Sugar-Sweetened Beverages Increase Mortality Risk in Older Adults

A poster presented at the American Heart Association's Epidemiology and Prevention/Lifestyle and Cardiometabolic Health Scientific Session suggests middle-aged and older adults who consumed high quantities of sugar-sweetened beverages had a higher risk for all-cause and cardiovascular disease (CVD)-related mortality versus those who consumed fewer sugary beverages, reports Healio . The researchers analyzed data from 17,930 people at least 45 years old. Following adjustment for behavioral and sociodemographic risk factors, HRs rose for coronary heart disease (CHD), CVD, and all-cause mortality with growing consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages. In comparison with people in the lowest quartile for sugar-sweetened beverage consumption, those in the highest quartile had increased risk for CVD-related mortality, CHD-related mortality, and all-cause mortality after further adjustment for body mass index, total energy intake, hypertension, and dyslipidemia. Results were similar when comparing the third quartile with the second quartile. Mortality risk did not climb with sugar-sweetened food consumption.