Leave Cola's, Cut Diabetes
Researchers determined for each 5% increase in consumption of cola drinks (also known as soft drinks) or other sugary drinks, the risk of developing Type 2 diabetes spiked 18%.
The researchers gathered data from a cohort study of more than 25,000 men and women, aged 40-79, from Norfolk (UK). They logged everything they ate and drank for a week straight and in a followup 11 years later, 847 of them were newly diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes.
Moreover, replacing just one cola filled glass a day with water, black tea or coffee can cut the risk of getting Type 2 diabetes by 14% and by replacing a serving of sweetened milk beverage with water or unsweetened tea or coffee, that reduction could have been 20-25 %.
Researchers found that there was an approximately 22 % increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes per extra serving per day habitually of each of cola drinks, sweetened milk beverages and artificially sweetened beverages (ASB) consumed, but that consumption of fruit juice and sweetened tea or coffee was not related to diabetes.
After further accounting for body mass index and waist girth as markers of obesity, there remained a higher risk of diabetes associated with consumption of both soft drinks and sweetened milk drinks, but the link with ASB consumption no longer remained, likely explained by the greater consumption of ASB by those who were already overweight or obese.
Consuming ASB instead of any sugar-sweetened drink was not associated with a statistically significant reduction in type 2 diabetes, when accounting for baseline obesity and total energy intake. Finally, they found that each 5 % of higher intake of energy (as a proportion of total daily energy intake) from total sweet beverages (soft drinks, sweetened tea or coffee, sweetened milk beverages, fruit juice) was associated with a 18 % higher risk of diabetes.
Article Citation: Romaguera, D.; et. al. The InterAct consortium Consumption of sweet beverages and type 2 diabetes incidence in European adults: results from EPIC-InterAct. Diabetologia 2013, 56(7), 1520-1530.
