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Drink Diet Coke Every Day? A Major New Study Says It May Be Aging Your Brain Faster
A large new study linked frequent artificial sweetener consumption to faster declines in memory and thinking, especially for people under 60 and those with diabetes
Aug 3, 2026
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That afternoon Diet Coke you reach for to power you through the workday may actually be accelerating the aging of your brain, a new study found
For decades, artificial sweeteners were marketed as the guilt-free alternative to natural sugar. However, they may carry a real cost for your long-term brain health
The research, which was published in the peer-reviewed journalNeurology, found that people who consumed the highest amounts of low and no calorie sweeteners experienced faster declines in memory and thinking than those who consumed the least. That gap was equivalent to about 1.6 years of brain aging. The impact was more pronounced in people under 60 and those with diabetes
What the study found
The study followed 12,772 adults across Brazil, with an average age of 52, for about eight years, making it the largest and longest study of its kind to date
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Researchers tracked seven low and no-calorie sweeteners frequently found in ultra-processed foods like flavored water, soda, energy drinks, yogurt, and low-calorie desserts: aspartame, saccharin, acesulfame-K, erythritol, xylitol, sorbitol, and tagatose
Participants took cognitive tests at the beginning, middle, and end of the study, which measured their memory, verbal fluency, and processing speed. Researchers then sorted them into three groups by how much sweetener they consumed
After adjusting for factors like age, blood pressure, and cardiovascular disease, the findings suggest that the highest-consumption group declined 62 percent faster than the lowest group, the equivalent of about 1.6 years of aging. The middle group declined 35 percent faster, equal to roughly 1.3 years
