AP Photo
Sugary Drink Concerns
Two out of three adults in the U.S. are overweight or obese and drinking sugary drinks is adding to the problem.
A new study finds that for some people the combination may be life threatening.
Sugar-sweetened drinks may be linked to about 180,000 deaths worldwide each year, according to research presented at an American Heart Association conference. This means about one percent of deaths from obesity-related diseases may be associated with drinks containing added sugar such as sodas, sports and energy drinks and fruit drinks.
Experts caution that we can’t say that these beverages are causing people’s deaths, only that the research seems to be pointing to that possibility.
Diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and cancer are considered obesity-related diseases because being overweight can spur on the development of these conditions. In the U.S. about 25,000 deaths from obesity related causes were linked to sugary drinks, according to the study. These deaths were highest in adults ages 20 to 45, researchers say.
The American Beverage Association argues in a statement that researchers made a “huge leap when they illogically and wrongly take beverage intake calculations from around the globe and allege that those beverages are the cause of deaths which the authors themselves acknowledge are due to chronic disease.”
- Story courtesy INN News, Holly Firfer, March 21, 2013
