Sugary drinks significantly increase the risk of cardiovascular disease, but occasional sweet treats do not, scientists find

A little of what you like does you good… unless it’s a carbonated drink. Scientists studying sugar’s impact on heart disease risk have found that eating too much added sugar increases the risk of stroke or aneurysm, but eating a few treats is associated with a lower risk of cardiovascular disease. Meanwhile, drinking sweetened beverages increases the risk of stroke, heart failure and atrial fibrillation.

“The most striking finding from our study is the divergent relationship between different sources of added sugars and cardiovascular disease risk,” said Suzanne Janzi, Ph.D. candidate at Lund University and corresponding author of the article in Frontiers in public health. “This surprising contrast highlights the importance of considering not only the amount of sugar consumed, but also its source and context.”

A spoonful of sugar

Although most public health authorities recommend limiting sugar consumption to protect your teeth and improve your diet, there is limited evidence to date on the impact of sugar intake on cardiovascular disease. These diseases are the leading cause of death and illness in Europe, and changing your diet is a relatively easy way to reduce your risk.

To understand how sugar consumption affects cardiovascular disease risk, and whether consuming different types of sugar changes these risks, the scientists collected data from two large cohort studies, the Swedish Mammography Cohort and the Cohort of Swedish Men. These studies administered dietary questionnaires in 1997 and 2009, allowing the scientists to track participants’ diets over time.

After exclusions were made to ensure that the two cohorts shared the same inclusion criteria and to remove independent risk factors for cardiovascular disease, the scientists were left with a sample of 69,705 participants. They looked at three types of sugar consumption – toppings such as honey, treats such as pastries, or sweetened drinks such as carbonated drinks – and seven cardiovascular diseases: two different types of strokes, heart attacks, heart failure, aortic aneurysms, atrial fibrillation and aortic aneurysms. stenosis.

Participants were followed until they died, were diagnosed with cardiovascular disease, or reached the end of the follow-up period in 2019. During this period, 25,739 participants were diagnosed with cardiovascular disease.

The scientists then used this data to find out how different types of sugar intake affect the risk of various cardiovascular diseases.

Matters of the heart

They found that consuming sweet drinks was worse for your health than any other form of sugar: drinking more sweetened drinks significantly increased the risk of ischemic stroke, heart failure, atrial fibrillation and abdominal aortic aneurysm.

“Liquid sugars, found in sweetened drinks, typically provide less satiety than solid sugars. They make you feel less full, which can potentially lead to overconsumption,” says Janzi. “The context also matters: treats are often enjoyed in social settings or on special occasions, while sweetened drinks are consumed more often.”

Different cardiovascular diseases were affected differently by increased sugar intake, possibly because consuming extra sugar affected the participants’ individual risk profile differently. Elevated sugar levels in general increased the risk of ischemic stroke and abdominal aortic aneurysm, and also increased the risk of heart failure in participants with a normal BMI.

However, the greatest risks of negative health outcomes occurred in the lowest treat intake category. Consuming sweets occasionally was associated with better results than no sweets at all.

“This could reflect underlying dietary behavior: individuals who consume very little sugar may follow a very restrictive diet or limit the amount of sugar due to pre-existing health problems,” Janzi suggested. “Although our observational study cannot establish causality, these findings suggest that extremely low sugar intake may not be necessary or beneficial for cardiovascular health.”

However, the scientists noted that more work will be needed to understand the mechanisms involved in the different effects of different types of sugar consumption. They also pointed out that diet is very demographically and culturally specific.

“Our findings are based on a Swedish population, which may have dietary habits and lifestyle factors that differ from those in other populations,” says Janzi. “Particularly relevant in this context is the social custom of ‘fika’: regular coffee and pastry breaks that are deeply rooted in Swedish culture. These results may not translate directly to other population groups with different food cultures.”