Research examines association between soft drink consumption, mortality

A new study coordinated by researchers from the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) examined the association between total, sugar-sweetened and artificially sweetened soft drink consumption and subsequent total and cause-specific mortality.

The study included data from more than 450,000 people in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition cohort, with an average follow-up period of more than 16 years. 

Compared with participants who drank less than one glass of sugar-sweetened or artificially sweetened soft drinks per month, participants who drank two or more glasses of these drinks per day had a higher risk of all-cause mortality.

In addition, consumption of two or more glasses of artificially sweetened soft drinks per day was found to be positively associated with deaths from circulatory diseases, and consumption of one or more glasses of sugar-sweetened soft drinks per day was found to be positively associated with deaths from digestive diseases.