Sugar-Sweetened Beverages May Increase Risk for CVD in Women

WEDNESDAY, May 13, 2020 (HealthDay News) — Sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) consumption is associated with an increased risk for cardiovascular disease (CVD), revascularization, and stroke among women, according to a study published online May 13 in the Journal of the American Heart Association.

Lorena S. Pacheco, Ph.D., M.P.H., from the University of California San Diego in La Jolla, and colleagues examined the prospective association of baseline SSB consumption with incident CVD in 106,178 women free from CVD and diabetes mellitus in the California Teachers Study, followed since 1995. SSB intake was derived from a self-administered food frequency questionnaire.

The researchers documented 8,848 CVD incident cases during 20 years of follow-up. Women who consumed one or more serving per day of SSBs had increased hazard ratios for CVD, revascularization, and stroke compared with rare/never consumers after adjustment for potential confounders (hazard ratios, 1.19 [95 percent confidence interval (CI), 1.06 to 1.34], 1.26 [95 percent CI, 1.04 to 1.54], and 1.21 [95 percent CI, 1.04 to 1.41], respectively). A higher risk for CVD was also seen for women who consumed one or more serving per day of fruit drinks and caloric soft drinks versus rare/never consumers (hazard ratios, 1.42 [95 percent CI, 1.00 to 2.01; P trend = 0.021] and 1.23 [95 percent CI, 1.05 to 1.44; P trend = 0.0002], respectively).

“Our results expand the literature on unfavorable effects of SSB intake, highlighting the importance of efforts to reduce SSB intake and changes to support healthier beverage consumption,” the authors write.

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