Sugary drinks like soda and energy drinks are designed to be super appetizingloaded with extravagant amounts of sweeteners to stimulate the pleasure centers in the brain.
This initial pleasure, however, hides a hidden danger. Sugary drinks generally offer little nutritional value, and research shows that their habitual consumption may increase the risk of health problems such as tooth decay, obesitytype 2 diabetesAnd heart disease.
In fact, according to a new study led by researchers at Tufts University in the United States, approximately 1.2 million new cases of cardiovascular disease and 2.2 million new cases of type 2 diabetes develop each year in the world because of the consumption of sugary drinks.
And even though overall consumption of sugary drinks has declined recently in some developed countries, the study authors note that soda and its derivatives remain a significant threat to public health in much of the world, particularly in countries in development.
“Sugary drinks are widely marketed and sold in low- and middle-income countries,” said lead author Dariush Mozaffarian, a cardiologist and public health scientist at Tufts University.
“Not only are these communities consuming harmful products, but they are also often less equipped to deal with the long-term consequences on their health.”
The problem is particularly serious in some countries. For example, the study links nearly a third of all new diabetes cases in Mexico to sugary drinks, as well as nearly half of all new diabetes cases in Colombia.
In South Africa, about 28 percent of new cases of diabetes and 15 percent of new cases of heart disease can be attributed to sugary drinks, the researchers report.
The study focuses on sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs), which the authors define as any beverage that contains added sugars and contains at least 50 kilocalories per 8-ounce serving. This includes commercial or homemade soft drinks, energy drinks, fruit drinks, punch, lemonade and agua frescas.
This definition excludes drinks like sweetened milk, 100 percent fruit and vegetable juices, and non-calorie drinks. artificially sweetened drinksthe researchers note, although many may still pose health risks if consumed in excess.
The researchers obtained data on beverage consumption from the World Dietary Database, including 450 surveys containing data on sugary beverage consumption, representing a total of 2.9 million people in 118 countries.
To shed light on the links between sugary drinks and disease, they integrated these data and cardiometabolic disease rates into a comparative risk assessment, informed by previous research on the physiological effects of sugary drinks.
Globally, this implies that sugary drinks are a contributing factor to 1.2 million new cases of heart disease each year as well as 2.2 million new cases of type 2 diabetes.
The study also suggests that sugary drinks are responsible for approximately 80,000 deaths from type 2 diabetes and 258,000 deaths from cardiovascular disease each year.
It’s a devastating toll, but highlighting the role of sugary drinks like this can help reverse the trend, says first author and nutrition scientist Laura Lara-Castor, a former Ph.D. student at Tufts and now at the University of Washington.
“We need urgent, evidence-based interventions to reduce consumption of sugary drinks globally, before more lives are shortened by their effects on diabetes and heart disease,” said Lara -Beaver. said.
Our bodies digest sugary drinks quickly, researchers note, raising our blood sugar levels while providing, at best, meager nutritional value.
Drinking too many of these drinks too often can lead to weight gain and insulin resistance, they note, as well as various metabolic problems linked to type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
Public awareness of these risks may be increasing, but not quickly or universally enough, researchers say.
“There is still much to be done, especially in Latin American and African countries where consumption is high and health consequences are serious,” Mozaffarian said. said. “As a species, we need to address the consumption of sugary drinks.”
The study was published in Natural medicine.