IF you’re thinking about ordering another can of coke, you might want to think again.
People who drink more than one sugary drink a week have a greater risk of several deadly conditions – including cancer, US and Chinese researchers found.
People who drink more than one sugary drink a week have a greater risk of several deadly conditions
For each extra sugary drink per week, people increase their odds of suffering 45 different conditions, the authors found.
They are now urging people to stick to the World Health Organisations‘ six teaspoons a day to stave off the risks, ranging from diabetes to tooth decay.
Six teaspoons of sugar works out to be about 25g of sugar, which can be found in one can of coke, one bar 45g bar of dairy milk chocolate or two 150ml glasses of fruit juice.
The major review found each additional sugar-sweetened drink per day was linked to a 17 per cent higher risk of coronary heart disease, 4 per cent higher risk of gout and 4 per cent higher risk of death.
Experts also found strong links between dietary sugar consumption and metabolic issues including diabetes and obesity.
It was also firmly linked to ten heart issues such as high blood pressure, heart attack and stroke as well as seven cancers including breast, prostate and pancreatic cancer.
Excess sugar was also associated with other health issues such asthma, tooth decay and depression, according to the findings published in the BMJ.
Even fructose, a naturally occurring sugar found in fruit juices, was linked to a 22 per cent increased risk of pancreatic cancer, for every 25g a day consumed.
The NHS says that adults should have no more than 30g of free sugars a day, roughly equivalent to seven sugar cubes.
But the authors recommend the consumption of added sugars to below 25 g per day day – approximately six teaspoons – and limiting the consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages to less than one serving a week.
“To change sugar consumption patterns, especially for children and adolescents, a combination of widespread public health education and policies worldwide is urgently needed,” they said.
And the authors also called for more research into the links between high sugar consumption and cancer after the study suggested a link between the two.
Academics in China and the US conducted an “umbrella review” on the health impacts of sugar intake.
This means that they examined evidence from multiple existing reviews of evidence and in total examined data from 73 meta-analyses involving 8,601 studies.
The evidence review, published in The BMJ, suggested that higher sugar intake was linked to 45 heath outcomes.
And when the researchers looked specifically at sugar-sweetened beverages they found “moderate” evidence to suggest that people who drank the highest number of sugary drinks were more likely to have a higher body weight compared to those who drank the fewest.
The authors, led by experts from Sichuan University in China, said these findings – combined with Wold Health Organisation, World Cancer Research Fund and American Institute for Cancer Research guidance – suggest reducing the consumption of added sugars to below 25 g/day, approximately six teaspoons a day, and limiting the consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages to less than one serving a week.
The NHS says that adults should have no more than 30g of free sugars a day, roughly equivalent to seven sugar cubes.
It suggests that people should reduce sugar consumed through drinks and advises people to “go for water, lower-fat milk, or sugar-free, diet or no-added-sugar drinks” as alternatives.
“If you prefer fizzy drinks, try diluting no-added sugar squash with sparkling water,” the NHS website adds.
The authors of the latest study wrote: “High dietary sugar consumption is generally more harmful than beneficial for health, especially in cardiometabolic disease.
“This umbrella review shows that high dietary sugar consumption, especially intake of sugars that contain fructose, is harmfully associated with large numbers of health outcomes.
“Evidence for the harmful associations between dietary sugar consumption and changes in body weight (sugar sweetened beverages), ectopic fat accumulation (added sugars), obesity in children (sugar sweetened beverages), coronary heart disease (sugar sweetened beverages), and depression (sugar sweetened beverages) seems to be more reliable than that for other outcomes.
“Evidence of the association between dietary sugar consumption and cancer remains limited but warrants further research.
“We recommend reducing the consumption of free sugars or added sugars to below 25 g/day (approximately six teaspoons a day) and limiting the consumption of sugar sweetened beverages to less than one serving a week (approximately 200-355 mL/week).
“To change sugar consumption patterns, especially for children and adolescents, a combination of widespread public health education and policies worldwide is urgently needed.”
