Soft Drinks Linked To Heart Disease Via Metabolic Syndrome

[Guest guest]

Soft Drinks Linked To Heart Disease Via Metabolic Syndrome

24 Jul 2007

 

A new US study has found that drinking more than one soft drink a day,

whether regular or diet, may be linked to an increased risk of

developing heart disease, via an increase in metabolic syndrome, a

group of characteristics like excess girth, high blood pressure, and

other factors that increase the chances of getting diabetes and

cardiovascular problems.

 

The findings are published in the early online edition of Circulation,

the journal of the American Heart Association.

 

The research is part of the large scale ongoing study known as the

Framingham Heart Study (FHS), that started in 1948 and is now in its

third generation of participants, grandchildren of the original

cohort. The FHS looks at common factors or characteristics that

contribute to cardiovascular disease (CVD) by following its

development over a long period of time in a large group of people who

joined before they had any overt symptoms of CVD or heart attack or

stroke.

 

The FHS was started under the direction of the National Heart

Institute (now known as the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute

or NHLBI).

 

Senior author of the study, Dr Ramachandran Vasan, who is professor of

medicine at Boston University School of Medicine in Massachusetts,

said that:

 

" We were struck by the fact that it didn't matter whether it was a

diet or regular soda that participants consumed, the association with

increased risk was present. "

 

" In those who drink one or more soft drinks daily, there was an

association of an increased risk of developing the metabolic

syndrome, " he added.

 

Other studies have linked drinking soft drinks with risk factors for

heart disease, but this study suggests that diet soft drinks sweetened

with artificial sweeteners are just as likely to be linked as high

calorie drinks sweetened with sugar.

 

Dr Ravi Dhingra,an instructor in medicine at Harvard Medical School,

and lead author of the study said that:

 

" Moderation in anything is the key. If you are drinking one or more

soft drinks a day, you may be increasing your risk of developing

metabolic risk factors for heart disease. "

 

Metabolic syndrome is a group of symptoms such as excess waist

circumference, high blood pressure, elevated triglycerides, low levels

of high-density lipoprotein (HDL or " good " cholesterol) and high

fasting glucose levels. Having three or more of the symptoms increases

a person's risk of developing diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

 

The study included 9,000 " person observations " taken at three

different times over a four year period from participants enrolled in

the FHS, all middle aged men and women.

 

At the start of the four year observation period ( " baseline " ) , the

scientists established that participants who drank one or more soft

drinks a day had a 48 per cent higher chance of having metabolic

syndrome than those who drank less.

 

Over the four year follow up, a longitudinal study of those

participants who did not have metabolic syndrome at baseline (6,039

person observations) showed that drinking one or more soft drinks a

day was linked to a 44 per cent higher risk of getting metabolic

syndrome for the first time (new onset).

 

The investigators also found that participants who drank one or more

soft drinks a day, when compared to those that drank less, had a

number of increased risk factors for metabolic syndrome, including:

a.. 31 per cent greater risk of developing new-onset obesity (defined

as a body mass index or BMI of 30 kilograms per meter squared or higher).

b.. 30 per cent higher risk of developing an increased waist

circumference.

c.. 25 per cent increased risk of developing high blood triglycerides

or high fasting blood glucose.

d.. 32 per cent increased risk of having low HDL ( " good " cholesterol) .

e.. A trend towards an increased risk of developing high blood

pressure, but this was not statistically significant.

They also took data from a smaller separate group of participants who

had filled in food questionnaires about their soft drink consumption

and found that those participants who drank one or more diet or

regular soda (fizzy) drinks a day had a 50 to 60 per cent higher risk

of developing new-onset metabolic syndrome.

 

The researchers adjusted the results to take into account a number of

dietary and lifestyle factors of soft drink users, for instance to

take out the effect of food that is typically eaten at the same time

as soft drinks, but this had no effect on the strength of the link.

For example they adjusted for saturated fat and trans fat intake,

dietary fibre, total caloric intake, smoking and physical activity,

but, as Vasan said, they " still observed a significant association of

soft drink consumption and risk of developing the metabolic syndrome

and multiple metabolic risk factors " .

 

Speculating on their findings, Vasan said that perhaps the fructose

corn syrup in regular soft drinks causes weight gain, or leads to

insulin resistance and diabetes, but if that were the case you would

expect to see the link with regular drinks and not with diet drinks.

" Our findings suggest this is not the case, " said Vasan.

 

Perhaps the answer lies in the fact that drinking more liquids during

a meal tends to make you eat more solids at the next meal. Whereas if

you had drunk less and eaten more at the first meal, at the next meal

you tend to eat less solids. Drinking more liquids does not compensate

to the same extent as eating solids; you feel full at the time, but

you are hungrier next time.

 

Another possibility could be that being used to drinking sweet drinks

makes a person more likely to eat sweet things.

 

And another theory is that the caramel in soft drinks could stimulate

the development of complex sugars (high glycation end products) that

result in insulin resistance and cause inflammation, as shown by some

experimental studies.

 

The researchers said it was important to realise that these are just

theories, and their study had only found a link between soft drinks

and metabolic syndrome, it had not established that one causes the

other. They suggested further studies be done to repeat the results

and to find out what the underlying mechanisms could be, before

recommendations are made about whether people should change their

consumption of soft drinks.

 

" Soft Drink Consumption and Risk of Developing Cardiometabolic Risk

Factors and the Metabolic Syndrome in Middle-Aged Adults in the Community "

Ravi Dhingra, Lisa Sullivan, Paul F. Jacques, Thomas J. Wang, Caroline

S. Fox, James B. Meigs, Ralph B. D'Agostino, J. Michael Gaziano, and

Ramachandran S. Vasan.

Circulation Published online before print July 23, 2007

doi:10.1161/ CIRCULATIONAHA. 107.689935

 

Click here for Abstract.

 

Click here for more information about Metabolic Syndrome (American

Heart Association) .

 

Click here to learn more about the Framingham Heart Study.

 

Written by: Catharine Paddock

Writer: Medical News Today

------------ --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- -

 

Article URL: http://www.medicaln ewstoday. com/articles/ 77616.php

 

Main News Category: Cardiovascular / Cardiology

 

Also Appears In:

Diabetes

Nutrition / Diet

[Guest guest]

I heard this on the news this morning. It's very interesting. I

completely fit the profile for metabolic syndrome 6 months ago - on

every count. I used to be addicted to Pepsi One as well, though I gave

that up some time ago.

 

Now I won't touch even diet soft drinks with a 10-foot pole. :-)

 

Sharon

 

Guru K wrote:

> Soft Drinks Linked To Heart Disease Via Metabolic Syndrome

> 24 Jul 2007

>

[Guest guest]

This study has more holes in it than swiss cheese. I don't know about

anyone else, but diet soda stays in my diet. Now they claim vitamins

are harmful. Sixty years of age, and you have to ignore a lot of this

nonsence.

Blessings, Jack (Pampa, Texas)

[Guest guest]

I haven't read this study but I have been researching splenda - I won't do

aspartame and what I am finding is not good. I can tell you from personal

experience it causes weight gain, spikes blood sugar and for me it causes

water retention.

 

 

Belinda

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[Guest guest]

Jack

 

I don't think the vitamins are the problem. It's the chemicals in

diet soda. Maybe try juice or a natural soda. The problem with

regular soda like Coke is the white sugar.

 

GB

 

, " maxium62001 "

<maxium62001 wrote:

>

> This study has more holes in it than swiss cheese. I don't know about

> anyone else, but diet soda stays in my diet. Now they claim vitamins

> are harmful. Sixty years of age, and you have to ignore a lot of this

> nonsence.

> Blessings, Jack (Pampa, Texas)

>