This is not a pit, per se, but - was just admonished for NOT taking medical advice?

[KarlGauss]

@DrDeth

(psst, isn’t Karl Gauss a she? )

Only if I took too much Casodex

[alice_in_wonderland]

@KarlGauss

Only if I took too much Casodex

I think DrDeth has transposed our “bits”…

[rayh]

@alice_in_wonderland

I think DrDeth has transposed our “bits”…

Obviously didn’t visit enough Art Museums.

[susan]

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.

[susan]

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

[DrDeth]

@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.
.

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.

[samclem]

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 This, of course, says nothing about an aspartame/high blood pressure link. But it’s a provocative piece of the puzzle.

[alice_in_wonderland]

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…

[Caridwen]

I wouldn’t stop drinking diet soda because it took me so damn long to get used to it.