Sugary drinks are responsible for more than 2.2m new cases of diabetes and 1.1m new cases of heart disease a year around the world, according to a new study.
Global analysis published in Nature Medicine on Monday highlights growing health inequalities. In Latin America and the Caribbean, sugary drinks contributed to almost a quarter (24%) of new type 2 diabetes cases in 2020.
In sub-Saharan Africa, the region that has seen the greatest percentage increase in cases from 1990 to 2020, sugary drinks led to more than one in five (21%) new diabetes cases and more than one in 10 (11%) new cases of heart disease.
Colombia, Mexico and South Africa have been particularly hard hit, according to the study from researchers at Tufts University in the US.
Sugary drinks were responsible for almost half (48%) of all new diabetes cases in Colombia. Nearly one-third of all new diabetes cases in Mexico were linked to sugary drinks, which were also connected to more than a quarter (27.6%) of new diabetes cases and 14.6% of cases of cardiovascular disease in South Africa.
Sugary drinks are rapidly digested, causing a spike in blood-sugar levels with little nutritional value. Drinking them regularly over time leads to weight gain, insulin resistance and a host of metabolic issues tied to type 2 diabetes and heart disease.
Dariush Mozaffarian, one of the paper’s authors and director of Tuft’s Food is Medicine Institute, said: “Sugar-sweetened beverages are heavily marketed and sold in low- and middle-income nations. Not only are these communities consuming harmful products, but they are also often less well equipped to deal with the long-term health consequences.”
About 830 million people worldwide have diabetes, the majority living in low- and middle-income countries, according to the World Health Organization. Unlike type 1, type 2 diabetes can be prevented. Cardiovascular diseases are the leading cause of death globally, taking an estimated 17.9 million lives each year. More than three-quarters of these deaths take place in low- and middle-income countries.
Dr Catherine Kanari, a non-communicable diseases specialist for Amref Health Africa in Kenya, said: “We are seeing a rise in the popularity of sugary drinks fuelled by influencer culture online. In urban centres, young people are targeted by social media influencers that are paid to promote branded sugary drinks to them, filling an information gap left by the lack of school-based nutrition education.”
She added: “Ultimately, a rise in diabetes cases risks straining our health system to beyond its limits.”
The study’s authors call for a range of measures, including public health campaigns, regulation of sugary drink advertising and taxes on sugar-sweetened beverages. Mexico, which has one of the highest rates of sugary drink consumption in the world, introduced a tax on the beverages in 2014.
“Much more needs to be done, especially in countries in Latin America and Africa where consumption is high and the health consequence severe,” said Mozaffarian. “As a species, we need to address sugar-sweetened beverage consumption.”
