Sodas with sweeteners are responsible for the deaths of over 180 000 people annually, alarm scientists in an article published in Circulation journal.
The article was prepared by scientists from Tufts University, USA and is based on an overall analysis of 62 other research studies conducted between 1980 and 2010 in 51 countries, with about 612 000 people having participated.
The results of the research of the American scientists are beyond shocking - the consumption of sweetened sodas is the cause of approximately 184 000 deaths every year.
Within the scope of the study, the Americans investigated the cases of death and disability caused by diabetes, heart diseases and cancer which are all directly linked to the consumption of beverages with added sugar - including all carbonated, sports and energy drinks, fruit juices, as well as sweetened iced teas.
Purely natural juices that contain no artificial sweeteners and preservatives were not included in the study.
The experts have determined that the leading cause of death, linked with excessive consumption of beverages with added sugar, is diabetes. Diabetes has killed nearly 133 000 people out of those studied.
In 2nd place were the deaths related to cardiovascular diseases, which were fatal for 45 000 patients, and in 3rd place was cancer, which was directly responsible for the death of 6450 individuals.
According to Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian, who headed the study, limiting sweetened beverages or even removing them from one's diet needs to become a global priority.
The scientist is adamant that in many countries around the world we are now seeing a significant rise in the number of death cases that are directly linked to a single dietary factor - the use of drinks with added sugar.
The fact is that drinks with added sugar don't provide any health benefits for people, while limiting them may lead to tens of thousands of human lives being saved annually.
Analysis has shown that the number of death cases linked with consumption of sweetened beverages is higher in countries with low or medium incomes, where sodas are present in the menu of dozens of families.
For example, in Mexico the excessive consumption of sodas is responsible for nearly 30% of the death cases of people under the age of 45. At the same time, the mortality rate caused by consumption of sweetened sodas in Japan is less than 1%.
