Chugging down artificially sweetened beverages, such as diet soda, may not only have health risks for your body but it turns out also with your brain, according to a new study.

Drinking these types of beverages daily were tied to higher risk of dementia and stroke according to the study published in the American Heart Association’s journal Stroke.

The study compared never drinking diet soda to those who drank one drink a day and those people were nearly three times as likely to have an ischemic stroke, caused by blocked blood vessels.

They also found that those who drank one a day were nearly three times as likely to be diagnosed with dementia.

Artificially sweetened beverages are everywhere you look, so this news is definitely “news to use” for many, many people who drink diet soda on a daily basis.

Personally, I hope these findings help just one person stop drinking it once and for all.

Remember, soda regardless of type – diet or regular – serves no nutritional benefit whatsoever. And, it should be avoided at all costs. It really has no place in one’s diet. There are so many healthy alternatives that are void of artificial flavorings, caramel coloring, artificial sweeteners, phosphorus and other nasty ingredients linked to health issues.

This new information may be an area for greater study to better understand its role on the body and brain and how artificially sweetened beverages negatively impact overall health.

The beverage industry with very deep pockets and their lobbyists are fighting this type of research because the industry is shrinking, but not fast enough for me.

I have been saying for years, dating back to when my own kids were in school in the 1960’s, that soda is bad for you.

With this latest research, hopefully more people will pay attention and stop drinking soda.