Sweet drinks linked to diabetes

Woman who guzzle sugar–sweetened fruit juices or softdrinks run a greater risk of gaining weight and developing diabetes than women who keep the syrupy drinks to a minimum, according to a new study.

In a first of its kind finding, US researchers found a striking association between the consumption of these drinks and the risk for type II diabetes in women.

The study in the Journal of the American Medical Association focuses on non–diet softdrinks and fruit punch sweetened with either sugar or high–fructose corn syrup.

They estimated that women who drank one or more servings a day had an 80 per cent increased risk of getting the lifestyle–related disease compared to women who drank one or less a month.

What's more, the women whose consumption of these drinks rose over the eight–year period covered by the study piled on the pounds –– more than 17 pounds on average, the researchers said.

Women who kept the sugary liquids to one unit a week kept the weight gain down to six pounds on average.

"Soft drinks are the leading source of added sugar in the American diet. They provide a large amount of excess calories and no nutritional value," said Matthias Schulze, the lead study author.

"Our results show that increasing ones consumption of sugary soft drinks significantly increases the risk for weight gain and type 2 diabetes," said Schulze, who was a research fellow in the Department of Nutrition at Harvard School of Public Health when the study was conducted.

The findings were based on data culled from the Brigham and Womens Hospital–based Nurses Health Study II, which spanned the years 1991 and 1999.

The more than 91,000 participants filled out biennial food frequency questionnaires.