Diet drinks pose greater liver disease risk than sugary alternatives, study finds

For generations, the diet drink has been offered as a concession to modernity — all the pleasure of sweetness, none of the cost. A decade-long study of more than 123,000 British adults, presented in Berlin, now quietly dismantles that bargain: artificially sweetened beverages raise the risk of metabolic liver disease by 60 percent, outpacing even sugary drinks at 50 percent. The finding is less a condemnation of any single ingredient than a reminder that the body keeps its own accounts — and that water, unremarkable as it is, remains the only drink that asks nothing in return.