Another Day, Another Soda Study In the past six months alone, dozens of studies examining the health impact of drinking sugary beverages or diet soda have been published in medical journals. Some suggested a relationship; others did not. Sometimes, the media coverage of these studies took the researchers by surprise. That was the case for epidemiologist Hannah Gardener, PhD, of the University of Miami. In February, she presented early results from her ongoing research at a health conference, and was completely unprepared for the media attention it received. The story appeared on all the major networks, in most major newspapers, and on the Internet, including WebMD. The early findings showed a 48% increase in heart attack and stroke risk among daily diet soda drinkers, compared to people who did not drink diet sodas at all or did not drink them every day. Most reports cautioned that the findings were preliminary and did not prove that diet sodas cause stroke. But Gardener says many media reports overstated the findings. And even when the stories got it right, she says the headlines often got it wrong by leaving the impression that her research proved the diet soda-stroke connection. “It was just an abstract presented at a meeting. It hasn’t even been published yet,” Gardener tells WebMD. “We are still working on the analysis. I don’t think the level of press attention it received would have been warranted even if it was a published paper.” Gardener’s team attempted to control for known heart attack and stroke risk factors, such as poor diet and lack of exercise, but she concedes that these factors could have influenced the findings.