Consuming higher amounts of diet drinks and/or saccharin has been found to be associated with an elevated risk of developing diabetes, although total artificial sweetener intake, sucralose, and aspartame showed no significant association, according to an analysis of data from the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) study.
The analysis included 4654 adults with a mean age of 24.9 years at baseline in 1985-86. Their dietary intake was assessed by the CARDIA diet history at year 0, year 7, and year 20. The cumulative average intakes of artificial sweeteners, diet beverages, aspartame, and sucralose were calculated. The models were adjusted for age, sex, race, field centre, education, energy intake, physical activity, smoking status, alcohol drinking, diet quality, and family history of diabetes.
Over a median follow-up of 30 years, 691 incident diabetes events occurred. Participants in the fifth quintile of diet beverage intake had a significantly higher risk of developing diabetes than those in the first quintile. Positive associations were also observed for intakes of saccharin. Overall, higher intakes of diet beverages and saccharin were associated with an increased risk for incident diabetes.
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