Diet soft drinks may not be so safe, after all, as scientists claim to have found a link between low-calorie beverages and higher risks of heart attacks and strokes.

Conspiracy theorists and natural foods advocates have railed against artificial sweeteners for decades. Aspartame has been a particular target, although medical experts and diet drink makers have gone to the mat to defend the compound. Based on research revealed February 10 at the International Stroke Conference 2011, however, the aspartame attackers may have been right all along.

Hannah Gardener, Sc.D., an epidemiologist with the Miller School of Medicine and project leader on the diet drink study, presented the findings at the Los Angeles Convention Center. Dr. Gardener detailed the project, which tracked more than 2,500 Manhattan (New York City) residents for approximately a decade. Ongoing examinations tracked participants' ages, daily calorie totals, exercise, alcohol use, smoking habits, blood pressure, cholesterol levels, and more.

Statistically speaking, those subjects who consumed diet sodas daily experienced a 61 percent higher risk of stroke and heart attack than those who abstained from the low-calorie carbonated beverages. No elevated risks of vascular problems were noted among daily drinkers of regular (sugared) sodas.

The new findings have yet to be confirmed by medical peer reviews and additional studies, and scientists are hesitant to point positive fingers at aspartame, although suspicions abound. Of course, the possibility still exists that diet soda drinkers may share other unhealthy dietary choices that may lead to diminished vascular health.

Previous medical research has, however, reported statistical links between habitual diet soda drinking and increased dangers of diabetes and metabolic disease, which can lead to heart attacks and strokes. In addition, the caramel coloring in diet colas may be suspected of possibly contributing to vascular issues as well, according to the scientific researchers involved in the most recent study.

Besides diet sodas, what other foods contain aspartame?

Aspartame (containing aspartic acid, phenylalanine, and methanol) may be found in thousands of low-calorie beverages and food items. Items frequently containing the artificial sweetener may include breath mints, diet ice creams, diet jams and jellies, diet soft drinks, flavored waters, low-calorie juices, powdered juices, powdered sweeteners, snack bars, sugar-free candies, sugar-free chewing gums, sugar-free gelatin, sugar-free medications and more.

On food product labels, Aspartame may be identified as Equal, NutraSweet or Spoonful. Some products may simply list artificial sweetener as an ingredient.

This artificial sweetening agent, used in the vast majority of diet soft drinks, was first approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 1974.

Since that time, rumors have abounded about the safety or potential dangers of consuming products containing aspartame. Red-flag warnings have tried to connect the artificial diet sweetener to Alzheimer's, birth defects, brain tumors, chronic fatigue syndrome, diabetes, fibromyalgia, lymphoma, mental retardation, migraine headaches, Parkinson 's disease and other ailments.

Until February 10, 2011, however, the mainstream medical community has seemed reluctant to warn against the compound. Perhaps this will change, as the New York City diet soda study results are reviewed and retested.

Anecdotal evidence abounds with symptomatic stories about aspartame.

Many individuals routinely testify to the ill effects they have experienced firsthand after consuming the sugar-free artificial sweetener known as aspartame.

Within my own extended family and circle of friends, for example, an unscientific study reveals certain commonalities. Regular indulgence in diet sodas and sugar-free foods containing aspartame seems to aggravate such neurological and vascular conditions as attention deficit disorder (ADD), epilepsy, migraines and multiple sclerosis. Loved ones living with these conditions fervently contest that artificial sweetener worsens symptoms like dizziness, lightheadedness, pain, tremors and vertigo.

As far as we are concerned, we see no need to wait for scientific documentation to make our own alternative dietary choices. After all, what's wrong with fresh water, and what if the aspartame safety arguments don't hold water in the end?

Las Vegas, Nevada (PRWEB) June 06, 2011

The website drinkyourmeals.com is now offering free registration for all tube feeders on a blended diet. Drink Your Meals features more than 100 blended recipes utilizing fresh, unprocessed ingredients.

The recipes at Drink Your Meals are Zone balanced, meaning each recipe provides 40 percent of its calories from carbs, 30 percent from protein and 30 percent from fat. Following a Zone balanced diet helps to balance hormones and insulin levels, and aids in hunger control.

The Drink Your Meals website also features a recipe builder, allowing you to create your own blended recipes. In addition, the recipe builder provides calories, protein, carbohydrate and fat information for your recipe.

Drink Your Meals will also be giving away one free Vitamix a month to a lucky subscriber. All participants can send their information and why they need a Vitamix to info(at)drinkyourmeals(dot)com.

For additional information go to http://www.drinkyourmeals.com.

Traverse City, MI (PRWEB) January 25, 2006

In a saturated and homogenized market, one womens fitness company delivers quality and options far beyond the typical express fitness program. Isis Fitness is transforming the womens fitness industry with the nations first full service women only gyms.

While the 1990s and early 2000s saw the phenomenal explosion of express fitness centers for women (typically a bare bones facility offering a 30 minute circuit training program), the year 2006 holds promise for those seeking a womens weight loss and fitness centers that can keep up with womens weight loss and fitness goals, and mitigate the boredom brought on by the express fitness phenomena.

Isis Fitness, headquartered in Traverse City, Michigan, offers circuit training, advanced circuit training, personal training, power yoga, sport Pilates, fusion aerobics, weight training facilities, cardio facilities, and child care, for about the same price other women pay for a simple circuit program. No matter your fitness level at the beginning, you cant stay with a beginners program forever. Isis Fitness takes women from a beginner level to programs and classes that tire and excite the most advanced fitness enthusiast, say Leah Arnold, certified fitness instructor and co-founder of Isis Fitness.

Chandra Klein, a former express fitness center client, and new member to Isis says I was shocked by the choices and programs that were available, like a real gym. Being able to change what Im doing every day keeps me excited, motivated, and more physically fit than I ever thought I could be.

In a comparison of the womens express fitness market, many facilities now slash prices to compete with intense levels of competition due to market saturation, with some chains experiencing high owner and member turnover. Not so, Isis Fitness. We stand alone in our market in terms of options, choices, and quality of womens fitness programs. But then again, from conception, that was the whole idea, says Arnold.