Our study adds further important evidence to the recommendation from the World Health Organization to limit the intake of free sugars in our diet.
- Nita Forouhi
The study indicates that for each 5% increase of a person’s total energy intake provided by sweet drinks including soft drinks, the risk of developing type 2 diabetes may increase by as much as 18%.
The research is based on the EPIC-Norfolk study, which included more than 25,000 men and women aged 40–79 years living in Norfolk, UK. Study participants recorded everything that they ate and drank for seven consecutive days covering weekdays and weekend days, with particular attention to type, amount and frequency of consumption, and whether sugar was added by the participants. During approximately 11 years of follow-up, 847 study participants were diagnosed with new-onset type 2 diabetes.
Dr Nita Forouhi, of the Medical Research Council (MRC) Epidemiology Unit, University of Cambridge, who led the study, says: “By using this detailed dietary assessment with a food diary, we were able to study several different types of sugary beverages as well as artificially sweetened beverages – such as diet soft drinks – and fruit juice, and to examine what would happen if water, unsweetened tea or coffee or artificially sweetened beverages were substituted for sugary drinks.”
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Image: Soft drink with ice
Credit: Sharon & Nikki McCutcheon
Reproduced courtesy of the University of Cambridge
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