• Obesity
• Cardiometabolic Disorder
• Diabetes Mellitus

Limiting intake of sugar-sweetened beverages is one simple change that could have a measurable impact on weight control and the risk of diabetes and other metabolic diseases in the general population, according to Frank Hu, MD, PhD, Harvard School of Public Health, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA. Dr. Hu presented data on sugar-sweetened beverages and their impact on public health.

Dr. Hu said sugar-sweetened beverages, such as sodas, fruit drinks, energy drinks, and sports drinks, are as common and familiar as they are dangerous to our health, and adults are as vulnerable as children. Between 1965 and 2002, per capita consumption of daily calories from sugar-sweetened beverages increased steadily in adults and children, while consumption of milk declined [Duffey KJ, Popkin BM. Obesity 2007]. By 2005 to 2006, daily consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages was approximately 172 kcal for children and 175 kcal for adults [Brownell KD et al. N Engl J Med 2009]. Global trends in the total volume of carbonated soft drinks consumed between 2002 and 2007 show a similar pattern [Global soft drinks: Finding value in carbonates. Euromonitor 2008].

In China, rising consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages [Kleiman S et al. Obes Rev 2012] mirrors an increased incidence of diabetes [Pan XR et al. Diabetes Care 1997; Gu D et al. Diabetologia 2003; Yang W et al. N Engl J Med 2010]. Currently, more than 60% of the world's diabetic population is in Asia [Ramachandran A et al. World J Diabetes 2012].

Strong evidence backs claims that sugar-sweetened beverages contribute to weight gain. In an analysis of 3 separate US cohorts that included 120,877 men and women, Mozaffarian et al. [N Engl J Med 2011] found that increased daily servings of sugar-sweetened beverages were among the individual dietary components most strongly associated with 4-year weight gain.

Temporal patterns over the past 3 to 4 decades have shown a close parallel between the rise in sugar intake and the incidence of global obesity and type 2 diabetes. These patterns, combined with observational and experimental data, suggest causality between the intake of sugar-sweetened beverages and type 2 diabetes [Malik VS, Hu FB. Curr Diab Rep 2012].

Other adverse cardiometabolic conditions have been attributed to consumption of caloric beverages. In the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults [CARDIA; NCT00005130] study, higher consumption of sugar-sweetened drinks (across quartiles) was associated with increased risk of high waist circumference (p for trend <0.001), cholesterol (p for trend=0.018), triglycerides (p for trend=0.33), and hypertension (p for trend=0.023) [Duffey KJ et al. Am J Clin Nutr 2010].

Sugar-sweetened beverages provide little nutritional value and have also been linked to increased coronary heart disease [de Koning L et al. Circulation 2012], gout [Choi HK, Curhan G. BMJ 2008], gallstone disease, kidney disease, fatty liver, decreased bone mineral density, and dental caries.

• © 2012 MD Conference Express®