Diet drinks linked to heart risks in older women.

NBC Nightly News (3/30, story 5, 0:40, Holt) reported, “Research presented at the American College of Cardiology” meeting suggests that diet drinks may increase heart risks in older women.

        On its website, NBC News (3/30, Fox) reported that investigators “studied nearly 60,000 middle-aged women taking part in a decade-long study of women’s health.” Participants “filled out a questionnaire on food and drinks as part of the study, including detailed questions on diet sodas and diet fruit drinks.” The investigators, “after just under nine years...checked to see what happened to the womens’ health.”

        The Huffington Post reported that “women who consumed two or more diet drinks daily were not only 30 percent more likely to suffer heart attacks and strokes, they were 50 percent more likely to die from some sort of cardiovascular disease, when compared with women who never or rarely drank diet drinks.” Also covering the story were Reuters (3/30, Pierson, Berkrot) reports, HealthDay(3/31), Medscape (3/30, Busko), MedPage Today (3/30, Phend).