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The perfect drink for human consumption is still water, with unsweetened tea or coffee in seconds, says one expert.
People who think they are making a healthier decision by opting for artificially sweetened beverages over those containing sugar may be wrong, according to a French population study that found no difference in the risk of developing CV disease.
“In this cohort, a higher intake of sugary drinks and [artificially sweetened beverages] were associated with an increased risk of CVD, suggesting that [they] it may not be a healthy substitute for sugary drinks, ”write PhD student Eloi Chazelas (Sorbonne University Paris Nord, France) and colleagues.
Compared with people who did not consume sweetened sodas or juices, those who reported high intakes of them were more likely to develop stroke, TIA, MI, or ACS and to undergo angioplasty, regardless of whether the drinks were sweetened with sugar ( HR 1.20; 95% CI 1.04-1.40) or artificial sweeteners (HR 1.32; 95% CI 1.00-1.73).
“We know that sugar-sweetened beverages are harmful, and we have known for some time that there have also been some signs of harm from artificially sweetened beverages,” said Andrew Freeman, MD (National Jewish Health, Denver, CO), who was not involved. in the study. “The perfect drink for human consumption is still water. Period. Unsweetened tea or unsweetened coffee are in a close second. “
Eat, drink what you can pronounce
For the study, published as a research letter on October 26, 2020, at Journal of the American College of Cardiology, Chazelas and their colleagues examined data from 104,760 participants in the NutriNet-Santé study. Started in 2009, the study tracks online questionnaires and dietary records filled out by participants every 6 months regarding their eating habits, physical activity, socioeconomic status, and body size. The cohort was more than 75% women and the median follow-up time was 6.6 years.
“Sugary drinks” were defined as beverages that contained 5% or more sugar and included soft drinks, syrups, 100% juices, and fruit drinks. Artificial sweeteners included aspartame, sucralose, and natural sweeteners like stevia. The participants were divided into non-consumers, low consumers and high consumers of the beverages.
Even after adjusting for multiple confounding factors, including body mass index, smoking, physical activity, and early CV disease, drinkers of sugary and artificially sweetened beverages had a higher risk of CV disease than those who did not consume that type of drinks.
If we had the intention of drinking Diet Coke, all the lakes and rivers would be full of it. Andrew Freeman
While the new study does not prove the causal effects of sugar or artificial sweeteners on adverse health outcomes, Freeman said evidence is accumulating on the potential dangers of sweeteners, including a recent study that found diet sodas were associated with an increased risk of stroke in women. .
“At the end of the day, it’s just more evidence that you really should eat and drink than you can pronounce,” he said. “If we had the intention of drinking Diet Coke, all the lakes and rivers would be full of it.”
Freeman said it’s also worth considering that a lifestyle that includes frequent consumption of caffeinated sodas, for example, could be a marker of other unhealthy habits that need to be changed, such as general diet.
Chazelas and his colleagues say that the new data “provides additional arguments to fuel the current debate on taxes, labeling and regulation of sugary drinks and [artificially-sweetened beverages]. “In the United States, the US Food and Drug Administration requires that standard Nutrition Facts labels include the amount of added sugar to differentiate it from inherent natural sugars, such as those in fruit. A handful of cities in All over the country they charge a “tax on soft drinks” designed to incentivize healthier choices Several other countries like Mexico, Chile and the UK have also passed nationwide taxes on sugary drinks.
