Diet soda's are a staple for many consumers thinking its helping them keep the weight off... They are right, however the conclusions from a 10 year study with 60,000 women in The States has reported that of those sampled who drank 2 or more diet drinks were at much higher risks of cardiovascular disease and had more chances of dying from that disease! 30% more likely!

Aspartame is the main culprit here... its the sweetener of choice for most diet drinks such as Diet Coke etc. It is reported to cause a host of health issues including seizures.

The University of Iowa held the study and concluded:

Compared to women who never or only rarely consume diet drinks, those who consume two or more a day are 30 percent more likely to have a cardiovascular event [heart attack or stroke] and 50 percent more likely to die from related disease.

This is one of the largest studies on this topic, and our findings are consistent with some previous data, especially those linking diet drinks to the metabolic syndrome, says Dr. Ankur Vyas, the lead investigator of the study.

The association persisted even after researchers adjusted the data to account for demographic characteristics and other cardiovascular risk factors, including body mass index, smoking, hormone therapy use, physical activity, energy intake, salt intake, diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol, and sugar-sweetened beverage intake.

On average, women who consumed two or more diet drinks a day were younger, more likely to be smokers, and had a higher prevalence of diabetes, high blood pressure, and higher body mass index.

Read more on the report at http://now.uiowa.edu/2014/03/ui-study-finds-diet-drinks-associated-heart-trouble-older-women