Medical experts have estimated that sugary drinks are killing as many as 184,000 adults around the world each year. Drinking sugary beverages such as sodas, packed fruit juices, iced tea or energy drinks has increased health risks from diabetes to heart diseases and cancer.
The research from Tufts University in Boston which has been published in the American Heart Association’s Circulation journal, is the first detailed global report assessing deaths attributable to sugar-sweetened beverages.
According to foreign media reports, Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian, senior author of the study and dean of the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University in Massachusetts said, “It should be a global priority to substantially reduce or eliminate sugar-sweetened beverages from the diet”.
Sugary drinks contribute to obesity related diseases, tooth decay, diabetes and heart diseases.
People who consume sugar drinks regularly—one to two cans a day or more—have a 26 percent greater risk of developing type 2 diabetes than people who rarely consume such drinks. The risks are even greater for young adults and Asians. Men who drink one can of a sugar drink per day have a 20 percent higher risk of having a heart attack or dying from a heart attack.
Mozaffarian also called for change in marketing strategies for the promotion of sugary beverages. He said, “"We need to talk a lot more about the harms of sugar-sweetened beverages to change the culture so that you don't have Beyoncé and Michael Jordan (two people whom I admire) selling soda and sports drinks. Celebrities and athletes would never in good conscience advertise for cigarettes, so I think we need to change the culture to where it's just not okay to push soda,” foreign media reported.
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