24
The consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) is associated with type 2 diabetes (T2D) and cardiovascular diseases (CVD). However, an updated and comprehensive assessment of the global burden attributable to SSBs remains scarce. Here we estimated SSB-attributable T2D and CVD burdens across 184 countries in 1990 and 2020 globally, regionally and nationally, incorporating data from the Global Dietary Database, jointly stratified by age, sex, educational attainment and urbanicity. In 2020, 2.2 million (95% uncertainty interval 2.0–2.3) new T2D cases and 1.2 million (95% uncertainty interval 1.1–1.3) new CVD cases were attributable to SSBs worldwide, representing 9.8% and 3.1%, respectively, of all incident cases. Globally, proportional SSB-attributable burdens were higher among men versus women, younger versus older adults, higher- versus lower-educated adults, and adults in urban versus rural areas. By world region, the highest SSB-attributable percentage burdens were in Latin America and the Caribbean (T2D: 24.4%; CVD: 11.3%) and sub-Saharan Africa (T2D: 21.5%; CVD: 10.5%). From 1990 to 2020, the largest proportional increases in SSB-attributable incident T2D and CVD cases were in sub-Saharan Africa (+8.8% and +4.4%, respectively). Our study highlights the countries and subpopulations most affected by cardiometabolic disease associated with SSB consumption, assisting in shaping effective policies and interventions to reduce these burdens globally. Estimates from the Global Dietary Database indicated that 2.2 million new type 2 diabetes and 1.2 million new cardiovascular disease cases were attributable to sugar-sweetened beverages worldwide in 2020, with the highest burdens in sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean.
it is crazy just how shitty sugary drinks are for our metabolism. I knew they weren’t “good” for us growing up, but a lot of things in the developed world diet aren’t either.
it wasn’t until I was in my 30s and taking an undergrad class on human nutrition where we spent a unit in syndrome x/metabolic disorders that it really hit me. granted, they put sugar in everything, but they really pack it into drinks. especially carbonated ones, because carbonation deadens taste. so we can’t even taste most of the sweetener unless the drink is flat, at which point it’s obviously too sweet.
when they show just how much sugar is in a 20oz soda, it’s just another exhibit showing how the capitalist pursuit of profit will legit sell murder juice and pony up huge bucks to obfuscate the science or block the addition of an “upper intake limit” of sugar recommendation on nutrition labels, as is done for salt.
that doesn’t even get into how multinationals swoop in, privatize water systems, jack up the price, and then dump their murder juice cheap on the people… completely exploding the rates of metabolic disorders.
and then they sponsor pharma and nutrition confabs telling people to just exercise more and take pills.