Just two soft drink cans raise death risk in middle-aged

Middle-aged adults who drink at least two cans of fizzy drinks a day are twice as more likely to die from heart disease than those who shun sugary drinks, a study warned.

They also had an increased risk of death from all causes, including other cardiovascular conditions.

But there was no link between regularly eating sugary snacks and foods and increased risk of death.

This difference in the risk of death may be related to how sugary drinks and foods are processed by the body, scientists at Emory University in Atlanta said.

Because sugary drinks do not contain any other nutrients, the body has to deal with a sudden "sugar rush" while in foods the sugars are released more slowly.

Several previous studies found an association between added sugar and obesity and various chronic diseases.

However, few have been able to look at the association between increased sugar consumption and death.

But the scientists stressed the new study does not prove cause and effect, rather it identifies a trend.

Added sugar

Assistant professor Dr Jean Welsh said: "There were two parts of this question we wanted to understand.

"Do added sugars increase risk of death from heart disease or other causes, and, if so, is there a difference in risk between sugar-sweetened beverages and sugary foods?

"We believe this study adds strong data to what already exists highlighting the importance of minimising sugary beverages in our diet."

This study used data from the Reasons for Geographic and Racial Differences in Stroke (REGARDS) study, a US-based longitudinal study of 30,183 black and white adults over 45.

The final study population was 17,930 after excluding those with a self-reported history of heart disease, as well as stroke and Type 2 diabetes.

Participants filled in a questionnaire to estimate how much sugary drinks and foods they drank and ate.