“Light” drinks containing sweeteners are no better for your health than traditional sugary drinks, according to a study published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. In this study, the researchers examined data from the French NutriNet-Santé cohort to study the relationship between the risk of cardiovascular disease and the consumption of sugary and artificially sweetened beverages. They followed 104,760 people and asked them to answer nutritional questionnaires every 6 months, including questions about their consumption of sugary or sweetened drinks.
From 2009 to 2019, researchers observed all cardiovascular events: stroke, transient ischemic attacks, myocardial infarction, acute coronary syndromes and angioplasties. They concluded that compared to non-consumers, the highest consumers of sugary drinks and light drinks had higher risks of first cardiovascular disease.
An increased risk from two drinks
A previous study published in the Jama Internal Medicine was conducted among 451,743 adults from 10 European countries (United Kingdom, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Spain and Sweden) who participated in the European survey on prospective surveys on cancer and nutrition (EPIC).
The frequency of consumption of carbonated and non-carbonated, sugary, light, isotonic drinks and water syrups was noted in each of the participants during interviews carried out in 1992 and 2000. 41,693 deaths were recorded during the follow-up period. The findings showed that participants who drank two or more drinks per day of soda with or without sweeteners had a 17% risk of all-cause mortality compared to those who drank less than one drink per month.
The risk of death was increased by 26% for those who drank more than two glasses of soft drinks with sweeteners. A rate surprisingly higher than the risk observed for two glasses of sugary drinks per day which was 8%.
These studies are not the first to point out the risks associated with the regular consumption of light drinks. In 2013, a Inserm team suggested that this drinking habit also increases the risk of type 2 diabetes.
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