Association of soda consumption with subclinical cardiac remodeling in the Framingham heart study

Objective. Diet soda consumption increases cardiometabolic risk. The aim of this investigation was to assess the relations between self-reported soda consumption and subclinical cardiac remodeling. Methods. We assessed the relations between self-reported soda consumption and left ventricular mass (LVM) and left atrial dimension (LAD) (both standardized within sex) in a sample of middle-aged attendees from the Framingham Heart Offspring cohort examination 5 and 6. Results. The overall mean age was 55 years and 59% of the participants were women. Compared to non-consumers (n = 1010), soda consumers (n = 3192) had greater body weight (mean 86 vs. 82 kg among men, and 70 vs. 67 kg among women). Compared with non-consumers, age- and height-adjusted LAD was increased (standard deviation units) among soda consumers by 0.15 standard error 0.042, (p < 0.001) for those drinking > 0-7 diet soda (n = 1023), - 0.010 (0.043, p = 0.82) for people drinking > 0-7 regular soda (n = 907), 0.22 (0.057, p < 0.0001) for individuals consuming > 7 diet soda (n = 372), and 0.20 (0.092, p = 0.034) for participants drinking > 7 regular soda (n = 116) per week. LVM was increased among participants consuming diet soda (p < 0.05), but not in regular soda consumers (p > 0.05). Upon adjustment for weight, however, all aforementioned associations were attenuated. Conclusion. The observed associations between soda consumption and LAD or LVM were likely related to the greater body weight of soda drinkers relative to non-drinkers.