"10% of Diabetes Cases Are Due to Sweetened Beverages"

Research by University of Washington and Tufts University
1 in 10 Diabetes Cases Linked to Sugar-Sweetened Beverages
1.2 Million New Cardiovascular Disease Cases Annually

A study has found that sugary beverages such as carbonated drinks and fruit juice drinks cause 2.2 million new cases of type 2 diabetes and 1.2 million new cases of cardiovascular disease worldwide each year. Pixabay

A study has found that the annual new cases of type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular diseases caused by sugar-sweetened beverages such as carbonated drinks and fruit juices reach 2.2 million and 1.2 million worldwide, respectively.

On the 7th, Professor Laura Lara-Caster from the University of Washington and Professor Dariush Mozaffarian from Tufts University announced in the medical journal Nature Medicine that they analyzed the burden of type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular diseases caused by sugar-sweetened beverages in 184 countries worldwide and obtained these results.

The research team stated, "This means that about 1 in 10 new cases of type 2 diabetes and 1 in 30 new cases of cardiovascular disease are caused by sugar-sweetened beverages," and emphasized, "Urgent interventions are needed globally to curb the consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages."

Sweetened beverages are rapidly digested, causing a sharp rise in blood sugar levels with almost no nutritional value, and long-term regular consumption can lead to various metabolic problems such as weight gain, insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases. However, the research team pointed out that "there has been no study that quantitatively clarifies the global health impact of sugar-sweetened beverages."

The research team integrated data on sugar-sweetened beverage consumption based on individual-level surveys and the incidence rates of obesity and diabetes to estimate the burden of type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular diseases caused by sugar-sweetened beverages in 184 countries between 1990 and 2020. As a result, it was analyzed that in 2020, 2.2 million cases of type 2 diabetes and 1.2 million cases of cardiovascular diseases worldwide were caused by sugar-sweetened beverage consumption. This corresponds to 9.8% of all new type 2 diabetes cases and 3.1% of cardiovascular diseases.

The burden of type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular diseases caused by sugar-sweetened beverage consumption was found to have increased significantly, especially in developing countries such as Sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean. In Sub-Saharan Africa, sugar-sweetened beverage consumption accounted for more than 21% of all new diabetes cases, and in Latin America and the Caribbean, over 24% of new diabetes cases and more than 11% of cardiovascular diseases were attributed to sugar-sweetened beverages.

By country, diabetes caused by sugar-sweetened beverages accounted for 48.1%, 30.0%, and 27.6% of the total in Colombia, Mexico, and South Africa, respectively, indicating a significant impact from sugar-sweetened beverages. The research team explained that the sharp increase in the burden of type 2 diabetes and cardiometabolic diseases caused by sugar-sweetened beverage consumption in developing countries appears to be due to more people adopting Westernized dietary patterns.

Professor Dariush Mozaffarian, one of the study authors, said, "Sugar-sweetened beverages are widely consumed in low- and middle-income countries, but these countries are not prepared to cope with the long-term health impacts of such beverages," and added, "More efforts are needed to curb sugar-sweetened beverage consumption, especially in Latin American and African countries."