It’s not news that sugary drinks are unhealthy, but a study has linked them to diabetes and heart disease.
A few years ago, sugary soft drinks took the world by storm. Thanks to their taste and marketing strategies, soft drinks have become a global image. Gradually, we have become more aware of the health risks of overconsumption and in some European countries a soft drinks tax has been introduced. This has led in some cases to a reduction in the consumption of free sugars.
However, a new study has shown that consumption is still very high in many countries. So much so that there is a worrying link between regular consumption of these drinks and millions of new cases of type 2 diabetes each year.
The sugar pandemic. This was prompted by a study carried out by Tufts University in the United States. After reviewing beverage consumption data from the Global Nutrition Database, a database of more than 450 studies with information on sugar-sweetened beverage consumption, and a sample of 2.9 million people from 184 countries, they came up with some alarming figures.
According to the study, sugary drinks are linked to around 1.2 million new cases of cardiovascular disease and 2.2 million new cases of type 2 diabetes. This is surprising, given how normalised and integrated these beverages are into all societies, every year and all over the world.
The reasons for this. It is not news that sugary drinks are linked to type 2 diabetes, obesity and other disorders, but the reason for this is that they are a fast-digesting food that causes sudden spikes in blood glucose levels, but does not provide essential nutrients. They are empty calories, like beer, but they contain much more sugars.
This process of absorption, when repeated, contributes to weight gain and, more importantly, to insulin resistance, leading to the metabolic problems associated with the aforementioned diabetes or cardiovascular disease. Many cases, but what does this mean? According to the study, 80 000 deaths per year from type 2 diabetes and 258 000 deaths per year from cardiovascular disease associated with soft drinks.
In Latin America and Africa. In countries that have made efforts in recent years to promote healthier diets and lifestyles, and as a result of the taxes we mentioned a few lines ago, sugar consumption has fallen, but this is not the case worldwide. In fact, in the study, the researchers focused on two areas: Latin America and Africa.
In Mexico, regular consumption of these beverages is associated with almost a third of new cases of diabetes, according to the data. In Colombia, the figure rises to almost half. And in South Africa, they are responsible for around 28% of new cases of diabetes and 15% of new cases of cardiovascular disease.
They found a simple explanation: in countries and communities with lower average incomes, poorer access to information, and more limited preventive health care, the number of cases increases.
Not all. But which drinks are we talking about? The study focused on data on sugary drinks with added sugar and at least 50 kilocalories per 240 millilitres of product. This includes soft drinks, energy drinks, fruit juices with added sugar, punch and even flavoured water with added sugar.
Milk (which also contains sugar), 100% natural juices with no additives and zero-calorie products, i.e. sweetened drinks with no added sugar, are excluded from the focus. However, these beverages may be the subject of further research, as researchers point out that although they do not contain added sugars and are naturally free of them, excessive consumption may also have negative health effects.
Solutions. Laura Lara-Castor, lead author of the study, argues that “there is an urgent need for evidence-based interventions to reduce the consumption of sugary drinks around the world, before their effects lead to more lives being cut short”. Another author of the study, Dariush Mozaffarian, believes that much more attention should be paid to Latin American and African countries in particular.
D. Mozaffarian believes that this is a real epidemic and believes that “as a species, we need to address the problem of sugar-sweetened beverage consumption. However, as almost everywhere else, the study highlights the high and persistent consumption of sugary drinks, because under normal circumstances, the occasional (unhealthy) soft drink is a pleasure we can afford.
Finally, the study wants to focus on collective rather than individual responsibility, involving governments and health systems. And perhaps the most complex: the industry that produces such drinks.
