Sugary drinks behind 8,000 diabetes cases a year

SUGARY drinks could be causing nearly 8,000 cases of type 2 diabetes a year, according to research.

A study led by the University of Cambridge found sugar-sweetened beverages could give rise to 1.8 million cases over 10 years in the United States and 79,000 in the UK.

Academics analysed studies carried out in both countries and found sugared drinks were consumed by 54.4 per cent and 49.4 per cent of people in each country respectively.

They concluded that regular consumption may be linked to between 2 and 6 per cent of type 2 diabetes cases in the UK and 4 and 13 per cent in the US.

This was independent of individuals’ obesity status.

The drinks were defined as any sugar-sweetened beverages.

Artificially sweetened beverages included low-caloric soft drinks, while fruit juice was defined as 100 per cent fruit juice, or fruit juice assessed separately from fruit drinks.

Although artificially sweetened beverages and fruit juice also showed positive associations with incidence of the disease, researchers said these findings were likely to involve bias.

However, they added that both artificially sweetened beverages and fruit juice were unlikely to be healthy alternatives to sugar-sweetened beverages for the prevention of type 2 diabetes.

They said previous studies had found obese individuals tend to consume more sugar-sweetened and artificially sweetened beverages and less fruit juice than leaner people.

The study, published in the BMJ, said: “Although more research needs to be carried out, potential health gains may be achieved by reducing the consumption of sugar-sweetened drinks,” they wrote.

Meanwhile, a second study published in the BMJ found that a low birth weight combined with an unhealthy lifestyle in adulthood are jointly related to an increased risk of type 2 diabetes.

A team led by Harvard School of Public Health in the US tracked 150,000 men and women for 20 to 30 years, looking at five lifestyle factors – diet, smoking, physical activity, alcohol consumption, and body mass index (BMI).

Nearly 12,000 new cases of type 2 diabetes were found, with consistent associations found between low birth weight and unhealthy lifestyle.