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Sugar-sweetened, fruit drink consumption increased diabetes risk in black women
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Consumption of sugar-sweetened soft drinks and fruit drinks is associated with an increased risk for type 2 diabetes among black women, according to recent findings. Orange and grapefruit juice consumption was not related to risk for diabetes.
Beginning in 1995, researchers from Boston University and Harvard Medical School conducted a prospective follow-up study to determine the relationship between consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages and type 2 diabetes in black women.
The study included 59,000 black women; 43,960 provided the researchers with complete dietary and weight information via questionnaire and had no diabetes at baseline. Researchers followed participants biennially to determine the development of new diabetes.
After 338,884 person-years of follow-up, the researchers reported 2,713 cases of type 2 diabetes.
Baseline analyses revealed that 17% of participants consumed one sugar-sweetened soft drink per day, 32% drank at least one sweetened fruit drink per day and 22% drank at least one glass of orange or grapefruit juice per day.
Increased consumption of sugar-sweetened soft drinks and fruit drinks caused an increase in the risk for diabetes (P=.002 and P=.001). Overall, consumption of two or more sugar-sweetened soft drinks per day increased the incidence of type 2 diabetes in black women by 24%. Similarly, consumption of two or more fruit drinks per day increased the incidence of diabetes by 31% in this population. – by Stacey L. Adams
Arch Intern Med. 2008;168:1487-1492.
These findings are important but should not be surprising to health care professionals who care for people with diabetes. Rather these findings provide objective evidence to support a finding we see commonly but have not had systematic data to document. The finding is that increased intake of sugar-containing drinks, whether soft drinks or fruit drinks, is associated with an increased incidence of diabetes. There are some subtleties in the findings as to whether the means by which the drinks are associated with diabetes may differ between the two types of drinks. It is important to recognize that this type of study can only test whether these are associated; it cannot test whether one caused the other. It is also important to recognize that the study was conducted solely in black women and therefore only tests whether the association can be found between certain types of drinks and the outcome studied in those women. It does not, however, address whether there is a difference between black women and other women in whether these findings apply. The findings should be an important reminder, however, that sugar-containing drinks are a large source of calories and can be an important contributor to worsening of blood sugar control in those who are at risk for or have diabetes. These drinks may be a form of “comfort food” in the short term but the momentary comfort comes with a long-term effect. There is a big pay-off in breaking the sugar-containing drink habit.
– Robert M. Cohen, MD
Division of Endocrinology/Metabolism
University of
Cincinnati College of Medicine