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Diet Sodas Linked to Heart Issues – Futurism

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Image by Justin Sullivan via Getty / Futurism

Bad news for diet soda lovers: artificially-sweetened soft drinks may come with a heart-shaped price tag.

Published in the American Heart Association's journal Circulation:Arrhythmia and Electrophysiology, the new research out of a Shanghai teaching hospital suggests that there may be a link between regularly drinking significant amounts of diet soda and dangerously irregular heartbeats.

As the Mayo Clinic explains, atrial fibrillation, the medical term for irregular heartbeats, is associated with a group of symptoms that also include heart palpitations, fatigue, dizziness, and shortness of breath.

Looking at a database cohort of more than 200,000 patients, the team comprised primarily of endocrinology researchers at the Shanghai Ninth People's Hospital found that over a period of nearly 10 years, those who drank more than 2 liters of sodas with nonsugar sweeteners were significantly more likely to develop a-fib compared to those who drank fruit juice or regular soda.

Specifically, the study indicates that people who drank more than two liters of diet beverages per week were 20 percent more likely to develop a-fib than those who don't drink any though the researchers struggled to explain exactly why it might cause the scary heart-related symptoms.

If you're thinking of switching back to regular soda, that's not a perfect solution either.The Shanghai researchers also found that drinking more than two liters per week of conventionally sweetened cola saw a 10 percent increase in a-fib symptoms.

When looking at the portion of the cohort that drank only pure, unsweetened fruit or vegetable juice, the researchers found something even more fascinating: they appeared to have an eight percent lower risk of developing irregular heartbeats than their soda-drinking counterparts.

While there's been lots of research looking into other negative health effects associated with diet sodas, Penn State nutritionist Penny Kris-Etherton pointed out in an interview withCNNthat this appears to be the first looking at its association with a-fib.

"We still need more research on these beverages to confirm these findings and to fully understand all the health consequences on heart disease and other health conditions," Kris-Etherton, an American Heart Association contributor who didn't work on the study, told CNN. "In the meantime, water is the best choice, and, based on this study, no- and low-calorie sweetened beverages should be limited or avoided."

At the end of the day, drinking a bunch of diet soda is still probably not as bad for your heart as, say, excessive alcohol intake, but the risk is serious enough to take seriously and to make those pure fruit juices look all the tastier.

More on heart health:Cannabis Use Linked to Higher Risk of Heart Attack and Stroke

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Diet Sodas Linked to Heart Issues - Futurism

Proviso Suburbs Are Regulating Unscheduled Buses As Migrant Crisis Enters Harsh Winter – Village Free Press |

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Migrants in tents outside of the 15th District Chicago Police station in the citys Austin community in October 2023. The city has since relocated the migrants, but now suburban officials are taking measures to regulate unscheduled buses that may be unsafely dropping the asylum-seekers off in municipalities. | File

Monday, January 15, 2024 || By Michael Romain || michael@wearejohnwilk.com

Suburbs across Proviso Township have recently enacted legislation to address the wave of buses carrying migrants to various points across the Chicago area and burdening resource-strapped municipalities.

The villages of Bellwood, Broadview, Hillside and Westchester are among the municipalities whose boards have voted on ordinances or whose mayors have issued executive orders since December designed to introduce fines, penalties and restrictions for buses illegally dropping off passengers.

The primary aim is to safeguard the health and safety of both residents and bus occupants, Hillside village officials explained in a statement posted to the villages website on Dec. 29.

The Village lacks the resources to adequately support these migrants, Hillside officials added. Collaborative efforts with Local, State, County, and regional authorities are underway to address these concerns.

CNN reported in December that since April 2022, Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott has sent more than 90,000 asylum-seeking migrants from Latin America to various Democratic-run sanctuary cities, including Chicago.

Border authorities encountered more than 225,000 migrants along the US-Mexico border in December alone, marking the highest monthly total recorded since 2000, according to preliminary Homeland Security statistics shared with CNN, the outlet reported.

In their various ordinances and executive orders, Proviso-area village officials explained that the legislation regulating unscheduled buses is time-sensitive due to the onset of the frigid winter weather.

Entities sending such charter buses know, or should know, that the passengers on such buses are likely to seek emergency shelter and other immediate services from the municipality upon or soon after arrival in the municipality, reads the ordinance the Westchester village board unanimously passed on Jan. 9.

Local police departments have been tasked with enforcing the new regulations. In a statement shared with WGN 9, Broadview Mayor Katrina Thompson said that any violation of her executive order by any bus company or bus driver, regardless of origin or destination, authorizes the seizure and impoundment of the bus by the Broadview Police Department as well as criminal charges to be filed against the company and driver.

Broadview Police Chief Thomas Mills said his department is requesting bus companies notify us five days in advance, adding that they need to know how many people are coming under the age of 18 (and) how many adults so we know how many are arriving in the Village of Broadview, WGN reported.

Mayor Thompson issued her executive order in December. The Broadview village board is poised to vote on a series of ordinances regulating unscheduled buses at a regular meeting on Jan. 16.

State opens migrant shelter

Earlier this month, Capitol News Illinois reported that another migrant shelter opened in Chicago on Jan. 10, the states latest step in dealing with an influx of more than 30,000 asylum seekers sent to Illinois from states on the southern U.S. Border since summer 2022.

The recently opened shelter is located in a former CVS in Chicagos Little Village neighborhood and is expected to host about 220 migrants. The shelter is part of a $160 million state spending plan for migrant assistance that Gov. JB Pritzker announced in November, Capitol News Illinois reported.

The new site is one of several that houses migrants, mostly from Venezuela, that have arrived in Chicago over the past year. Roughly 250 migrants are currently staying at OHare International Airport and another 280 people slept in city buses at a so-called landing zone facility in the South Loop.

Possible causes of the Venezuelan migrant crisis

Most of the migrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border into the United States come from Venezuela. According to data from the Inter-Agency Coordination Platform for Refugees and Migrants from Venezuela, roughly 8 million Venezuelans have fled their homes since the countrys economy collapsed in 2014. Most of those refugees have settled in about two dozen Caribbean and Latin America countries.

Critics of Venezuelas left-wing government have argued that the countrys economic collapse was due to corruption and economic mismanagement.

According to the nonpartisan Council on Foreign Relations, a Washington, D.C. think tank, Venezuela is an example of a petrostate, where the government is highly dependent on fossil fuel income, power is concentrated, and corruption is widespread.

Petrostates are vulnerable to what economists call Dutch disease, in which a government develops an unhealthy dependence on natural resource exports to the detriment of other sectors.

When the price of oil plunged from more than $100 per barrel in 2014 to under $30 per barrel in early 2016, Venezuela entered an economic and political spiral, and despite rising prices since then, conditions remain bleak, the Council argued.

But other experts argue that the United States foreign policy also plays a critical role in the Latin American countrys collapse.

Last year, Juan Gonzlez, a reporter and senior fellow at the Great Cities Institute at the University of Illinois at Chicago, told WBEZ that the influx of Venezuelan migrants to the United States is a relatively new phenomenon. Its only really happened in the last three or four years. But now Venezuelans have become the fastest growing group of the Latino community in the United States.

Gonzlez said that economic sanctions lodged by the United States against Venezuela constituted an economic war against the country. The sanctions have been under Presidents Obama, Trump and Biden, he said.

The result has been an almost complete economic collapse of the country. Besides perhaps war, it is difficult to think of a tool of foreign policy that today causes more economic and humanitarian destruction than economic sanctions, Gonzlez told WBEZ.

For instance, Citgo petroleum, a major petroleum company in this country, is a Venezuelan-owned company, he added. The Trump administration froze all the assets of Citgo. The company takes in about $24 billion in oil revenues in the United States. None of that money, though, can go to Venezuela, which is its owner.

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Proviso Suburbs Are Regulating Unscheduled Buses As Migrant Crisis Enters Harsh Winter - Village Free Press |

Council to consider limiting powers of the mayor after removal of Confederate statue | Jax Daily Record – Jacksonville Daily Record

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A discussion began Jan. 2 at the City Council Rules Committee about the extent and limits of the power of Jacksonvilles mayor that could ultimately require proposed changes being put on a ballot for the public to decide.

Council President Ron Salem, responding to Mayor Donna Deegans action to remove the Women of the Southland Confederate monument from Springfield Park on Dec. 27, called city General Counsel Michael Fackler to appear before the committee to answer questions about his offices advice to Deegan that led to the removal without consulting the Council or seeking its approval of the action.

Several times during the discussion, Salem said his concern is about Councils authority, not about the statue or whether it was appropriate for it to be displayed on city property.

I feel our powers were infringed upon, Salem said.

Salem said he plans to file legislation Jan. 3 to clarify the mayors power to authorize such an action in the future.

Many of his questions to Fackler were related to Deegan basing her decision to have the statue removed on a draft opinion from the Office of General Counsel that was neither dated nor signed, rather than a formal, final document.

Fackler said the draft was an internal document prepared by his office that was used to advise the mayor.

It was a way to get our thoughts on paper and make sure we were comfortable giving the advice, Fackler said.

The draft, a public document, was provided to the media Dec. 26, Fackler said.

Salem said he learned about the advice given to Deegan from news reports.

The media showed me a draft document I didnt know anything about, he said.

I never want to see a draft document used as long as I am on City Council.

The advice given to Deegan was based on the fact that the reported $187,000 used to pay for the statues removal came from private donations, not revenue accounted for in the city budget or the Capital Improvement Plan approved by Council.

Fackler said the advice to Deegan was based on the fact that the donations did not flow into the city budget, so the money was not in Councils jurisdiction.

The mayor was advised that we didnt see anything that would prevent her from accepting gifts to use for removal of the statue, Fackler said.

Salem asked whether Deegan or a future mayor could use private donations to remove other statues from city property, such as the statue of the late U.S. Rep. Charles Bennett in James Weldon Johnson Park.

There is a possibility it could occur again, Fackler said.

Council member Kevin Carrico asked why Council was not advised before Dec. 27 that the statue was going to be removed.

My impression is that if the removal was announced it could have created a furor and a security concern, said Bill Delaney, Council liaison for Deegan.

Council member Jimmy Peluso

Council member Jimmy Peluso said he agrees with the decision to not announce the removal before it began.

The last thing we want is for Jacksonville to be on CNN for political violence, Peluso said.

Council member Matt Carlucci said the draft opinion merely repeated what is in the city charter and the ordinance code and he supports Deegans decision to have the monument removed.

This has been a thorn in the side of Council and somebody had to take leadership, Carlucci said.

I support the strong mayor form of government. We need a strong mayor in emergencies, like a hurricane. In my opinion, the mayor overstepped herself in this case, Salem said.

Fackler advised that if any changes to the mayors power sought by Council require amending the city charter, the changes must be approved by a majority vote in a referendum. He said he will work with Salem to craft the proposed legislation.

Deegan is the second Jacksonville mayor to act to remove Confederate statues.

In June 2020, former Republican Mayor Lenny Curry committed to remove all the citys Confederate monuments and city crews worked overnight to remove a statue of a Confederate infantryman in Hemming Park south of City Hall.

In August 2020, the Council voted to change the name of the park in honor of writer and civil rights activist James Weldon Johnson.

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Council to consider limiting powers of the mayor after removal of Confederate statue | Jax Daily Record - Jacksonville Daily Record