# This is not a pit, per se, but - was just admonished for NOT taking medical advice? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [September 28, 2006, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-not-a-pit-per-se-but-was-just-admonished-for-not-taking-medical-advice/374516 "2006-09-28T18:04:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2006, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-not-a-pit-per-se-but-was-just-admonished-for-not-taking-medical-advice/374516/141 "2006-09-30T19:34:22Z")
[QUOTE=DrDeth] (psst, isn’t Karl Gauss a she? 😕 ) [/QUOTE] Only if I took too much [Casodex](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casodex)😉 ---
**Author:** ![alice\_in\_wonderland](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alice_in_wonderland/32/176_2.png) [@alice\_in\_wonderland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alice_in_wonderland)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2006, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-not-a-pit-per-se-but-was-just-admonished-for-not-taking-medical-advice/374516/142 "2006-10-01T01:15:53Z")
[QUOTE=KarlGauss] Only if I took too much [Casodex](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casodex)😉 [/QUOTE] I think **DrDeth** has transposed our “bits”… ---
**Author:** ![rayh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@rayh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rayh)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2006, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-not-a-pit-per-se-but-was-just-admonished-for-not-taking-medical-advice/374516/143 "2006-10-01T02:17:25Z")
[QUOTE=alice\_in\_wonderland] I think **DrDeth** has transposed our “bits”… [/QUOTE] Obviously didn’t visit enough [Art Museums](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=390361). ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2006, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-not-a-pit-per-se-but-was-just-admonished-for-not-taking-medical-advice/374516/144 "2006-10-01T17:47:57Z")
I apologize if this has already been linked; I’m at work snd actually working so I don’t have time to read this page of the thread thoroughly. A new study from Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, Mass., concludes there is a significant link between high blood pressure in women and the consumption of sugared or diet cola drinks. This was a surprising discovery even to the researchers since colas do not contain any ingredients known to cause hypertension. The study: Led by Wolfgang C. Winkelmayer, M.D., the team followed 155,594 women for 12 years, all of whom participated in the Nurses’ Health Studies I and II. While all the women had normal blood pressure when the studies began in the early 1990s, 33,000 developed hypertension during the follow-up years. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2006, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-not-a-pit-per-se-but-was-just-admonished-for-not-taking-medical-advice/374516/145 "2006-10-01T17:51:03Z")
Let’s try again, since I managed to post that rather than toggle back to the source: I apologize if this has already been linked; I’m at work and actually working so I don’t have time to read this page of the thread thoroughly. Here’s a large-scale study on soda and hypertension in women. I’m posting it not to continue the debate but to suggest that sometimes one’s doctor may know things. > [@](#): > > A new study from Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, Mass., concludes there is a significant link between high blood pressure in women and the consumption of sugared or diet cola drinks. This was a surprising discovery even to the researchers since colas do not contain any ingredients known to cause hypertension. > > The study: Led by Wolfgang C. Winkelmayer, M.D., the team followed 155,594 women for 12 years, all of whom participated in the Nurses’ Health Studies I and II. While all the women had normal blood pressure when the studies began in the early 1990s, 33,000 developed hypertension during the follow-up years. [http://webcenters.netscape.compuserve.com/homerealestate/package.jsp?name=fte/colas/colas&floc=HR-1\_T](http://webcenters.netscape.compuserve.com/homerealestate/package.jsp?name=fte/colas/colas&floc=HR-1_T) ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2006, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-not-a-pit-per-se-but-was-just-admonished-for-not-taking-medical-advice/374516/146 "2006-10-01T18:19:01Z")
[QUOTE=Shoshana] A new study from Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, Mass., concludes there is a significant link between high blood pressure in women and the consumption of **sugared** or diet cola drinks. This was a surprising discovery even to the researchers since colas do not contain any ingredients known to cause hypertension. . [/QUOTE] I am going to **bold** one word in your cite (which isn;t a bad cite, BTW) which shows the possible link to high blood pressure \*isn’t \*caused by Aspartame. Here’s more from your cite: "…but _sugared_ and diet colas had a significant link. Is it the caffeine in the colas that causes the high blood pressure? The researchers think not. “We speculate that it is not caffeine but _perhaps some other compound contained in soda-type soft drinks that may be responsible for the increased risk in hypertension,"_ the wrote in the Journal of the American Medical Association.” (emphasis mine) Thus, they have no idea what causes the hypertension (or since this is a single study it may not be valid) but since the study tracked both diet and sugared cola drinks- and also the diet drinks weren’t limited to Aspartame sweetened types, and coffee drinkers (many of whom use artifical sweetners) weren’t effected- it isn’t Aspartame. I have no idea what is is, either. My WAG is that it is a flavoring used in colas. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2006, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-not-a-pit-per-se-but-was-just-admonished-for-not-taking-medical-advice/374516/147 "2006-10-01T19:01:54Z")
> [@](#): > > Compared with women who drank less than a can of regular cola a day: > > Women who drank one can of cola a day increased their high blood pressure risk by 9% in the first Nurses Health Study and by 13% in the second Nurses Health Study. > Women who drank two to three cans of cola a day had an 11% higher risk in the first study and a 24% higher risk in the second study. > Women who drank four or more cans of cola a day had a 44% higher risk in the first study and a 28% higher risk in the second study. > Compared with women who drank less than a can of diet cola a day: > > Women who drank one can of diet cola a day increased their high blood pressure risk by 7% in the first Nurses Health Study and by 5% in the second Nurses Health Study. > Women who drank two to three cans of diet cola a day had a 6% higher risk in the first study and a 9% higher risk in the second study. > Women who drank four or more cans of cola a day had a 16% higher risk in the first study and a 19% higher risk in the second study. from an analysis of the study at [http://onhealth.webmd.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=56356](http://onhealth.webmd.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=56356) This, of course, says nothing about an aspartame/high blood pressure link. But it’s a provocative piece of the puzzle. ---
**Author:** ![alice\_in\_wonderland](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alice_in_wonderland/32/176_2.png) [@alice\_in\_wonderland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alice_in_wonderland)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2006, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-not-a-pit-per-se-but-was-just-admonished-for-not-taking-medical-advice/374516/148 "2006-10-01T22:12:18Z")
Well, maybe she just wanted me off cola and this was a round about way of doing it. Dunno - although it makes me think that my diet pepsi is back on the hit list… ---
**Author:** ![Caridwen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c89c15/32.png) [@Caridwen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caridwen)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2006, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-not-a-pit-per-se-but-was-just-admonished-for-not-taking-medical-advice/374516/149 "2006-10-01T23:13:17Z")
I wouldn’t stop drinking diet soda because it took me so damn long to get used to it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-not-a-pit-per-se-but-was-just-admonished-for-not-taking-medical-advice/374516.md?page=7)