A new study has found that regular consumption of soda and other sugar-sweetened beverages is associated with a clear and consistently greater risk of metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes. According to the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) researchers, the study provides empirical evidence that intake of sugary beverages should be limited to reduce risk of these conditions.
The study appears online October 27, 2010, in the journal Diabetes Care and will appear in the November print edition.
"Many previous studies have examined the relationship between sugar-sweetened beverages and risk of diabetes, and most have found positive associations but our study, which is a pooled analysis of the available studies, provides an overall picture of the magnitude of risk and the consistency of the evidence," said lead author Vasanti Malik, a research fellow in the HSPH Department of Nutrition.
Consumption of sugary drinks, the majority of which are sodas, has increased substantially in the U.S. and across the globe and previous scientific studies have shown consistent associations with weight gain and risk of obesity. However, this study is the first meta-analysis to quantitatively review the evidence linking sugar-sweetened beverages with type 2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome. (Metabolic syndrome is a group of risk factors, such as high blood pressure and excess body fat around the waist, that increase the risk of coronary artery disease, stroke and diabetes.)
The researchers, led by Malik and senior author Frank Hu, professor of nutrition and epidemiology at HSPH, did a meta-analysis that pooled 11 studies that examined the association between sugar-sweetened beverages and those conditions. The studies included more than 300,000 participants and 15,043 cases of type 2 diabetes and 19,431 participants and 5,803 cases of metabolic syndrome.
The findings showed that drinking one to two sugary drinks per day increased the risk of type 2 diabetes by 26% and the risk of metabolic syndrome by 20% compared with those who consumed less than one sugary drink per month. Drinking one 12-ounce serving per day increased the risk of type 2 diabetes by about 15%.
"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," said Hu.
While a number of factors are at work in the development of type 2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome, sugar-sweetened beverages represent one easily modifiable risk factor that if reduced will likely make an important impact, say the researchers. "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," said Malik.
Other HSPH authors include Walter Willett, chair of the Department of Nutrition and Frederick John Stare professor of nutrition and epidemiology.
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Harvard School of Public Health: http://www.hsph.harvard.edu
Thanks to Harvard School of Public Health for this article.
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Really? Didn't we already know this? I realize that it's a compilation of the data, but was it really necessary?
Dude! Couldn't they have awarded the grant money for this to a project that people don't already know the answer too? Maybe if I write a grant for "Brushing of One's Hair Makes One Look Neat and Tidy" I will get funding instead of being rejected for "The Role of Glycosylation in Hormone Regulation during Pregnancy".
I really think someone needs to come out with a really broad study that just says 'everything in moderation will not harm you in any way'. These kinds of articles drive me insane. Yes, obviously if you go completely crazy and drink too many sugary drinks you are going to screw up your body, just like if you eat McDonald's every day you will get fat.
Yep. Unfortunately, I don't think studies like this are going away anytime soon because journalists can turn them into sensational news stories that people talk about.
To be fair it is one of those things that everyone assumes but has no evidence to prove it. These may not be ground breaking studies but they are necessary for the field to advance. Why it needs to be made into a PR that is anybodies guess.
This study is a compilations of other studies showing that effect, Will. I don't really know that it was terribly necessary. A mention in a review article would have been enough.
I know what you mean but if you increase the N number you increase the significance. Point taken though.
I really think someone needs to come out with a really broad study that just says 'everything in moderation will not harm you in any way'. These kinds of articles drive me insane. Yes, obviously if you go completely crazy and drink too many sugary drinks you are going to screw up your body, just like if you eat McDonald's every day you will get fat.
These are the kinds of things my old PI would print out and write underneath, "Increased exposure to fire may cause serious burns."
Wouldn't increased exposure to fire lead to fewer burns though as you would probably learn after the first burn not to get too close...
ehm...Will...at Davis, you're not with FoodSci or RMI or Dr. Guinard's (Xavi) lab are you?
No I'm not but I do collaborate with people in that department, although not Dr. Guinard specifically. I am in the vet med school working in obesity/diabetes with Helen Raybould.
Re: Janede's "everything in moderation" point, there's also the "everything in balance" point, e.g. balance of calorie consumption and calorie usage. In this vein, there was an article in the NY Times about an internal dispute in the NYC health department over an ad campaign that drinking a soda a day could lead to 10 pound weight gain in a year.
Will - I think the point was that the study is obvious, just as if you increase your exposure to fire, ie. stick your arm in it, you're gonna get burnt. But I like your thinking though, true scientist hoping that a real experimental subject would actually stop putting their hand in the fire - but yes that's kind of the point! Don't do it, it's bad for you!
K. You're not the Will I know, then. Gave a demo w/ an SF chef on liquid nitrogen's affects on textures and flavors of ice cream, and the Will I know wanted to see how cold LN2 was, and he attempted to stick his finger in the bowl as I poured LN2 into the base.
haha, no I am definitely not that Will! I am pretty clear on the idea of LN2 bad! What effect does LN2 have on texture and flavor of ice cream? I guess it would make it harder and less flavorful?
LN2 makes some wicked ice cream! You can freeze it faster so you don't get the formation of crystals. It gives the ice cream a smoother consistency and the flavors come together faster and better.
I like Janede's comment about moderation. Everything in moderation is the best way to go. Also spending thousands of research dollars to increase the N on a study you can reference is ridiculous.
It evaporates off so quickly that you aren't actually ingesting it. Have you ever eaten cheap ice cream and noticed how it feels grainy on your tongue? That's because the freezing process is slower and larger ice crystals form. To combat the problem, you can either whip in lots of air or fat and you get a smoother texture. Not an issue with LN2 freezing.
If you constantly whisk as it is poured in, the ice cream ends up smoother. There's fewer ice crystals from how quickly the base sets up. You do have to modify your bases slightly, though. The faster freezing does make flavors a little lighter.
And I was all for letting him stick his finger in, but someone else caught his hand first.
Dippin' Dot's are made with LN2 I think. They basically push the base through a screen into LN2 to create the frozen balls.
Why am I doing this again?- To be fair to this study I don't think that they would have received a large grant to do it. It was probably just a side project and wasn't actually funded per se.
JSD- Not sure his finger would have come out, that would have been a nightmare in forms to fill in!
Nikkilina- Oh I have had dippin' dot's and I liked them. I didn't realize they were made with LN2. Do they make that clear?
Not that I know of. That's why I'm not 100% sure on it, but I think I read somewhere that's how it's done. It's really not a big deal. I saw a store on the Food Network that makes ice cream in small batches in front of people using LN2. It's very safe.
It'd have come out. I've had LN2 burns from work before. You end up with this dark blue splotch. Very painful.
I believe they tell you if you ask how they're made. Hrmmm...now I have an idea for Tuesday's lab dinner...
I guess it depends how long he left it in there. If it froze it might snap off when he took it out. Or is that just in the movies...
Do you not have to wear protective clothing to work with LN2?
That's just movies. You're supposed to wear thick gloves, whether lab or kitchen, when pouring from one of the dewars. Kitchens are a little frantic, few people wear them. And it's a great conversation piece when you're in trauma with frostbite during a NorCal August.
Not really, you just have to be cautious and make sure there is a good supply of oxygen wherever you are using it, never get in a lift with LN2 for example. It's actually better not to wear gloves, or at least tightly fitting ones when you handle LN2 because if it gets into your glove it's trapped next to your skin and can cause burns that way. We usually use those nice big arctic style gloves that go half way up your arm. We use them for handling stuff fresh out the autoclave as well.
We had kept out LN2 container in a cold to reduce the speed of evaporation and one of the MD/PhD's in our lab was looking for some samples in it for about 5min. Suddenly she got light-headed.....
Did I mention she was a blonde! (Sorry Janede! you are a smart blonde!)
but what is it about the sugery soft drinks that causes this? The high-fructose corn syrup?
Good point Kristi. HFC syrup is an absolute killer, it is hidden into so many things. Could well be it. I went to a lecture a while back in which they showed that sucrose is a bigger cause of obesity than fat in the diet.
I think the author linked it to increased obesity, which leads to diabetes. But I could see the high-fructose corn syrup could definitely push someone who is pre-diabetic but within the normal weight range to full blown diabetes
Good point Kristi. HFC syrup is an absolute killer, it is hidden into so many things. Could well be it. I went to a lecture a while back in which they showed that sucrose is a bigger cause of obesity than fat in the diet.
yeah...it is just too much sugar for your body to know what to do with!
And excess sugar is converted to fat which increases your predisposition to diabetes by becoming obese (at least phenotypically obese, ie. increased leptin and increased fat pads).
The thing I saw on Food Network had a central LN2 line with hoses coming out over the mixers. Whenever they needed some they programmed it into the computer and the computer released a certain amount. It was really cool. It might have been an episode of Kid in a Candy Store. If you see it on your listings you should check it out. It's awesome.