Do you find yourself reaching for diet sodas to save a few calories? Recent research has found that diet sodas, like regular, can increase a person’s risk for metabolic syndrome—a little-known condition that can increase your risk of heart disease, stroke and diabetes. Symptoms can include high blood pressure, excess body fat around the waist and decreased HDL (“good”) cholesterol. The study found that consuming even one soda a day, diet or regular, raised a person’s risk for metabolic syndrome by 50 percent.