New research from the American Heart Association Journal of Stroke found that consuming diet soda triples your risk of having a stroke! Watch as Dr. Larson gets into why the artificial sweeteners in soft drinks and many other seemingly ‘healthy’ beverages are just nothing but hype and junk marketing and can actually make you fat. Dr. Larson also gets into what a stroke is, the different types of strokes and how to spot when a stroke is happening.
While not a good choice, you would be better off with good, old fashioned cane sugar than consuming artificial sweeteners like Aspartame (Equal, NutraSweet), Sucralose (Splenda) and Acesulfame K (ACE K) DR. CHAD LARSON
In Episode 23, Dr. Larson discusses:
- There are over 200,000 cases of strokes per year in the United States
- A stroke is a sudden loss of blood flow to the brain, the consequences of it depends on what part of the brain is affected
- The most critical component to survival is spotting and acting on the symptoms immediately by using the acronym FAST:
Facial weakness, slumping or drooping
Arm weakness loss of arm function
Slurred speech
Time to call 911 - There is a very small window to catching a stroke before it is allowed to do damage
- Anti-coagulant drugs are used to break up the blood clot, but typically are only effective within an hour of onset
- Prevention is key to stopping a stroke
– Risk factors
– high blood pressure or elevated blood pressure
– it can put extra pressure on the circulatory system that can lead to blood vessel damage
– High cholesterol, but specifically oxidized cholesterol
– oxidized cholesterol causes the blood vessels to get damaged and can lead to a blood clot being dislodged and finding its way to the brain
– High blood sugar and diabetes
– high blood sugar leads to inflammation and blood clot formation
– Atrial fibrillation or an abnormal arrhythmia of the heart
– The irregular beat makes the blood pool in the heart and spin around before it is ejected. While it is spinning, blood clots can form so that when the heart beats, it can send a clot to the brain causing a stroke - Decrease your risks by:
– Antioxidants will help to break up the oxidized cholesterol before a blood clot can form
– Limit diet sodas and other drinks that contain artificial sweeteners like Sucralose, Saccharine, Aspartame and Acesulfame Potassium. Artificial sweeteners and artificial sugars wreak havoc in the body because the body doesn’t know how to process the chemicals
– Diet sodas and drinks containing artificial sweeteners can increase your risk of stroke by as much as TRIPLE
– If you are going to drink soda, consume the type that has sugar cane in it
– Avoid high fructose corn syrup - If you are drinking diet soda because you want to lose weight, don’t buy into the hype. It doesn’t help you lose weight
- Evidence shows that artificial sweeteners can increase insulin resistance and lead to weight gain
- Stroke damage, if you survive, is a hard road to recovery
- An arduous road to brain function rehabilitation, the best way to stop a stroke is to cut back on your health risks and know the acronym FAST
