Research published in the journal of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes estimates that replacing the consumption of one serving of a sugary drink per day, with either water or unsweetened tea or coffee, lowers the risk of developing diabetes by 14- 25%
This study included more than 25,000 men and women aged 40-79 . The study subjects recorded everything that they ate and drank for 7 consecutive days and recorded whether sugar was added to their beverages. After an 11 year of follow-up period 847 study participants had been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. Their research found that as the intake of sugars found in sweet beverages increased by 5% of their calories, the risk of diabetes increased 18% .
Dr Nita Forouhi, lead researcher from University of Cambridge, says “By using this detailed dietary assessment with a food diary, we were able to study several different types of sugary beverages, including sugar-sweetened soft drinks, sweetened tea or coffee and sweetened milk drinks as well as artificially sweetened beverages (ASB) and fruit juice, and to examine what would happen if water, unsweetened tea or coffee or ASB were substituted for sugary drinks. The good news is that our study provides evidence that replacing a daily serving of a sugary soft drink or sugary milk drink with water or unsweetened tea or coffee can help to cut the risk of diabetes, offering practical suggestions for healthy alternative drinks for the prevention of diabetes.”
It is important and interesting to note that artificially sweetened beverages did not perform well to reduce diabetes risk as did water, tea or coffee. The explanation for this would be beyond the scope of this study.
Dr Forouhi concludes her research paper with this comment; “Our new findings on the potential to reduce the burden of diabetes by reducing the percentage of energy consumed from sweet beverages add further important evidence to the recommendation from the World Health Organization to limit the intake of free sugars in our diet.”
Their research published in Diabetologia, April 2015 is entitled Impact of Sweet Beverage Intake and Type 2 Diabetes, and Effects of Substitution with Alternative Beverages.
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