Ayurveda For You: Soft Drinks Linked To Heart Disease Via Metabolic Syndrome
A new US study has found that drinking more than one soft drink a day, whether regular or diet, may be linked to an increased risk of developing heart disease, via an increase in metabolic syndrome, a group of characteristics like excess girth, high blood pressure, and other factors that increase the chances of getting diabetes and cardiovascular problems.
The findings are published in the early online edition of Circulation, the journal of the American Heart Association.
The research is part of the large scale ongoing study known as the Framingham Heart Study (FHS), that started in 1948 and is now in its third generation of participants, grandchildren of the original cohort. The FHS looks at common factors or characteristics that contribute to cardiovascular disease (CVD) by following its development over a long period of time in a large group of people who joined before they had any overt symptoms of CVD or heart attack or stroke.
The FHS was started under the direction of the National Heart Institute (now known as the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute or NHLBI).
Senior author of the study, Dr Ramachandran Vasan, who is professor of medicine at Boston University School of Medicine in Massachusetts, said that:
"We were struck by the fact that it didn't matter whether it was a diet or regular soda that participants consumed, the association with increased risk was present."
"In those who drink one or more soft drinks daily, there was an association of an increased risk of developing the metabolic syndrome," he added.
Other studies have linked drinking soft drinks with risk factors for heart disease, but this study suggests that diet soft drinks sweetened with artificial sweeteners are just as likely to be linked as high calorie drinks sweetened with sugar.
Dr Ravi Dhingra,an instructor in medicine at Harvard Medical School, and lead author of the study said that:
"Moderation in anything is the key. If you are drinking one or more soft drinks a day, you may be increasing your risk of developing metabolic risk factors for heart disease."
Metabolic syndrome is a group of symptoms such as excess waist circumference, high blood pressure, elevated triglycerides, low levels of high-density lipoprotein (HDL or "good" cholesterol) and high fasting glucose levels. Having three or more of the symptoms increases a person's risk of developing diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
The study included 9,000 "person observations" taken at three different times over a four year period from participants enrolled in the FHS, all middle aged men and women.
At the start of the four year observation period ("baseline"), the scientists established that participants who drank one or more soft drinks a day had a 48 per cent higher chance of having metabolic syndrome than those who drank less.
A new US study has found that drinking more than one soft drink a day, whether regular or diet, may be linked to an increased risk of developing heart disease, via an increase in metabolic syndrome, a group of characteristics like excess girth, high blood pressure, and other factors that increase the chances of getting diabetes and cardiovascular problems.
The findings are published in the early online edition of Circulation, the journal of the American Heart Association.
The research is part of the large scale ongoing study known as the Framingham Heart Study (FHS), that started in 1948 and is now in its third generation of participants, grandchildren of the original cohort. The FHS looks at common factors or characteristics that contribute to cardiovascular disease (CVD) by following its development over a long period of time in a large group of people who joined before they had any overt symptoms of CVD or heart attack or stroke.
The FHS was started under the direction of the National Heart Institute (now known as the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute or NHLBI).
Senior author of the study, Dr Ramachandran Vasan, who is professor of medicine at Boston University School of Medicine in Massachusetts, said that:
"We were struck by the fact that it didn't matter whether it was a diet or regular soda that participants consumed, the association with increased risk was present."
"In those who drink one or more soft drinks daily, there was an association of an increased risk of developing the metabolic syndrome," he added.
Other studies have linked drinking soft drinks with risk factors for heart disease, but this study suggests that diet soft drinks sweetened with artificial sweeteners are just as likely to be linked as high calorie drinks sweetened with sugar.
Dr Ravi Dhingra,an instructor in medicine at Harvard Medical School, and lead author of the study said that:
"Moderation in anything is the key. If you are drinking one or more soft drinks a day, you may be increasing your risk of developing metabolic risk factors for heart disease."
Metabolic syndrome is a group of symptoms such as excess waist circumference, high blood pressure, elevated triglycerides, low levels of high-density lipoprotein (HDL or "good" cholesterol) and high fasting glucose levels. Having three or more of the symptoms increases a person's risk of developing diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
The study included 9,000 "person observations" taken at three different times over a four year period from participants enrolled in the FHS, all middle aged men and women.
At the start of the four year observation period ("baseline"), the scientists established that participants who drank one or more soft drinks a day had a 48 per cent higher chance of having metabolic syndrome than those who drank less.
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