Table 2. Associations between diet soda consumption and health impacts found by various studies.
LAD: left atrial dimension; LVM: left ventricular mass; BMI: body mass index; RA: rheumatoid arthritis; SSBs: sugar-sweetened beverages; LUTS: lower urinary tract symptoms; HbA1c: glycosylated hemoglobin; ESRD: end-stage renal disease; NHL: non-Hodgkin's lymphoma; BrAC: breath alcohol concentration; CVD: cardiovascular disease.
| Author | Outcomes being studied in diet soda consumers | Year | Age of participants in years | Number of participants | Gender of participants | Results of the study | Significant negative health impact association found? | Type of study |
| Andersson et al. [19] | Cardiac remodeling | 2015 | X̄ = 55 | n = 4,202 | 59% women, 41% men | Soda consumption, especially diet soda, was associated with higher LAD and LVM, compared to no soda consumption | Yes, with an identified confounder | Cohort study |
| Bragg et al. [32] | Eating disorders | 2013 | X̄ = 34 | n = 2,077 | 87.2% women, 12.8% men | Individuals who consume any kind of soda regularly reported higher BMI and more eating psychopathology (eating disorders) than those who do not | Yes | Cross-sectional |
| Brown et al. [20] | Eating disorders | 2013 | Not reported | n = 397 | Not specified | Individuals with bulimia nervosa consume excessive amounts of diet soda compared to non-eating disorder controls | Yes | Cohort study |
| Cohen et al. [21] | Child cognition | 2018 | Offspring follow-up at X̄ = 3.3 | 1,234 mother-child pairs, n = 2,468 | Not specified | Maternal diet soda consumption during pregnancy may adversely impact child cognition | Yes | Cohort study |
| Guo et al. [38] | Depression | 2014 | X̄ = 61 | n = 263,923 | 51% women, 49% men | Frequent consumption of sweetened beverages, especially diet drinks, may increase depression risk among older adults, whereas coffee consumption may lower the risk | Yes | Case-Control study |
| Fung et al. [22] | Hip fractures | 2014 | X̄ = 53 | n = 73,572 | 100% women | Increased soda consumption of all types may be associated with an increased risk of hip fractures in postmenopausal women | Yes | Cohort study |
| Hatch et al. [23] | Fecundability | 2018 | X̄ = 30 | n = 4,873 | Not reported; 1045 couples, 161 men, and 2518 women who completed the food survey | Diet soda had little association with fecundability | No | Cohort study |
| Hu et al. [24] | Rheumatoid arthritis | 2014 | 30-55 range | n = 79,570 | 100% women | Diet soda is not associated with an increased risk of seropositive RA in women, independent of other dietary and lifestyle factors | No | Cohort study |
| Leung et al. [33] | Cell aging | 2014 | X̄ = 40 | n = 5,309 | 52% women, 48% men | No significant associations were observed between the consumption of diet sodas or non-carbonated SSBs and telomere length | No | Cross-sectional |
| Ma et al. [25] | Fatty liver disease | 2015 | X̄ = 50 | n = 8,542 | Not specified | Diet soda intake was not associated with measures of fatty liver disease | No | Cohort study |
| Maserejian et al. [26] | Lower urinary tract symptoms | 2013 | 30-79 range | n = 5,502 | 61% women, 39% men | Women with recently increased soda intake, particularly caffeinated diet soda, had higher symptom scores, urgency, and LUTS progression | Yes | Cohort study |
| Mirghani et al. [34] | Diabetic retinopathy | 2021 | X̄ = 51 | n = 200 | 49% women, 51% men | In diabetics, diet soda was associated with higher HbA1c and retinopathy, while non-caloric flavor consumption was associated with obesity | Yes | Cross-sectional |
| Park et al. [27] | Fatty liver disease | 2021 | X̄ = 63 (offspring), X̄ = 48 (3rd generation participants) | n = 1,636 | 58% women, 42% men | Diet soda was not associated with worsening liver fat | No | Cohort study |
| Rebholz et al. [28] | End-stage renal disease | 2017 | X̄ = 54 | n = 15,368 | 55% women, 45% men | Diet soda consumption was associated with higher ESRD risk | Yes | Cohort study |
| Sakaki et al. [29] | Hypertension and hyperlipidemia | 2022 | X̄ = 11 | n = 9,043 | 65% women, 35% men | Diet soda was not associated with either hypertension or hyperlipidemia risk in young adulthood | No | Cohort study |
| Samman et al. [35] | Caries | 2022 | 21-60 range | n = 2,368 | 51% women, 49% men | High diet drinks consumption slightly increased the odds of dental erosion among US adults, although this relationship was not statistically significant | No | Cross-sectional |
| Schernhammer et al. [30] | Leukemia and lymphoma | 2012 | X̄ = 50 | n = 97,334 | 61% women, 39% men | In men, >1 daily serving of diet soda increased risks of NHL and multiple myeloma in comparison with men who did not consume diet soda | No, the authors suggest they cannot rule out chance as the cause given the difference in both genders | Cohort study |
| Stamates et al. [39] | Breath alcohol concentrations | 2015 | X̄ = 23 | n = 20 | 50% women, 50% men | Participants had significantly higher BrAC when the mixer was diet as compared to regular for both alcohol dose conditions | Yes | |
| Sumorok et al. [37] | Urinary lithogenicity | 2012 | 18-65 range | n = 12 | Not specified | The potential of diet sodas to reduce the recurrence of kidney stones does not appear to be great at ingested volumes of approximately 1 L per day | Neutral | Crossover study |
| Vyas et al. [31] | Risk of cardiovascular events | 2015 | X̄ = 61 | n = 161,808 | 100% women | There is an association between high diet drink intake and CVD outcomes and mortality in post-menopausal women | Yes | Cohort study |
| Yu et al. [36] | Depression | 2017 | X̄ = 53 | n = 18,838 | 69% women, 31% men | There is an association between depression and the consumption of sweeteners and diet drinks, which was more apparent among women than men | Yes | Cross-sectional |