
Just two sugary drinks per week may raise type 2 diabetes risk
New research — appearing in the Journal of the Endocrine Society — examined 36 existing studies published in the past 10 years to look at the possible effects of sugary drinks on cardiometabolic health.
The World Health Organization (WHO) report that at least 19 million yearly deaths are from cardiometabolic disorders – an umbrella term for cardiovascular disease and conditions such as metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes.
In the United States, a study from 2012 reports that in that year, 702,308 people died from a cardiometabolic disorder, and dietary factors such as food and beverages seemed to raise the risk of cardiometabolic mortality.
Another recent study suggested that two soda drinks every day makes consumers 2.4 times more likely to develop diabetes, regardless of whether these beverages contain sugar or not.
However, as the authors of the new research explain, the results of such studies have been deemed "controversial."
So, in the new review, the researchers — led by M. Faadiel Essop, Ph.D., of Stellenbosch University in Stellenbosch, South Africa — decided to investigate overall trends in the findings of 36 studies, spanning over a decade.
The harms of sugary drinks
Essop and colleagues included clinical trials, both controlled and randomized, as well as observational studies in their analysis.
The studies were from the last decade, ending as recently as September 2017, and predominantly examined participants who consumed over five sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) a week – or the equivalent of less than one such drink a day.
Although some of these
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