Yet another study has linked drinking sugary drinks daily to an elevated risk of cardiovascular disease. It’s one more reason to resist the sugar-laced sodas and sports drinks that companies such as Coca-Cola and PepsiCo pack into your local bodega.
The new study, published today in the Journal of the American Heart Association, looked at data from 106,000 women over 20 years and found that drinking sugar-sweetened beverages daily “was associated with a nearly 20% greater likelihood of women having a cardiovascular disease compared to women who rarely or never drank sugary beverages,” the American Heart Association wrote.
The researchers relied on survey data from the decades-long California Teachers Study and inpatient hospitalization records in the state. They wrote that their findings “expand the literature on unfavorable effects of [sugar-sweetened beverage] intake.”
That literature includes a 2012 study from the Harvard School of Public Health, which found that men who drink one sugary drink per day have a 20% greater likelihood of coronary heart disease compared to men who don’t. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, meanwhile, continues to urge adults and kids to cut back on sugary drinks and instead turn to—you guessed it—water.
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