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Sugary Drinks Linked to 180,000 Global Deaths

  • Spence Cooper
  • April 2, 2013

According to a study by Dr Gitanjali Singh (Harvard School of Public Health) presented at an American Heart Association scientific conference in New Orleans, researchers linked 180,000 obesity-related deaths worldwide to sugary drinks, including about 25,000 adult Americans.

One in one hundred deaths of obese people globally can be blamed on too many sweetened beverages. Mexico leads the 35 largest nations in deaths attributable to over-consumption of sugary drinks, with the United States third.

Japan had the fewest sugar-related deaths.

Using data collected as part of the World Health Organization’s Study, the researchers determined that 78% of these deaths were in low and middle-income countries.

Of the deaths in 2010 linked to drinking sugar-sweetened soft drinks, fruit juice or sports beverages, 132 000 were from diabetes, 44 000 from cardiovascular disease and 6,000 from cancer.

“It is a [surprisingly] large number of deaths”tens of thousands of deaths”that are being caused by consuming sugary beverages,” Singh said in an interview, who also noted three-quarters of these BMI-related deaths were from diabetes, which suggests that limiting sugary-beverage intake is an important step in reducing diabetes deaths.

The study reinforces the need for clinicians to encourage patients to drink fewer sugary beverages, Singh said.

“In addition, even though it’s certainly an uphill battle [to change public policy]”it’s one that physicians, cardiologists, public-health scientists, [and] policy makers really need to advocate for and show support for.”

The Harvard School of Public Health has a fact sheet on sugary drink supersizing and the obesity epidemic.

Here are a few highlights:

* Two out of three adults and one out of three children in the United States are overweight or obese, and the nation spends an estimated $190 billion a year treating obesity-related health conditions.

* Rising consumption of sugary drinks has been a major contributor to the obesity epidemic.

* A typical 20-ounce soda contains 15 to 18 teaspoons of sugar and upwards of 240 calories.

* A 64-ounce fountain cola drink could have up to 700 calories.

* People who drink this “liquid candy” do not feel as full as if they had eaten the same calories from solid food and do not compensate by eating less.

Coca-Cola To Unveil Fruitwater
Sugary Drinks Linked to 180,000 Global Deaths
Since late 1990s, soft drink sales have seen a steady decline because of heightened awareness of the link between sugary drinks to obesity and other related diseases.

As a result, this month Coca-Cola will introduce a line of zero-calorie, carbonated, fruit-flavored waters called “Fruitwater”

“Unlike the zero-calorie version of Vitaminwater, which is made with the natural sweetener stevia, Fruitwater will be sweetened with the artificial sweetener sucralose, best known as Splenda. It will not contain any fruit juice but the bottle notes that the drink is enhanced with nutrients, a reference to its B vitamins, magnesium and zinc.”

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