Sweet drinks increase the risk of developing diabetes in women, even with normal weight
Last reviewed: 23.04.2024
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Women who drink two or more sweet drinks a day, even if they are of normal weight, are at a higher risk of developing cardiovascular diseases and diabetes, the new study says.
This applies to carbonated, sweetened with sugar, flavored and with the addition of syrup drinks.
Previous studies have found a link between the use of such beverages and obesity, high lipid content in the blood, high blood pressure and type 2 diabetes.
The lead author of the project, Dr. Christina Shai, an associate professor at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, and his colleagues compared middle-aged and older women who consumed two or more sugar-sweetened drinks and women who drank one drink a day or did not consume sweet water.
The researchers found that women who drank two more of these drinks per day were significantly more likely to increase waistline and showed fasting high glucose levels. The level of triglycerides, which are a risk factor for the development of cardiovascular diseases and diabetes, exceeded the norm by almost four times.
It is interesting that scientists did not find such connection in men.
Shay in a statement to the press said:
"Most people think that people who consume a lot of sweetened drinks have a high risk of developing heart disease, diabetes and stroke due to obesity, which is often the case, but this study showed that the risk of developing these diseases may increase even when women do not gain excess weight. "
During the study, Shai and his colleagues studied the data of 4,166 adults, aged 45-84, African-Americans, Caucasians, Chinese and Hispanics.
During the five years of follow-up, participants underwent three examinations that resulted in the evaluation of changes in body weight, waist volume, high-density lipoprotein (HDL cholesterol), low-density lipoprotein (LDL cholesterol), triglycerides, fasting glucose , and the presence of type 2 diabetes.
Scientists noted that the metabolic influence of sweetened drinks is "complex and not homogeneous between men and women."
It is interesting that women need fewer calories than men, so when a large number of calories come from sweetened drinks, they will experience a higher risk of developing cardiovascular diseases.
But exactly how such drinks cause the occurrence of heart diseases, what biological mechanisms can be involved in this process, is not exactly established and requires further research, scientists say.
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