Some foods just pair best with an ice-cold soda (we're looking at you, pizza), but that doesn’t mean the sugar-sweetened beverage should be enjoyed regularly. The same goes for energy drinks, aguas frescas, artificial fruit drinks, and lemonade, all of which have a high sugar content that can result in serious health effects, including type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. And now, researchers are shedding light on the harmful—and potentially fatal—consequences or "burdens" of sugar-sweetened beverages.
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Sugar-sweetened beverages increase the risk of diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
A new study published in the journal Nature Medicine found that sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs), such as soda and lemonade, were globally responsible for 2.2 million new type 2 diabetes cases and 1.2 million new cardiovascular disease cases in 2020. Furthermore, the authors estimate that 340,000 people died in 2020 from sugary drink-related diabetes and heart disease.
"This is a public health crisis, requiring urgent action," lead author Dariush Mozaffarian, MD, cardiologist and director of Tufts University’s Food is Medicine Institute, told CNN. "It’s time to pay attention to, and take priority actions to deal with, this tragic preventable suffering."
Researchers analyzed 30 years’ worth of data from the Global Dietary Database, including 450 surveys on sugar-sweetened beverages. For their study, sugar-sweetened beverages were defined "as any beverage with added sugars and more than 50 kcal per 8-ounce serving." This included soda, energy drinks, fruit drinks, punch, lemonade, and aguas frescas; it didn’t include 100 percent fruit and vegetable juices, noncaloric artificially sweetened drinks, and sweetened milk.
Because they sought to compare health risk analysis by nation, representation was imperative to the study’s success. Nearly 3 million individuals from 118 countries were represented in those surveys. Geography aside, the authors also compared sugar-sweetened attributable health issues by age, sex, education status, and urbanicity.
So, what did they conclude? Sugary drink-related burdens (i.e., diabetes and heart disease) were higher among men than women, higher among younger versus older adults, and higher among those with higher education. By region, Latin America, the Caribbean, and sub-Saharan Africa ranked in the top three.
High doses of "rapidly digested glucose" were linked to weight gain and insulin resistance.
Heavy consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages can result in type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease, the study says.
"Due to their liquid form, SSBs are rapidly consumed and digested, resulting in lower satiety, higher caloric intake and weight gain. High doses of rapidly digested glucose also activate insulin and other regulatory pathways, which can result in visceral fat production, hepatic and skeletal muscle insulin resistance and weight gain," explain the authors.
Cardiovascular disease can cause heart attack, stroke, heart failure, cardiac arrest, and arrhythmias. When these health issues are ignored or exacerbated, death may occur. Similarly, type 2 diabetes can prompt other heart conditions, including heart disease.
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The takeaway.
Limiting your consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages can lower your risk of developing type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. If you’re a daily soda drinker, try upping your water intake and switching to a low-calorie sweetener. However, alternative sweeteners should be used as a means to quit, not a crutch.
"Growing research shows that both natural and artificial low-calorie sweeteners are not innocuous and may cause health harms, so these should be considered a short-term, less harmful alternative, not a long-term solution," Mozaffarian told CNN.
