About a month ago, I read some disturbing studies and blogs on soda. I've come across phrases like 'cancer in a can', 'cola doubles the risk for chronic kidney disease', 'osteoporosis in a can'. So I stopped drinking it. I think a rogue soda slipped down my throat during a weak moment, but since then, nada one has touched my lips. I must say, it's been difficult. The Diet Cherry Cokes stockpiled in family and neighbors' fridges beckon to me -- "here we are, feel our fizz, get a jump from our caffeine!" My new vice is iced decaf Americano at Starbucks with room for cream. Yeah, I know, more fattening.

Now a new study finds an intriguing link between drinking one or more sodas a day (diet or regular) and metabolic syndrome, a cluster of symptoms which increase the risk for heart disease -- large waistlines, higher blood pressures, blood sugars, cholesterol and triglycerides. Yup, you heard right. Diet soda.

This is no small study, the research comes from a 9,000-person, multigenerational heart study observing residents of Framingham, Massachusetts. Results were published on-line in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association. The Framingham Heart Study has been generating data since 1948.

At the start of the study, one or more a day soda drinkers had a 48 percent increased prevalence of metabolic syndrome compared to those who drank less soda. Furthermore, time was not kind for daily soda drinkers initially showing no signs of metabolic syndrome. They realized a 44 percent higher risk of developing it four years later.