Soft drinks can increase risk of diabetes, says report

New research has revealed a link between the consumption of sugary soft drinks and an increased risk of type 2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome . The study, by scientists at the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH), found that regularly drinking sugar-sweetened beverages is associated with a higher chance of both conditions.
The study, published in the journal Diabetes Care, shows that the amount of sugar-laden soft drinks consumed should be limited to lower the risk of these conditions. Metabolic syndrome is a cluster of risk factors, including high blood pressure and excess body fat around the waist, which increases the risk of diabetes, coronary artery disease and stroke .
The researchers combined 11 different studies that examined the association between sugar-sweetened beverages and those conditions, involving over 300,000 participants and 15,043 cases of type 2 diabetes and 19,431 participants and 5,803 cases of metabolic syndrome. It was shown that drinking a couple of soft drinks every day heightened the risk of type 2 diabetes by 26 per cent and the risk of metabolic syndrome by 20 per cent compared with people who drank less than one sugary drink per month.
Senior author Frank Hu, commented “The association that we observed between soda consumption and risk of diabetes is likely a cause-and-effect relationship because other studies have documented that sugary beverages cause weight gain, and weight gain is closely linked to the development of type 2 diabetes.”
He added “People should limit how much sugar-sweetened beverages they drink and replace them with healthy alternatives, such as water, to reduce risk of diabetes as well as obesity, gout, tooth decay, and cardiovascular disease .”