Sugary drinks bad for women's heart

A new study has found that drinking two or more sugar-sweetened beverages a day may expand woman's waistline and increase her risk of heart disease and diabetes. In this study, researchers compared middle-aged and older women who drank two or more sugar-sweetened beverages a day, such as carbonated sodas or flavoured waters with added sugar, to women who drank one or less daily. Women consuming two or more beverages per day were nearly four times as likely to develop high triglycerides, and were significantly more likely to increase their waist sizes and to develop impaired fasting glucose levels. The same associations were not observed in men. "Women who drank more than two sugar-sweetened drinks a day had increasing waist sizes, but weren't necessarily gaining weight," said Christina Shay, Ph.D., lead author of the study and assistant professor at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Centre in Oklahoma City. "These women also developed high triglycerides and women with normal blood glucose levels more frequently went from having a low risk to a high risk of developing diabetes over time," she stated. Women may have a greater chance for developing cardiovascular disease risk factors from sugar-sweetened drinks because they require fewer calories than men which makes each calorie count more towards cardiovascular risk in women, Shay said. Researchers have yet to determine exactly how sugar-sweetened beverages influence cardiovascular risk factors such as high triglycerides in individuals who do not gain weight, Shay said, but further work is planned to try and figure that out. The study was presented at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions 2011.