Diet Soft Drinks

[updated February 25, 2011]
A possibly surprising result which constitutes a simple measure to address Overactive Bladder (OAB) was presented at the August meeting of the International Continence Society meeting in August 2007 (last month) in Rotterdam.

Healthy patients who were given

• Diet Coke or
• Caffeine Free Diet Coke

each had significantly greater frequency of urination and urgency compared to those drinking carbonated water. (Urgency is a compelling desire to pass urine which is difficult to defer as mentioned in this [link].)

In comparison, those given regular Classic Coke did have not have statistically greater frequency or urgency.

Conclusions

Coupled with epidemiological evidence (see [PMID: 12823386] [Full Text], consistent with these results, we conclude that certain artificial sweeteners likely have a greater adverse effect on overactive bladder (OAB) than even caffeine!

Although far from a cure, this could be an easy drug-free way to reduce the effects of OAB -- simply avoid diet soft drinks.

Also there are indications that artificial sweeteners in soft drinks are unhealthy in any case: [PMID: 18212291] and [Health Day]

Reference

Cartwright R, Srikrishna S, Cardozo L, Gonzalez J, King's College Hospital, Does diet coke cause overactive Bladder? A 4-way crossover trial, investigating the effect of carbonated soft drinks on overactive bladder symptoms in normal volunteers. International Continence Society, Rotterdam, 2007. http://www.icsoffice.org/publications/2007/pdf/0019.pdf

Other Posts

Those interested in incontinence may also wish to read the following posts:

Urinary Incontinence

Urinary Incontinence Progression

The last one is one of the most viewed posts on the entire site.

Those interested in nutrition may wish to look at the [Nutrition Posts] on this site.