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Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Research links 180,000 deaths annually to sugary drinks.


Research linking the consumption of sugary drinks to thousands of deaths annually received a moderate amount of coverage online. Many sources point out that the impact was felt by both higher- and lower-income countries. Additionally, most of the articles discuss New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg's recent attempt to ban large sugary drinks. USA Today (3/20, Winter, 1.71M) reports, "Researchers reported Tuesday that they have linked 180,000 obesity-related deaths worldwide to sugary drinks, including about 25,000 adult Americans." Investigators found that "1 in 100 deaths of obese people globally can be blamed on too many sweetened beverages, according to a study presented at an American Heart Association scientific conference in New Orleans." After analyzing "data collected as part of the World Health Organization's 2010 Global Burden of Diseases Study, the researchers determined that 78% of these deaths were in low- and middle-income countries."
        Bloomberg News (3/20, Armstrong) reports, "The beverages raised deaths worldwide from diabetes by 133,000, from cardiovascular disease by 44,000 and from cancer by 6,000, according to the study." The researchers found that "Latin America had the most diabetes deaths related to sugary drinks."
        The Huffington Post (3/20) reports that "heart deaths associated with sugary drink consumption were highest in East and Central Europe/Asia, with 11,000 deaths."
        CNN (3/20, Wade) reports, "In the United States, sugary drinks were linked to the deaths of 25,000 people from diabetes and other obesity-related diseases. As in many other countries, the death rates were highest in young adults under age 45, with one in 10 obesity-related deaths associated with sugary beverages."
        Forbes (3/20, 928K) reports that "the people with the least risk were people 65 and older in Japan: About 10 in a million people died from sugary drink-related causes."
        The ABC News (3/19, Moisse) "Medical Unit" blog reports that "Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian, senior author of the new study, said he now plans to study the effects of sugary drink regulation and taxation on health and health care costs." This "study comes one week after a judge blocked New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg's proposed ban on supersized sodas, and one day after Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant signed a bill preventing municipalities from setting limits on soda and salt content."
        MyHealthNewsDaily (3/20, Rettner) reports that according to study researcher Gitanjali M. Singh, "Our findings should push policy makers world-wide to make effective policies to reduce consumption of sugary beverages, such as taxation."
        Heartwire (3/20, Busko) reports that additionally, "the study reinforces the need for clinicians to encourage patients to drink fewer sugary beverages, Singh said." HealthDay (3/20, Norton) also covers the story.

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