Mirroring concerns that have long troubled researchers and policymakers alike, a new report comes to show that sugary drinks lead to 180,000 deaths yearly worldwide.
In the U.S. alone, the rate of deaths attributed to the consumption of sugary drinks is of 25,000 thousand on an yearly basis.
Sugary drink consumption leads to a number of diagnoses, which, while inferred by other risk factors as well, are greatly aided by the high caloric value of these drinks. Such diagnoses include obesity and the corollaries diabetes, cancers and cardiovascular disease.
The report, published in the journal Circulation of the American Heart Association shows that it is the developing countries of the world which are most prone to deaths linked to sugary drinks consumption.
In fact, as much as three out of four deaths due to sugary drinks consumption occurs in these countries. Mexico alone led the top with a worrying 405 deaths per million adult citizens attributed to sugary drinks intake. Overall, 24,000 deaths pinned by this factor were registered in 2010.
Nonetheless, the U.S. took the second place in this rollcall. Also in 2010, the U.S. recorded 125 million deaths per one million adult citizens due to sugary drinks consumption. Overall this translated in 25,000 total deaths.
The research was conducted by aggregating data from national dietary surveys spanning 51 countries. Sugary drinks consumption was analyzed by looking at records from 1980 to 2010 in 187 countries.
The overarching effort was complemented by looking at studies that have already indicated how sugary drinks consumption impacts obesity, type 2 diabetes, different types of cancer from colon to kidney to breast, esophagus, pancreas, gall bladder, as well as cardiovascular disease.
All these health conditions were found to be given an unhealthy push by the consumption of sugary drinks worldwide. The surveys that the researchers looked at included data from a sample of 611, 971 individuals collected over a period of 30 years.
Yet, it is indicative of a worrying trend that continues to claim an increasing number of lives. Sugary drinks have a high caloric content, yet no nutritional value whatsoever. Of course, 100 percent fruit juices are not included in this category. But the rest of the eye-catching fizzy drinks, sodas, sports drinks and others strongly affect our health.
Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian, senior author of the research and the dean of Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy of Tuft University, stated:
“This is not complicated. There are no health benefits from sugar-sweetened beverages, and the potential impact of reducing consumption is saving tens of thousands of deaths each year”.
It couldn’t be more clear. The numbers cited in the report should be an eye-opener: just during 2010 sugary drinks consumption are thought to be responsible for 133,000 deaths linked to diabetes.
Another 45,000 deaths linked to cardiovascular disease are also thought to be the work of sugary drinks. Moreover, 6,450 deaths of cancer patients add to the toll asked by sugary drinks consumption.
This report is the first that looks at the incidence of death linked to sugary drink consumption worldwide.
Image Source: BBC