《循环》杂志刊登的一篇研究发现，甜饮料每年在全球可能导致了184000成年人的死亡。该研究在2013年美国心脏学会的流行病学与疾病预防会议中被提出过。

美国塔夫斯大学弗里德曼营养科学与政策学院院长、也是该研究的资深作者、医学博士Dariush Mozaffarian称：“甜饮料的消费在很多国家导致了大量死亡的发生。我们应该减少甜饮料的生产、消费或者直接将它们从膳食中去掉。”

作为全球第一篇关于甜饮料对健康影响的全球性的详细报告，研究人员统计了2010年因经常喝甜饮料而患糖尿病、心脏病和癌症最终导致死亡或残疾的人数。在这份研究中，甜饮料是指含糖的碳酸饮料、果汁、运动/能量饮料、含糖冰红茶，还包括一些自制的饮料（每份8盎司至少50千卡能量）。不包括百分之百的纯果汁。

该研究由62个膳食调查组成，调查时间从1980年到2010年，包括了51个国家的 611971人，研究中还包括了187个国家的糖消费水平和其他相关信息。这保证了研究中甜饮料消费人群地理、性别和年龄的差异性。研究者把已发表的甜饮料对健康损害的证据进行了荟萃分析，得出结论：饮用甜饮料对糖尿病有直接影响，因为甜饮料导致的肥胖也对心血管疾病、糖尿病和癌症而产生影响。

2010年，研究者估计甜饮料的消费可能需要为以下后果负责：

死于糖尿病的133000人

死于心血管疾病的45000人

死于癌症的6450人

Mozaffarian称，居民膳食习惯的改变，有一些可能因为农业、经济、储存条件和其他复杂的因素而很难实现，比如增加水果和蔬菜的摄入量。但是减少甜饮料并不复杂。甜饮料本身没有任何的健康作用，而减少它的消费却是在拯救每年成千上万因此死亡的人。

甜饮料在不同人群中产生的健康影响差别巨大。在日本65岁以上的人群中因消费甜饮料而死亡的人数约有不到1%， 但是在墨西哥45岁以下人群中这个比例约为30%。墨西哥因甜饮料导致的死亡率最高，为每一百万成人中约有405人因甜饮料死亡（总死亡人数：24000），美国排名第二，每一百万成人中约有125人因甜饮料死亡（总死亡人数：25000）。

据估计甜饮料导致的死亡人数中76%的消费者来自中低收入国家。在加勒比海地区和拉丁美洲国家，如墨西哥，自制的甜饮料非常流行，并且和工业生产的甜饮料一样被消费者购买。弗里德曼学院助理研究员，也是这个研究的第一作者Gitanjali Singh称，在甜饮料导致的死亡率最高的20个国家，至少8个位于拉丁美洲和加勒比海地区，反映出当地人民对于甜饮料的高摄入量。

总的来说，在青年中因为大量摄入甜饮料而导致的慢性疾病所占的比例要比老年人中更高。“甜饮料对于年轻人健康的影响是很重要的，因为在很多国家青年都是劳动力的主要组成部分，因此甜饮料在这个年龄段所引起的死亡和残疾所产生的经济影响巨大。它也提高了人们对于未来的焦虑。如果这些年轻人继续大量喝甜饮料，当他们年老的时候，喝甜饮料产生的后果与衰老带来的身体变化综合起来，可能会导致他们因心脏病和糖尿病引起的死亡率和致残率比我们现在看到的老年人的情况还要糟糕。” Singh说。

翻译：朱晓倩

来源： Tufts University. (2015, June 29). Sugary drinks linked to high death tolls worldwide. ScienceDaily. Retrieved June 29, 2015 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/06/150629162646.htm

Consumption of sugary drinks may lead to an estimated 184,000 adult deaths each year worldwide, according to research published today in the journal Circulation and previously presented as an abstract at the American Heart Association Council on Epidemiology and Prevention in 2013.

"Many countries in the world have a significant number of deaths occurring from a single dietary factor, sugar-sweetened beverages. It should be a global priority to substantially reduce or eliminate sugar-sweetened beverages from the diet," said Dariush Mozaffarian, M.D., Dr.P.H., senior author of the study and dean of the Friedman School of Nutrition Science & Policy at Tufts University in Boston.

In the first detailed global report on the impact of sugar-sweetened beverages, researchers estimated deaths and disabilities from diabetes, heart disease, and cancers in 2010. In this analysis, sugar sweetened beverages were defined as any sugar-sweetened sodas, fruit drinks, sports/energy drinks, sweetened iced teas, or homemade sugary drinks such as frescas, that contained at least 50 kcal per 8oz serving. 100 percent fruit juice was excluded.

Estimates of consumption were made from 62 dietary surveys including 611,971 individuals conducted between 1980 and 2010 across 51 countries, along with data on national availability of sugar in 187 countries and other information. This allowed capture of geographical, gender and age variation in consumption levels of sugar-sweetened beverages in different populations. Based on meta-analyses of other published evidence on health harms of sugar-sweetened beverages, the investigators calculated the direct impact on diabetes and the obesity-related effects on cardiovascular disease, diabetes and cancer.

In 2010, the researchers estimate that sugar-sweetened beverages consumption may have been responsible for approximately:

• 133,000 deaths from diabetes

• 45,000 deaths from cardiovascular disease

• 6,450 deaths from cancer

"Some population dietary changes, such as increasing fruits and vegetables, can be challenging due to agriculture, costs, storage, and other complexities. This is not complicated. There are no health benefits from sugar-sweetened beverages, and the potential impact of reducing consumption is saving tens of thousands of deaths each year," Mozaffarian said.

The impact of sugar-sweetened beverages varied greatly between populations. At the extremes, the estimated percentage of deaths was less than 1 percent in Japanese over 65 years old, but 30 percent in Mexican adults younger than 45. Of the 20 most populous countries, Mexico had the highest death rate attributable to sugar-sweetened beverages with an estimated 405 deaths per million adults (24,000 total deaths) and the U.S. ranked second with an estimated 125 deaths per million adults (25,000 total deaths).

About 76 percent of the estimated sugar-sweetened beverage-related deaths occurred in low- or middle-income countries.

In nations of the Caribbean and Latin America, such as Mexico, homemade sugary drinks (e.g. frescas) are popular and consumed in addition to commercially prepared sugar-sweetened beverages. "Among the 20 countries with the highest estimated sugar-sweetened beverage-related deaths, at least 8 were in Latin America and the Caribbean, reflecting the high intakes in that region of the world," said Gitanjali Singh, Ph.D., lead author of the study and a research assistant professor at the Friedman School.

Overall, in younger adults, the percent of chronic disease attributed to sugar-sweetened beverages was higher than the percent in older adults. "The health impact of sugar-sweetened beverage intake on the young is important because younger adults form a large sector of the workforce in many countries, so the economic impact of sugar-sweetened beverage-related deaths and disability in this age group can be significant. It also raises concerns about the future. If these young people continue to consume high levels as they age, the effects of high consumption will be compounded by the effects of aging, leading to even higher death and disability rates from heart disease and diabetes than we are seeing now," Singh said.