High intake of sugar-sweetened beverage ups CVD risk

People who regularly drink sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) are at greater risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) regardless of their physical activity levels, reports a study.

Overall, 13,269 CVD events occurred during 3,001,213 person-years of follow-up. Participants who consumed ≥2 servings/d of SSBs (hazard ratio [HR], 1.21, 95 percent confidence interval [CI], 1.12‒1.32; p_trend<0.001) or artificially sweetened beverages (ASBs; HR, 1.03, 95 percent CI, 0.97‒1.09; p_trend=0.06) had a significantly higher CVD risk than those who never/rarely consumed these drinks.

The HR for CVD per 1 serving increment of SSB per day was 1.18 (95 percent CI, 1.10‒1.26) for participants who met the physical activity guidelines and 1.12 (95 percent CI, 1.04‒1.20) for those did not meet the guidelines (≥7.5 vs <7.5 MET h/wk).

Additionally, participants who did not meet the physical activity guidelines and consumed ≥2 servings/wk of SSBs had a 47-percent higher risk of CVD (HR, 1.47, 95 percent CI, 1.37‒1.57) compared with those who met the guidelines and never/rarely consumed SSBs.

Significant associations were not seen for ASB when stratified by physical activity.

“These results support current recommendations to limit the intake of SSBs even for physically active individuals,” the researchers said.

This study calculated HRs between SSB or ASB intake and physical activity with incident CVD using Cox proportional hazards models. A total of 65,730 females in the Nurses’ Health Study (1980–2016) and 39,418 males in the Health Professional’s Follow-up Study (1986–2016), who were free from chronic diseases at baseline, were included in the analysis.

The researchers evaluated SSBs and ASBs every 4 years and physical activity biannually.