New research has found that drinking sugary beverages every day could increase a woman’s risk of cardiovascular disease.
The women were asked to report on what and how many sugary drinks they consumed each day, defined in the study as caloric soft drinks, sweetened bottled waters or teas, and sugar-added fruit drinks, but not 100% fruit juices. They also found that drinking one or more sugary beverages every day was linked with nearly a 20% higher risk of having cardiovascular disease, a 21% higher risk of having a stroke, and with a 26% higher change of needing a procedure to open clogged arteries, such as angioplasty, compared to women who rarely or never drank sugary beverages.
“In addition, too much sugar in the blood is associated with oxidative stress and inflammation, insulin resistance, unhealthy cholesterol profiles and type 2 diabetes, conditions that are strongly linked to the development of atherosclerosis, the slow narrowing of the arteries that underlies most cardiovascular disease,” said Anderson.