What does the sugar in beverages do to your body?
This could sour you on sugary drinks. Recent research confirms drinking sugar-sweetened beverages every day increases your risk of getting cardiovascular disease and Type 2 diabetes. That's the case even if you exercise regularly.
The good news is that replacing a soft drink or other beverages with added sugar with a non-sugary alternative, such as flavored sparkling water, reduces the risks. Beverages with added sugar include sports and energy drinks and lemonade.
Glucose spike
A Tufts University study published early this year quantified the global health impact of sugary drinks. The study estimates 2.2 million new cases of Type 2 diabetes and 1.2 million new cases of cardiovascular disease occur every year from consuming sugar-sweetened beverages. Sugary drinks spike blood glucose levels, which leads to inflammation, insulin resistance and causes extra fat around the organs. All contribute to higher risks of heart disease and stroke.
The damaging effects are unequally distributed. Men are more likely to suffer the consequences than women and younger adults more than their older counterparts.
Developing countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean are especially hard-hit.
The study recommends a broad response that includes public health campaigns, regulation of advertising and taxes on beverages.
Does exercise lower blood sugar?
Increased risk persists among people with higher levels of physical activity, according to a 2024 study from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
It pulled from health outcomes data of more than 100,000 people in the U.S. over 30 years, focusing on their consumption of sugary beverages, physical activity and whether they were diagnosed with cardiovascular disease.
The study found that drinking one sugary drink a day was linked to an 18% higher risk of cardiovascular disease no matter how much people exercise. And two or more sugary drinks a day bumped the risk up to 21% among those who met the CDC-recommended 150 minutes of moderate physical activity a week. Even sugary drink consumers in the top 25% of physical activity level were at greater risk of cardiovascular disease.
Don't pop the top
Another Harvard study, published in 2019, found that avoiding sugary drinks lowered risks of cardiovascular disease and early death in people with diabetes. Replacing one daily sugary drink with a non-sugary alternative reduced the risk of early death by up to 18% and cardiovascular-related death by 24%.
The researchers evaluated an average of 18.5 years of health data from more than 15,000 middle-aged and older adults with diabetes who reported what they drank.
