Karachi: A new study has found that eating more artificial sweeteners can increase the risk of stroke by up to 10 percent.
The researchers highlighted the dangers of added sugar in the study.
Researchers studied more than 110,000 Britons and followed their health for an average of nine years.
The study found that people who consumed more artificial sweeteners were more likely to have a stroke or ischemic heart disease (a type of heart problem).
The average person in the UK gets around 12% of their daily calories from artificial sweeteners. If someone increased this amount by five percent (eating an extra small chocolate bar per day), the study found that the risk of stroke increased by 10 percent.
According to the study, this extra consumption was also associated with a 6 percent increased chance of developing ischemic heart disease.
Study co-author Professor Tim Kay, from the University of Oxford, said the findings suggest that consumption of artificial sweeteners in general is associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease.
The study, published in the BMC Medicine Journal, asked middle-aged people about their food and drink intake over a 24-hour period.