NEW ORLEANS—Drinking more than five servings of sugar-sweetened cola per week prior to pregnancy significantly elevates the risk of developing gestational diabetes (GDM), according to new research published in the December 2009 issue of Diabetes Care.
Researchers studied a group of 13,475 women from the Nurses' Health Study II. During 10 years of follow-up, 860 incident GDM cases were identified. After adjustment for known risk factors for GDM including age, family history of diabetes, parity, physical activity, smoking status, sugar-sweetened beverage intake, alcohol intake, pre-pregnancy BMI, and Western dietary pattern, intake of sugar-sweetened cola was positively associated with the risk of GDM. No significant association was found for other sugar-sweetened beverages or diet beverages.
"Compared with women who consumed less than one serving per month, those who consumed more than five servings per week of sugar-sweetened cola had a 22-percent greater GDM risk," the researchers wrote. "We don't know why significant association was only found in sugar-sweetened cola, but not other types of sugar-sweetened beverages—fruit drinks, other soft drinks, etc. One of the explanations could be the tremendous popularity of cola in the U.S."
