Is Consumption of Artificially Sweetened Beverages Heart-Healthy?

Artificially sweetened beverages (ASBs) are touted as healthier alternatives to sugary drinks. However, the data have been inconsistent on the impact of ASBs on cardiometabolic health. Investigators used data from the French NutriNet-Santé cohort (NCT03335644) to study the associations between consumption of sugary drinks or ASBs and first incident event of cardiovascular disease (CVD; acute coronary syndrome, angioplasty, myocardial infarction, stroke, and transient ischemic attack).

Consumption of the beverages was grouped into three categories — lower-than-median, higher-than-median, or none. The investigators excluded CVD cases during the first 3 years of follow-up to attempt to minimize reverse causality. Participants reported 24-hour d…