Sugar-Sweetened Beverages Claim Lives Worldwide

In the United States, the intake of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs), including the full range of soft drinks, fruit drinks, energy drinks, and vitamin water drinks, increased from 3.9% of calories in the late 1970s to 9.2% in 2001-a 3-fold increase.In 2009, the American Heart Association published a scientific statement in which it identified SSBs as the primary source of added sugars in the American diet. While it has long been believed that SSBs contribute in no small part to the obesity epidemic, only recently have epidemiologic studies substantiated the relationship between SSB intake, weight gain, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular risk.The study summarized in the slides above, by researchers at Tufts University, goes one step further and estimates the number of deaths worldwide in 2010 from SSB-related disease. 

References:

1. Ogden CL, Kit BK, Carroll MD, Park S. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Centers for Disease Control and Prevention National Center for Health Statistics Consumption of Sugar Drinks in the United States, 2005–2008. NCHS Data Brief No. 71; August 2011. DHHS Publication No. (PHS) 2011–1209.

2. Lloyd-Jones DM, Hong Y, Labarthe D, et al. Defining and setting national goals for cardiovascular health promotion and disease reduction: The American Heart Association’s strategic impact goal through 2020 and beyond. Circulation 121(4):586–613.