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 Previous research has linked high consumption of sugary beverages
with several risk factors for heart failure, including high blood
pressure, high blood sugar, weight gain, diabetes and obesity, said
study leader Susanna Larsson of the Karolinska Institute in
Stockholm.
To confirm the relationship between heart failure and sweetened
beverages, Larsson and colleagues followed a group of about 42,000
men for an average of almost 12 years. To assess drinking habits,
they asked the men how many soft drinks or sweetened juices they
drank per day or per week.
Over the course of the study, there were about 3,600 new cases of
heart failure.
Men who had more than two sweetened drinks a day had a 23 percent
greater risk of developing heart failure during the study than men
who didn’t consume these drinks.
The study can’t prove that sugary drinks cause heart failure. Still,
Larsson said by email, “The take-home message is that people who
regularly drink sweetened beverages should consider reducing their
consumption.”
Even though the study was done in men, women should also be wary of
sugary drinks, Larsson added. “Sweetened beverage consumption has
been associated with blood pressure, insulin concentration, weight
gain, obesity and type 2 diabetes also in women,” Larsson noted.
More than 23 million people worldwide have heart failure, which
happens when the heart isn’t strong enough to pump enough blood and
oxygen through the body. The prevalence of the condition is rising
due at least in part to consumption of sodas and other sweetened
beverages, Larsson and colleagues note in the journal Heart.
In the current study, roughly half the men denied drinking any sodas
or sweetened juices, while slightly more than one in six said they
consumed less than half a serving per day. Only about one in seven
men admitted to at least a twice-daily habit.
Men who drank the most sodas and sweetened beverages were less
likely to be university educated, slightly more likely to drink at
least three cups of coffee a day, and typically consumed fewer
servings of vegetables.
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One shortcoming of the study is its reliance on men to accurately
recall and report their drinking habits, the authors acknowledge.
The researchers also lacked data to distinguish between sugar and
artificial sweeteners.
It’s also possible that other factors not measured in the study,
such as physical activity or dietary habits, might have influenced
whether the men developed heart failure, Miguel Martinez-Gonzalez
and Miguel Ruiz-Canela of the University of Navarra in Spain wrote
in an accompanying editorial.
Even so, the findings add to a growing body of evidence linking
sodas and other sweetened beverages to heart disease, they wrote.
“Sweetened beverages lead to weight gain and obesity and this leads
to diabetes and heart failure,” Martinez-Gonzalez told Reuters
Health by email. “The take home message is to drink water instead of
sweetened beverages.”
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/1KWjlWp Heart, online November 2, 2015.
(This story has been corrected to fix spelling of "Larsson" in para
6.)
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