Daily Sugary Drinks Raise Men’s Heart Failure Risk by 23%

Regular consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) is associated with heightened risk of heart failure (HF) in men, according to a recent study.

While previous research has shown numerous detrimental effects of SSBs on overall health, the recent study was the first to specifically investigate the impact of SSBs consumption on the risk of HF.
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For their study, researchers followed 42,400 men between the ages of 45 and 79 years from 1998 to 2010. Participants’ SSB consumption was assessed with food frequency questionnaires and their risk of HF was calculated using data from the Swedish National Patient Register and the Cause of Death Register.

During a mean follow-up of 11.7 years, 4113 HF events occurred.

Overall, researchers found that men who consumed 2 or more SSBs a day were 23% more likely to develop HF than those men who did not consume SSBs.

“Our finding that sweetened beverage consumption is associated with higher risk of HF could have implications for HF prevention strategies,” they concluded.

“Additional prospective studies investigating the link between sweetened beverage consumption and HF are therefore needed.”

—Michael Potts

Reference:
Larsson SC, Wolk A, Rahman I. The relationship between sweetened beverage consumption and risk of heart failure in men. Heart. 2015. [epub ahead of print]. doi:10.1136/heartjnl-2015-307542.