke in 2,888 people over age 45, and evidence of dementia in 1,484 participants over age 60, they found no correlation between sugary beverage intake and stroke or dementia. They did find, however, that people who drank at least one diet soda per day were almost three times as likely to develop stroke and dementia.