Excessive consumption of sweetened drinks has been linked to a higher risk of an irregular heart rhythm condition that can end up causing stroke or heart failure, according to a recent study.
Researchers found that consuming more than two liters of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSB) and artificially sweetened beverages (ASB) per week was associated with an increased risk of AF. Among those who drank such quantities of ASB weekly, the risk of atrial fibrillation was 20 percent higher. The risk was 10 percent higher among people who drank SSB.
Consuming one liter or less of pure fruit juice (PJ) per week, like 100 percent orange or vegetable juice, was linked to an 8 percent lower risk of the illness.
The authors made it clear that they could not confirm whether sweetened drinks cause atrial fibrillation. However, “the consumption of SSB and ASB may predict AF risk beyond traditional risk factors,” they stated.
“Our study’s findings cannot definitively conclude that one beverage poses more health risk than another due to the complexity of our diets and because some people may drink more than one type of beverage,” said lead study author Ningjian Wang, a researcher at the Shanghai Ninth People’s Hospital, according to a March 5 news release from the American Heart Association (AHA) which published the journal.
“However, based on these findings, we recommend that people reduce or even avoid artificially sweetened and sugar-sweetened beverages whenever possible. Do not take it for granted that drinking low-sugar and low-calorie artificially sweetened beverages is healthy, it may pose potential health risks.”
The data of subjects involved in the study came from the UK Biobank. The study reviewed 201,856 individuals enrolled in the Biobank between 2006 and 2010 who were followed up for almost 10 years. During this period, there were 9,362 cases of atrial fibrillation among the participants.
Researchers identified a gender difference in beverage consumption. Participants who consumed more artificially sweetened beverages were more likely to be female. In contrast, those who consumed more sugar-sweetened beverages were more likely male.
ASB consumers were more likely to be younger, have a higher body mass index, and a higher prevalence of Type 2 diabetes. SSB consumers were prone to be younger, have a higher body mass index, a higher prevalence of heart disease, and lower socioeconomic status.
Smoking was identified as a potential risk factor. “Smokers who drank more than two liters per week of sugar-sweetened beverages having a 31 percent higher risk of AFib (atrial fibrillation), whereas no significant increase risk was noted for former smokers or people who never smoked.”
Ms. Wang pointed out that the relationship between atrial fibrillation risk and sugary beverages “may prompt the development of new prevention strategies by considering decreasing sweetened drinks to help improve heart health.”
Sugar Drinks and Health Concerns
Several other studies have shown sugary drinks linked with health issues. An August 2023 study of almost 100,000 postmenopausal women found that those who consumed one or more servings of sugar-sweetened beverages per day had “significantly higher rates of liver cancer and chronic liver disease mortality.”It pointed out that approximately 65 percent of adults in the United States consume sugar-sweetened beverages on a daily basis.
Consumption of sugary drinks has been linked to weight gain. This is because the manufacturers usually add large amounts of fructose, a type of sugar, to sweeten the drinks. Fructose neither stimulates a feeling of fullness nor lowers the hunger hormones in the body as glucose does.
As such, when a person drinks a sugary beverage, they usually end up adding all these calories from fructose on top of their regular calorie intake.
The consumption of too many sugary drinks can end up overloading the liver with fructose which is then turned into fat. Excessive fructose consumption can lead to nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD).
Regular intake of sugary drinks can make the cells in the body become less resistant to insulin, which could then force the pancreas to produce even more insulin, leading to a surge in insulin levels in the blood.
This is called insulin resistance and is seen as the initial step towards type 2 diabetes as well as other issues like heart disease.
