Sugary drinks like soda and juices have been a public health enemy for years, but new research suggests that these sugar-sweetened drinks do more than just provide empty calories: they can kill you.
That’s the main conclusion of a new study published Jan. 6 in the journal Naturopathy. For the study, researchers from the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University analyzed data from the Global Dietary Database (GDD), a comprehensive overview of the world’s eating habits. The researchers focused on data from 1990 to 2020 and examined findings from 450 additional studies involving 2.9 million individuals from 118 countries.
Unfortunately for sugary drink lovers, the results reveal trends. The study found that sugar-sweetened beverages were linked to an estimated 2.2 million cases of type 2 diabetes and 1.2 million cases of cardiovascular disease worldwide in 2020 alone. In addition, a link was found between sugary drinks and 340,000 deaths in 2020 due to type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
Sugary drinks “cause more than 330,000 deaths annually from diabetes and cardiovascular disease,” the study’s senior author Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian, a cardiologist and director of the Food is Medicine Institute at Tufts University, told CNN.
The findings raise many questions about the link between sugary drinks, diabetes and heart disease. This is what a cardiologist and endocrinologist wants people to know.
The link between sugary drinks, diabetes and heart disease explained
Although the findings are shocking, they are not surprising to doctors who treat these conditions. “Sugar-sweetened beverages are known to significantly increase a person’s risk of developing diabetes and heart disease,” says Cheng-Han Chen, MD, interventional cardiologist and medical director of the Structural Heart Program at MemorialCare Saddleback Medical Center in Laguna Hills. California.
But there are a few things behind this connection, according to Christoph Buettner, MD, PhD, chief of the division of endocrinology at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. “Sugary drinks contain a lot of added sugar, which leads to rapid spikes in blood sugar levels,” he says. (Added sugars are sugars added to foods and drinks during processing.)
Those rapid spikes in blood sugar levels “are likely to be detrimental to health because they can cause inflammation and insulin resistance, a hallmark of type 2 diabetes,” he says.
Over time, having a lot of sugar can lead to weight gain, especially belly fat, which is “strongly associated” with diabetes and cardiovascular disease, he says. Sugar can also increase blood fat levels, lower HDL (“good”) cholesterol and cause body inflammation — all of which can increase the chance of developing heart disease, he says.
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Buettner says the amount of sugary drinks you drink, how often you drink them and the chemical composition of the drinks likely all play a role in increasing the risk of type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. “The amount of sugar you ingest is a direct function of the concentration of sugar in the drink and subsequently the volume of the drink you swallow,” he explains. “The chemical composition, including high fructose corn syrup or other added sugars, may be even worse than ‘regular’ sugar and worsen metabolic effects by promoting fat accumulation in the liver.”
Sugary drinks also don’t contain fiber, protein or other nutrients that help regulate blood sugar levels, he says. This means they are absorbed quickly and can lead to more blood sugar spikes. “In addition, many sugary drinks contain additives, artificial flavors and high doses of caffeine, which can also have health consequences such as increasing dehydration or masking fatigue, leading to overconsumption,” says Buettner.
How much sugar should you have per day?
It is important to emphasize this: your body does not need added sugars to function properly. However, it does need glucose, a sugar molecule, for energy. Your body typically gets glucose from the breakdown of carbohydrates, although it can also get glucose from protein and fat. Yet added sugars are common. That is why it is important to know how much sugar you consume every day.
The Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommend that people limit added sugars to less than 10% of their total daily calories. That means you shouldn’t get more than 200 calories per day from added sugar on a 2,000-calorie diet, which translates to about 12 teaspoons.
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But the American Heart Association (AHA) has stricter guidelines, suggesting that added sugars make up no more than 6% of your daily calories. (That’s about six teaspoons of sugar per day for most women and nine teaspoons for most men.)
It’s important to point out that you won’t fall over if you drink a sugar-sweetened beverage every now and then; this just shouldn’t be normal for you. “Moderation is key,” says Buettner.
But Buettner recommends avoiding sugar-sweetened drinks as much as possible. “Choose healthier alternatives such as water, herbal teas or drinks without added sugar,” he says. “If you’re craving something sweet, consider eating fruit, naturally flavored water, or fresh fruit drinks.”
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