CHICAGO—Women who drink two or more sugar-sweetened beverages a day are four times more likely to develop heart disease and diabetes even if they don’t gain weight, according to a new study published in the journal Circulation and presented at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions 2011.
Researchers at Northwestern University's Department of Preventive Medicine examined data examined food frequency questionnaires from 4,166 participants in the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA) study who did not have cardiovascular disease. Participants were monitored over a 5-year period for weight gain, increases in waist circumference, low levels of high density lipoproteins (HDL) cholesterol, high levels of low density lipoproteins (LDL) cholesterol, high triglycerides, impaired fasting glucose levels, and type 2 diabetes.
They then compared middle-aged and older women who drank two or more sugar-sweetened beverages a day, such as carbonated sodas or flavored waters with added sugar, to women who drank one or less daily. They found women who consumed two or more beverages per day were nearly four times as likely to develop high triglycerides, and were significantly more likely to increase their waist sizes and to develop impaired fasting glucose levels.
“Women who drank more than two sugar-sweetened drinks a day had increasing waist sizes, but weren’t necessarily gaining weight," the researchers said. “These women also developed high triglycerides and women with normal blood glucose levels more frequently went from having a low risk to a high risk of developing diabetes over time."
The same associations were not observed in men. The researchers concluded women may have a greater chance for developing cardiovascular disease risk factors from sugar-sweetened drinks because they require fewer calories than men, which makes each calorie count more toward cardiovascular risk in women.
