Substituting one serving of sugar-sweetened drinks per day with water or unsweetened tea or coffee has been found to reduce the incidence of type 2 diabetes by 14–25%.
Between 1993 and 1997, researchers at Cambridge University prospectively evaluated drinks consumption using a 1-week food diary in 25 693 UK adults without diabetes. Over a mean follow-up of 10.8 years, there were 847 incident cases of type 2 diabetes in this cohort.
Diabetes risk was greater in those who drank soft drinks (hazard ratio [HR], 1.21 per serving per day) and sweetened milk drinks such as milkshakes and hot chocolate (HR, 1.22 per serving per day), but not in those who drank sweetened tea/coffee or fruit juices. Artificially sweetened drinks also had an increased HR, but this was non-significant after adjustment for adiposity. There was a significant linear relationship between sweetened drink intake as a proportion of total energy intake and the development of type 2 diabetes. Each 5% increase in drink intake was associated with an 18% increased risk of the condition.
Substituting sugary drinks with artificially sweetened drinks had no significant effect on diabetes incidence; however, substituting them with water reduced the risk (HR, 0.86 for soft drinks and 0.80 for sweetened milk drinks). Substituting with unsweetened tea/coffee also reduced the risk (HR, 0.86 for soft drinks and 0.75) for milk drinks). Substituting sweetened tea/coffee with the unsweetened variety also reduced the risk by a small but significant amount (HR, 0.96).
While the authors highlighted the limitations of the study, including the fact that drink intake was only assessed over a single week at the beginning of the study, this is simple advice that is easy to understand and follow, and it appears to have a significant effect on type 2 diabetes prevalence. Nita Forouhi, one of the lead study authors, said that the study offered practical suggestions for healthy alternative drinks.
“Our new findings on the potential to reduce the burden of diabetes by reducing the percentage of energy consumed from sweet beverages and further important evidence to the recommendation from the World Health Organization to limit the intake of free sugars in our diet.”
The study can be read in full in Diabetologia here.
