Sugary drinks raise diabetes, heart disease risk--study

Researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, found that sweetened soft drinks, sports, and fruit cocktails result in an increased diabetes risk as they do not contain wholesome fruit and account for 120 to 200 calories on an average, therefore, leading to a growing obesity rate.

Lead researcher, Dr. Litsa Lambrakos, University of California, said, “We can demonstrate an association between daily consumption of sugared beverages and diabetes risk. We can then translate this information into estimates of the current diabetes and cardiovascular disease that can be attributed to the rise in consumption of these drinks.”

Florence Brown, of Diabetes UK, said, “This study adds to the wealth of research around the health risks associated with long-term consumption of high-calorie, high-sugar drinks.”

Details of the study
The research team evaluated the data between 1990 and 2000 to mark the intake of sugar-sweetened drinks and its effects on adults, aged 35 and over.

After assessing the records, they found that increased rate of heart diseases was attributable to increased diabetes occurrences.

It was also found that during the past decade, there were 130,000 fresh diabetes cases, 14,000 new cases of coronary heart diseases (CHD), and 50,000 life-years vulnerable with CHD in the U.S., all owing to consumption of sugared drinks.

The study also revealed that the sugar-sweetened beverages account for about 6,000 surplus deaths and 21,000 life-years gone waste.

Senior author, Dr. Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, associate professor of medicine, University of California said, “Whatever the mechanism, large population studies do suggest an effect of drinking lots of sweetened beverages.”

Health tax on soft drinks
Researchers, therefore, emphasized on health tax on soft drinks, so that the rising costs of CHD and diabetes treatment could be paid for.

“Curbing the consumption of sugared drinks through an excise tax of one cent per ounce of beverage, which would be expected to decrease consumption by 10 per cent,” suggested health experts.

“If such a tax could curb the consumption of these drinks, the health benefits could be dramatic,” said Dr. Bibbins-Domingo.

The study was presented at the American Heart Association’s conference.