Mixed
Consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) is causally associated with a significant global burden of incident type 2 diabetes (T2D) and cardiovascular disease (CVD), mediated by both direct metabolic effects and adiposity.
Reduce or eliminate sugar-sweetened beverages to significantly lower your risk of developing type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. The risk is not just from weight gain but from how sugar is metabolized directly. This is especially critical if you are young, male, or live in urban areas in high-burden regions like Latin America or Sub-Saharan Africa.
Sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) contribute to excess weight gain and cardiometabolic diseases such as type 2 diabetes (T2D) and cardiovascular disease (CVD), both directly and mediated by weight gain.
Why this rating
The study uses a Comparative Risk Assessment framework based on independent lines of evidence including meta-analyses of prospective cohorts and randomized controlled trials across 184 countries.
Source
Burdens of type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease attributable to sugar-sweetened beverages in 184 countries
Laura Lara-Castor et al. · Nature Medicine · 2025
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