Cohort studyindependent cross-checkabstract checked★ key study I-SOD-104 in-depth review

No dementia link for diet drinks in older adults

Sweetened Beverages and Incident All-Cause Dementia Among Older Adults.

Overview

Chen H et al.. JAMA Psychiatry 2025 · PMID 40531522 · DOI 10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2025.1230

Across six US cohorts with about 11,000 older adults, diet drinks were not linked to dementia (HR 1.00).

Does the study support the specific claim? No · Methodological quality: high

Study explained simply

What did the researchers want to find out?: Test whether sweetened drinks predict dementia in older adults.
How was the study done?: Pooled six long-term cohorts.
How many people, animals or samples were studied?: 10,974 adults aged 65+; 2445 dementia cases.
What was actually found?: No association for sugary or diet drinks.
How large was the observed effect?: ASB >=1/day HR 1.00 (0.83-1.21).
What do the results mean in everyday life?: Fear of tripled dementia risk from diet soda is not supported.
What are the study's limitations?: Late-life intake only.
What does it say about Elawady's specific claim?: Contradicts the claim.
Do the results apply to Germany and Europe?: Applicable.
What can explicitly not be concluded from this study?: Cannot exclude effects of drinking diet soda in midlife.

Is SSB or ASB intake associated with all-cause dementia in older adults?

Study design: Cohort study – Multicohort prospective analysis of six US cohorts with pooled Cox models
Population: US adults aged >=65 (HRS, ARIC, CHAP, MAP, Framingham original and offspring)
Country: USA
Period: Baselines 1986-2013
Sample size: 10,974; 2445 incident dementia cases; 116,067 person-years
Inclusion and exclusion criteria: Aged >=65, dementia-free at baseline; dementia ascertained >=2 years after baseline

Results: Per serving/week: SSB HR 0.99 (0.98-1.01; I2 0%); ASB HR 1.00 (0.99-1.01; I2 1%). Highest (>=1/day) vs lowest: SSB HR 0.90 (0.78-1.03); ASB HR 1.00 (0.83-1.21). Positive control: Mediterranean diet HR 0.92 per 5 units.
Absolute risks: not reported in abstract
Authors' conclusion: Late-life consumption of SSB or ASB was not associated with dementia risk.

Weight of evidence ~23 times that of Pase's AD estimate (stats/C-SOD-06_stroke_dementia.py); the 'nearly triple' dementia estimate is not reproduced.

Directly contradicts the 'nearly triples dementia' part of C-SOD-06.

Jouni 2025 meta-analysis (I-SOD-105) reported ASB-AD RR 1.42.

Applicable to older adults.

Large, precise null result for dementia in older adults.

Multidimensional assessment
Multidimensional assessment
Authenticity of the source	verified
Methodological quality	high
Risk of bias	some concerns
Precision of results	high
Directness	direct
Reproducibility	partly replicated
Consistency with the overall evidence	mixed
Regional transferability	high
Adequacy of the interpretation (by the archive)	not applicable

Midlife exposure; Alzheimer-specific outcomes.