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Sugary drinks could leave a bitter taste given their possible impact on mortality, a new study suggests. “This is a public health crisis that requires urgent action,” said the study’s lead author, Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian, a cardiologist and director of the Food is Medicine Institute at Tufts University.
The study, published Monday in the journal Nature Medicine, analyzed global data on sugary drinks consumed worldwide, observational and randomized studies, as well as the prevalence of diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
With this evidence, the researchers created a comparative risk model and estimated that sugary drinks “cause more than 330,000 annual deaths from diabetes and cardiovascular disease,” Mozaffarian said.
The problem is particularly serious in Latin America and the Caribbean, which has the highest number of cases of beverage-related cardiovascular disease, and sub-Saharan Africa, which also has the highest number of beverage-related cases of type 2 diabetes. sweet, he added, based on the researchers’ model.
The study also looked at the demographics of those most affected by sugary drinks, namely college-educated young adult males in urban areas, said Toby Smithson, a registered dietitian nutritionist and Academy member. of Nutrition and Dietetics and Senior Director of Nutrition and Wellness at the American Diabetes Association. She did not participate in the study.
“It is time to pay attention and take priority action to address this preventable, tragic suffering,” Mozaffarian said in an email.
Because the study did not test a behavior or intervention against a control group, researchers in the new study cannot say that sugary drinks cause diabetes and cardiovascular disease – they can only estimate the impact. .
Researchers collected valuable data from 184 countries, but the study did not take into account all income levels or the increased risk of diabetes and cardiovascular disease among high-risk ethnic groups, Smithson said.
But the conclusion that sugary drinks are harmful makes sense, because many studies have shown a link between these drinks and bad health effects, Mozaffarian said.
Sugary drinks contain “empty calories” — or calories without any nutritional benefit, Smithson said. They’re also a source of fast-acting carbohydrates, which enter the bloodstream and raise blood sugar quickly, she added.
These empty sugars in liquid form are even more harmful than those in desserts or sugary foods, Suzanne Janzi, a doctoral student in nutritional epidemiology at Lund University in Sweden, said in a previous CNN article. It was not part of the most recent research.
“Liquid sugars are absorbed more quickly in the digestive system because they do not require the same breakdown processes as solid foods,” Janzi explained in an email. “Solid sugars are often part of foods that contain other nutrients like fiber, protein and fat.”
These nutrients slow digestion, which means a more gradual release of sugar into the blood, she said.
While fat, fiber and protein in solid foods keep you full longer, liquid sugars often don’t keep you full, which can lead to appetite dysregulation and consuming too many calories, she said. -she added.
“Consumption patterns also vary across sources of added sugars, which could explain why they are differently associated with cardiovascular disease risk,” Janzi said.
What about drinks sweetened with something other than sugar? They may be better, but they are not the answer, Mozaffarian said.
“Growing research shows that low-calorie natural and artificial sweeteners are not harmless and can harm health. They should therefore be considered a short-term and less harmful alternative, not a long-term solution,” a- he declared.
For example, artificial sweeteners could be a good substitute in moderation for people with diabetes, who may be accustomed to sugary drinks, Smithson said.
“By providing a diabetes-friendly way to prepare the foods people are used to eating, we can meet people where they are and offer them support to effectively manage their diabetes,” she said .
But instead of relying on artificial sweeteners, Mozaffarian advises switching to unsweetened beverages, like seltzer, unsweetened tea or coffee, or just plain water.
Hydration is important for managing blood pressure, blood sugar, core temperature and digestion, Smithson said.
“The best hydrating drink is water,” she said in an email. “If a person doesn’t like plain water, they can liven up their drink by drinking water infused with lemon slices, lime slices or fresh herbs, or by using sparkling waters without added sugar.”