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 Previous studies on the link between diet sodas and diabetes have
been mixed; some research pointing to a potential connection has
suggested this relationship may be explained at least in part by
soda drinkers being overweight or obese.
In the current study, however, adults who routinely consumed at
least one can of soda or other sugar-sweetened beverages a day were
46 percent more likely to develop elevated blood sugar levels than
people who rarely or never drink cola.
“Emphasis should be placed on substituting sugar-sweetened beverages
with water, unsweetened teas, or coffee,” said senior study author
Nicola McKeown, a nutrition researcher at Tufts University in
Boston.
“For daily consumers of sugary drinks, kicking the habit may be a
difficult challenge, and incorporating an occasional diet soda,
while increasing fluids from other sources, may be the best strategy
to ultimately remove sugar-sweetened beverages from the diet,”
McKeown added by email.
Globally, about one in nine adults have diabetes, and the disease
will be the seventh leading cause of death by 2030, according to the
World Health Organization.
Most of these people have Type 2, or adult-onset, diabetes, which
happens when the body can't properly use or make enough of the
hormone insulin to convert blood sugar into energy. People with
blood sugar levels that are slightly elevated, but not high enough
for a diabetes diagnosis, are sometimes described as having
“pre-diabetes” because many will go on to develop diabetes.
In the current study, researchers examined data collected on 1,685
middle-aged adults over about 14 years.
At the start of the study, none of the participants had diabetes or
pre-diabetes.
They were 52 years old on average and typically overweight.
Participants completed questionnaires detailing what they ate and
drank during the study period.
Sugar-sweetened beverages were defined as colas and other carbonated
beverages, as well as drinks such as lemonade and fruit punch. This
didn’t include fruit juice.
People who drank the most sodas – typically around six 12-ounce cans
a week – had a much greater risk of developing elevated blood sugar
levels than other participants after adjusting for factors such as
age, gender and weight, researchers report in the Journal of
Nutrition.
Higher consumption of soda and other sugar-sweetened beverages was
also associated with insulin resistance, a reduced ability to
respond to the hormone insulin that is another risk factor for
developing diabetes.
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Even after accounting for changes in weight and other aspects of
diet, the relationships between sugar-sweetened beverages and these
metabolic risk factors for diabetes persisted.
Diet soda intake—defined as low-calorie cola or other carbonated
low-calorie beverages— was not associated with elevated blood sugar
or insulin resistance.
The study doesn’t prove soda or sugary drinks cause diabetes.
Another limitation of the study is that participants may not be
representative of a typical U.S. adult, the authors note. People in
the study were mostly white, middle aged and more likely to be
women. They also tended not to be as overweight or thick around the
middle as many U.S. adults, the authors point out.
Because pre-diabetic elevated blood sugar can often be reversed
before it advances to full-blown disease, the findings suggest it
makes sense for people to avoid regular sodas to minimize their risk
of developing diabetes, the researchers conclude.
“Sugar sweetened beverages have been shown to increase weight gain
and risk of diabetes – including prediabetes,” Laura Rosella, a
public health researcher at the University of Toronto who wasn’t
involved in the study, said by email.
The current study findings add to a large body of evidence
suggesting that the sugar and calories in soda can contribute to the
risk of obesity and diabetes, noted Dr. Robert Cohen, a researcher
at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine who wasn’t
involved in the study.
“I wouldn’t necessarily seek out diet drinks but the choice of
non-calorie containing diet drinks is not associated with further
insulin resistance or pre-diabetes in the way that calorie
containing drinks are,” Cohen said by email.
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/2eontLn Journal of Nutrition, online November
9, 2016.
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