The Heart
The heart is not something that should be messed with. Especially where, this organ does many things for ones body, that may not even be realized.
What exactly does the heart do for the body? The heart essentially pumps blood and oxygen through the human body. All while it works to deliver carbon dioxide back to the lungs to be removed. The heart consists of four chambers, each separated by valves which direct the flow of blood.
What are Diet Drinks Doing to the Heart?
There is a new study finding that people who like to drink diet drinks are causing a problem to the heart. As this may be something not too serious in the beginning. The extremely unhealthy drinks are being found to cause irregular heartbeats, also know as atrial fibrillation.
“However, based on these findings, we recommend that people reduce or even avoid artificially sweetened and sugar-sweetened beverages whenever possible. Do not take it for granted that drinking low-sugar and low-calorie artificially sweetened beverages is healthy. It may pose potential health risks,” stated the lead author of the the study.
Although the study has only found it in people who drink nearly 67 oz. of diet soda a week, it can still happen to those consume less.
“Our study’s findings cannot definitively conclude that one beverage poses more health risk than another due to the complexity of our diets and because some people may drink more than one type of beverage,” said lead author Ningjian Wang, a researcher at the Shanghai Ninth People’s Hospital and Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine.
What is atrial fibrillation (A-Fib)?
Atrial fibrillation (AFib) is an often very rapid heart rhythm. Scarily, AFib can also lead to blood clots in the heart. Additionally, with this condition comes an increase risk of stroke and heart failure along with many other heart complications.
Essentially, atrial fibrillation causes the hearts upper chambers, also known as the atria, to beat chaotically. Which then causes them to be out of sync with the hearts lower chambers. What are the lower heart chambers called? The lower heart chambers are called the ventricles.
However, there are many people who have atrial fibrillation and have no major symptoms at all. The diagnosis only causes a faster heartbeat, which can typically lead to shortness of breath and dizziness. With this being said, reoccurring incidents of atrial fibrillation can very well come and go or they can be very constant, all depending on the person.
Is there Treatment Options for atrial fibrillation?
Positively, there are treatment options for people who have been diagnosed with atrial fibrillation . However, the treatment plan does vary based on how long the person has had AFib, their symptoms, and the cause of the irregular heartbeat.
Furthermore, the treatments may include things like a therapy called cardioversion which essentially resets the heart rhythm. As well as, medicine and surgery, but again treatments may vary.
What are Some Ways the Doctors Determine atrial fibrillation?
The following are tests the doctors may do to diagnose a person with atrial fibrillation:
- ECG or EKG.
- Blood Tests.
- Event Recorder.
- Exercise Stress Test.
- Chest X-ray.
- Holter Monitor.
Along with many more tests they could run. However, it all is depending on what the doctor thinks is best for the patients health.
By Key Robertson
Sources
UPI: Study finds sweetened drink consumption may be linked to atrial fibrillation
People: Drinking Soda and Artificially Sweetened Beverages Increase Risk of Serious Heart Condition, Study Says
The Guardian: Artificially sweetened drinks linked to risk of irregular heartbeat, study finds
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