Sugar-sweetened beverages may increase cardiovascular risk in women

Drinking two or more sugar-sweetened beverages a day may expand a woman's waistline and increase her risk of heart disease and diabetes, according to research findings presented Sunday at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions 2011. In this study, researchers compared middle-aged and older women who drank two or more sugar-sweetened beverages a day, such as carbonated sodas or flavored waters with added sugar, with women who drank one or less daily. Women consuming two or more beverages per day were nearly four times as likely to develop high triglycerides and were significantly more likely to increase their waist sizes and to develop impaired fasting glucose levels. The same associations were not observed in men. "Women who drank more than two sugar-sweetened drinks a day had increasing waist sizes, but weren't necessarily gaining weight," said Christina Shay, lead author of the study and assistant professor at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center. "These women also developed high triglycerides and women with normal blood glucose levels more frequently went from having a low risk to a high risk of developing diabetes over time," Shay said. The study included food frequency surveys in 4,166 African-American, Caucasian, Chinese-American and Hispanic adults aged 45 to 84. At the beginning of the study the participants didn't have cardiovascular disease.