Recent research reveals that drinking just two cans of sugary-sweet fizzy drinks like soda or cola can increase your risk of developing type-2 diabetes.
Apparently, one can of pop can also increase your chances of raised blood pressure and developing high blood pressure commonly called hypertension. The regular consumption of such drinks is associated with metabolic syndrome (MS) which is a group of five health conditions, three of which are enough to generate this overall debilitating condition. People with MS have high levels of abdominal or belly fat, high obesity, high levels of fat in their blood, high levels of bad (LDL) cholesterol, low levels of good cholesterol and high blood sugar which are linked to developing diabetes, increasing blood pressure and the risk of stroke. Those are just three of the factors associated with MS.
Prof. M. Faadiel Essop, from Stellenbosch University in Stellenbosch, South Africa and the study’s senior author, stated:-
“Sugar-sweetened beverage consumption is steadily rising among all age groups worldwide”.
“Our analysis revealed that most epidemiological studies strongly show that frequent intake of these beverages contributes to the onset of the metabolic syndrome, diabetes and hypertension.”
The study was an assessment and review of 36 clinical and epidemiological studies on the cardiometabolic effects of sugar-sweetened beverage consumption over the last ten years. This was published in the Journal of the Endocrine Society. Previous studies showed conflicting findings regarding the relationship between beverage consumption and health conditions such as diabetes and heart diseases. The intention was to establish how much of a link existed between drinking sugary drinks and MS.
Market research shows that 74 per cent of 85,471 food and drink products on sale in the US have added sugar. At least half of the added sugar in products comes from drinking sweetened beverages. It’s worth saying that not all sugary drinks in some of the studies produce these negative effects but a majority appear to be problematic with regards to prolonged health if regularly drunk. Interestingly, most of the studies considered subjects which drank more than five sugar-sweetened beverages every week. The World Health Organization estimates that cardiac and metabolic conditions such as metabolic syndrome and diabetes cause 19 million deaths every year.
In a biochemical sense, high intakes of sugar on a regular basis alter the way it is metabolised in the body. Prolonged consumption increases the risk of developing diabetes – type-2 in particular.
Prof. M. Faadiel Essop further commented:-
“The findings demonstrate there is a clear need for public education about the harmful effects of excess consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages,”
“But our understanding of this topic would benefit from additional research to further clarify how sugar-sweetened beverages affect our health. We do see some limitations in the current research on this topic, including a need for longer-term studies and standardized research methods.”
More information from:
“Frequent Sugar-sweetened Beverage Consumption and the Onset of Cardiometabolic Diseases: Cause for Concern?,” DOI: 10.1210/js.2017-00262
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