Kick Your Diet Soda Habit

Hi, I'm Dr. RaJ. Here's one of my top tips to grow younger by watching what you drink. If you're trying lose weight, drinking diet soda might seem like a smart way to save calories, but a new study finds that guzzling diet soft drinks may increase your risk of developing metabolic syndrome. That's bad news, because metabolic syndrome doubles your risks of a heart attack or stroke.

It also contributes to two types of diabetes, heart disease, asthma even some forms of cancer, but there's the catch. Diet soda drinkers who eat lots of fruits and vegetables, whole grains, nuts and seeds are 14% less likely to develop metabolism syndrome, they're folks who just wash down junk food with diet soft drinks. So if you love your soda make sure the rest of your diet is healthy to make up for it. Even better trade that diet soda for an iced tea or coffee, both are loaded with hard healthy anti oxidants that help prevent metabolic syndrome.

That's how to get healthier with me Dr. Oz, watch more of Health Smarts right here.