Want Type 2 Diabetes? Drink More Soda!

Fanta — “Sugarland aka Supermarket” by Vox Efx licensed under CC BY 2.0

You like soda? Me too! You like diabetes? I didn’t think so! Well if soda is part of your regular diet, then you’re headed for the land of high blood sugars, insulin resistance, obesity, and a whole range of detrimental health issues. In fact, a recent study published by the British Medical Journal (BMJ) estimates that the consumption of sugary sweetened drinks may be responsible for nearly two million cases of diabetes over a period of ten years in the United States, and 80,000 in the United Kingdom.

This study was performed at the University of Cambridge under the Medical Research Council (MRC) Epidemiology Unit with the aid of an international team of researchers. The study assessed whether the chronic consumption of drinks sweetened by sugar whether artificial (high fructose corn syrup) or natural (juice) had any association with the prevalence of type 2 diabetes (T2D), as well as to estimate whether the 10-year risk was attributed to the consumption of sugary drinks in the US and UK.

Seventeen different observation studies took place and the researches found that the habitual consumption of drinks sweetened by sugar had a positive association with the frequency of T2D, excluding the status of obesity.

There was less evidence regarding an association between artificially sweetened drinks and fruit juices with T2D, but researches found little benefit for the consumption of these types of drinks as a substitution, concluding that these these drinks are unlikely to serve as a healthy alternative for preventing T2D.

One point of emphasis that the researchers stressed however was that the studies analyzed were onlyu observational, thus no definitive conclusions could be made between the cause and effect relationship. Although only observational, the researchers assumed a small correlation and estimated that new diagnosis of T2D events in the US to be two million and 80,000 in the UK from 2010 to 2020.
The study was lead by Dr. Fumiaki Imamura who was the lead author; he stated that the

“…findings together indicate that substituting sugar sweetened drinks with artificially sweetened drinks or fruit juice is unlikely to be the best strategy in reducing the risk of developing type 2 diabetes: water or other unsweetened beverages are better options.”

There have been multiple studies done regarding the link between high calorie beverages loaded with sugars; this is just another one to add to the list. By having self control and limiting what goes into our bodies, we have better control of our health and well being.

The complete study can be found here.