A study conducted by the University of California San Francisco concluded that an excessive intake of soft drinks and other sugar-sweetened beverages may be a leading factor for the development of diabetes.
The research at UCSF, led by Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, MD, PhD, showed that consumption of sugary beverages including soft drinks, sports drinks and sweetened juices resulted in an estimated 130,000 additional cases of diabetes during the time between 1990 and 2000.
Since it has also been determined that diabetes is a leading cause of cardiovascular disease, Dr. Bibbins-Domingo points out that the goal of the study was:
"to take the currently available evidence linking the consumption of sodas and other sugary drinks to diabetes and weight gain and to assess the potential health benefits of curbing this excessive consumption. As a nation we are consuming more and more of these drinks and our study suggest that this rise in consumption has contributed to the burden of diabetes and heart disease nationally."
The researchers estimated that consumption of sugary drinks caused 14,000 cases of cardiovascular diseases during the Nineties. The public health cost of millions of people consuming all these sweet drinks and developing diabetes and coronary artery disease may be as high as $500 billion.
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