Drinking plain water could help reduce diabetes risk

A new study has claimed that women who drink plain water rather than fizzy drinks or fruit juice could be helping to avoid type 2 diabetes.
The research, carried out at Harvard School of Public Health and reported in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, monitored over 80,000 women about their health and diet over the course of 12 years. Around 2,700 of the women developed diabetes during this time, but how much they drank did not seem to have an effect on their risk of developing diabetes, as women who drank over six cups of water each day were at the same risk as those who drank less than one cup.
But the women who drank sweetened drinks or fruit juice were linked to a greater chance of diabetes, around 10 per cent higher for every cup drank per day. It was estimated that by replacing one cup of fizzy drink or fruit juice with a cup of plain water would mean a reduction in diabetes risk of about seven or eight per cent.
It was also shown that adding water to sweet drinks will not have any effect, but that replacing sweet drinks with water could help prevent the onset of the metabolic condition.
Senior author on the study. Frank Hu, said “Because diabetes is so prevalent in our society, even seven or eight percent reduction in diabetes risk is quite substantial in terms of the population.”