Sugary drinks may not be such an innocuous vice, according to a new study from Brigham Young University researchers.
Their analysis shows that drinking sugary beverages — like fruit juices, sodas and energy drinks — led to an increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes when compared to eating sugary foods.
For every 12 ounces of sugary drink someone sips per day, a person’s risk for type 2 diabetes increased 25 percent, according to a news release.
That means, the release said, if a person’s baseline type 2 diabetes risk was 10 percent, their risk would rise to 20 percent if they drank four soda cans a day.
“This strong relationship showed that the increased risk began from the very first daily serving with no minimum threshold below which intake appeared to be safe,” the release said.
At the same time, 20 grams of sugar eaten daily (about a third the amount added to a 20-ounce bottle of Coca-Cola) “showed an inverse association with [type 2 diabetes], hinting at a surprising protective association.”
The findings challenge the assumption, according to the research, that all “all sugars uniformly elevate type 2 diabetes risk.”
Utah’s sugar ‘vice’
The Beehive State has long been known for its residents’ stereotypical sweet tooth.
As Demi Engemann puts it in the first season of the Utah-based “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives” TV series: “We don’t drink alcohol or do drugs, so [soda is] kind of our vice.”
Swig claims to have originated “dirty soda” in Utah in 2010, and since then, the sugar craze has gone national, with Swig and other soda franchises opening up coast-to-coast as shows like “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives” and “The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City” bring Utah’s culture to a wider audience.
Karen Della Corte, a BYU nutritional science professor and the study’s author, said the research wasn’t designed “specifically with Utah in mind,” but she said it is “highly relevant given the state’s unique beverage culture.”
“For Utahns who don’t drink alcohol or coffee, these sweet beverages may function as a kind of cultural niche — which is interesting from a behavioral lens but concerning from a public health perspective,“ she said.
”I hope the findings from this study encourage awareness and moderation,“ she continued, ”especially when these drinks are seen as harmless habits.”
What about diet sodas?
Della Corte said the research did not look into outcomes based on artificially sweetened beverages, like diet sodas. (The study also didn’t mention cocktails or other alcoholic beverages.)
She said there has been some research on diet sodas’ impacts to metabolic outcomes, like higher blood pressure, blood sugar levels and more. These conditions are known to increase the risk of type 2 diabetes, heart disease and stroke.
“What’s clearer — and what our study supports — is that reducing intake of sugar-sweetened beverages," Della Corte said, “is a strong, evidence-based step to lower diabetes risk.”
While she said replacing sugar-sweetened drinks with artificially sweetened beverages can be a helpful tool to curb consumption, naturally flavored drinks, sparkling water or drinks lightly infused with fruits or herbs are the “safest bet.”
Della Corte authored the study alongside BYU professors James LeCheminant and Dennis Della Corte and students Tyler Bosler and Cole McClure. Their work, done with Germany-based researchers, appeared in the May issue of “Advances in Nutrition.”
