New study links soda, sweetened beverages to heart failure

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Wednesday 04 Nov 2015 - 13:52 Makkah mean time-22-1-1437 (Image from Shutterstock) Stockholm, (IINA) - The latest in a long line of studies showing the potential of sweetened beverages such as soda in having significantly poor effects on health suggests that daily consumption of soft drinks increases the risks of developing heart failure, UPI reported. An extensive study found that drinking two or more sweetened beverages per day increases the risks of heart failure, although researchers said that more research would need to be done as this effect of soft drinks could depend on its interactions with the overall diet. Other recent studies have also found daily consumption of sugar-sweetened drinks can increase the risk of diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and for fatty liver disease. "The takeaway message is that people who regularly consume sweetened beverages should consider limiting their consumption to reduce their risk of heart failure", Dr. Susanna Larsson, a researcher at the Stockholm Karolinska Institutet, told CNN. Researchers in the Swedish study followed the food habits of 42,400 men between the ages of 45 and 79 from 1998 through 2010. Researchers gathered the data using a questionnaire, and did not consider tea, coffee or juice, limiting consideration to specifically those with sugar or artificial sweeteners added. The researchers documented 4,113 cases of heart failure among men, leaving a 23 percent higher chance of developing heart failure for men consuming two or more servings of soft drinks per day when compared with those who avoid the beverages. The data were adjusted for other risk factors including family history, smoking, BMI, health conditions and dietary factors. "It is safe to admit that sweetened beverages are usually components of a poor quality dietary pattern and that overall dietary patterns better represent the broader picture of food habits and are more important determinants of disease than any isolated food or beverage", the researchers wrote in the British Medical Journal. "Meanwhile more research in this field is available, and taking into account the existing evidence, the advice to the general population should be that their most sensible option will be to reduce or eliminate their consumption of sweetened beverages replacing them with water to comply with the requirements for a good hydration". AG/IINA