A new European study suggests that drinking one or more sugary soft drinks every day increase the risk of developing diabetes in later life, reports BBC News Health.
According to the European researchers, people who drink one can of sugary soft drink a day are at five times greater risk of diabetes compared to those who drink one or less in a month. The research was carried out in 8 European countries including Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and the U.K. Researchers questioned nearly 350,000 people about their diet.
Dora Romaguera from Imperial College London, who led the study, told BBC News that sugar sweetened soft drinks increase the risk of developing diabetes. "Every can of soft drinks that you drink per day, the risk is higher," Romaguera said.
Romaguera stressed upon spreading a clearer message to the public about the detrimental effects of consuming sugary soft drinks on the health. "Given the increase in sweet beverage consumption in Europe, clear messages on its deleterious effect on health should be given to the population," Dr Romaguera and colleagues conclude in their research paper, according to BBC News.
Researchers also took body mass index into consideration and found that elevated risk of Type-2 diabetes remained persistent even after body mass index was taken into account. When they found that artificially sweetened drinks also had a part in diabetes risk, they took BMI into account and the risk disappeared. Fruit juices, however, were not linked with diabetes under any circumstances.
Dr. Matthew Hobbs, head of research at Diabetes U.K., said that further evidence may be needed to confirm the direct link between sugar-sweetened soft drinks and Type-2 diabetes. However, consumption of these drinks can lead to weight gain as they contain high calories, he said.
"This is important for Type 2 diabetes because we know that maintaining a healthy weight is the single most important thing you can do to prevent it."
Professor Patrick Wolfe from the University of London, recommended to switch form sugary soft drinks to diet soft drinks or for the better, do not consume soft drinks at all.
"In and of themselves, sugary soft drinks are only part of the picture - they're just one of the potential risk factors for Type-2 diabetes," he said.
The findings of the study are published in the journal Diabetologia.
