AHA: Sugary Beverages Linked to Heart Disease Burden
MONDAY, March 8 (HealthDay News) -- In individuals 35 years of age or older, the increased consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSB) between 1990 and 2000 may have contributed to new cases of diabetes, coronary heart disease (CHD), and additional life-years burdened by CHD from 2000 to 2010, contributing to significant cardiovascular burden over time, according to research presented at the American Heart Association's joint conference of the Council on Epidemiology and Prevention and the Council on Nutrition, Physical Activity and Metabolism, held from March 2 to 5 in San Francisco.
To determine the excess diabetes and CHD attributable to SSB consumption, Litsa K. Lambrakos, M.D., of the University of California in San Francisco, and colleagues used the CHD Policy Model to estimate heart disease and diabetes burden of SSB consumption from 2000 to 2010 with and without the increase in SSB consumption from 1990 to 2000.
The researchers found that the increased consumption of SSB from 1990 to 2000 accounted for 75,000 new diabetes cases, 14,000 new CHD cases, and an extra 60,000 life-years burdened by CHD between 2000 and 2010.
"This excess disease is estimated to have increased health care costs by 1.4 billion U.S. dollars over this period. Additionally, at least 7,000 excess deaths from any cause and 31,000 life-years lost can be attributed to this rise in sugared beverage consumption," the authors write. "Proposals to curb population-wide consumption of sugared beverages through taxation, if successful, could yield large benefits for the health of the U.S. population and effectively stem health care costs."
