Is Your Energy Drink Actually Killing You?

Is Your Energy Drink Actually Killing You?

It’s well known that sports drinks, energy drinks, pop and even juice can be delicious and loaded with sugar, but a new study takes things further by stating that these innocent beverages may actually be killers. Your pineapple juice may not be doing the deed in the middle of the night with a knife, but if you’re drinking some as you read this, you may want to reach for a glass of water instead.

The research-based study connected with Tufts University found that sugary drinks are responsible for approximately 184,000 adult deaths worldwide each year.

Researchers tabulated data from national dietary surveys in 51 countries from 1980 to 2010. Links were found between the effects of a regular intake of sugar-sweetened beverages and elevated levels of body mass index (BMI), cardiovascular diseases, diabetes and cancer.

The most common death linked to sugary drinks was diabetes, which accounted for 133,000 deaths annually across the world.

Problems due to an over-consumption of the drinks was found across countries with various income levels with about 76 percent of the overall deaths in low or middle-income countries. Proportional mortality linked to guilty beverages ranged from 1% in Japanese citizens over 65 years of age up to 30% in Mexicans under the age of 45.

“More evidence is showing the alarming impact of sugary drinks on our health, the healthcare service and the economy,” says Kawther Hashem, a nutritionist from the campaign group Action on Sugar.

While no current steps have been taken to change people’s drinking habits, the study concluded that sugar sweetened beverages are a single, modifiable component of people’s diet and indicated an urgent need for strong global prevention programs.

Photo credit: Chubarov Mikhail/Shutterstock

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