Researchers from the University of California in San Francisco (United States) assure that the greater consumption of sugary and isotonic drinks, or soft drinks with fruit flavors, may have favored the appearance of new cases of diabetes and cardiovascular diseases in the United States during the last decade.
These conclusions, released at a meeting on epidemiology and cardiovascular prevention of the American Heart Association, are based on the results of a simulation model created from large epidemiological studies carried out in the United States. According to this model,the increase in the consumption of sugary drinks between the years 1990 and 2000favored the appearance of 130,000 new cases ofdiabetes, 14,000 new cases ofischemic heart diseaseand an additional 50,000 years of life with acoronary heart diseasethroughout that decade.
This type of product containsbetween 120 and 200 caloriesdepending on the type of drink, so the researchers are convinced that they may have been partly to blame for theincreased obesitythat has been registered in recent years in the United States. In addition, through the model they have estimated that this increase in cardiovascular diseases has caused a health expenditure of between 300 and 550 million dollars. And they estimate that there may have beenat least 6,000 deaths and some 21,000 years of life lostby the increase in sugary drinks.
A tax on soft drinks?
To prevent the situation from worsening in successive years, health policy experts suggest limiting the consumption of sugary beverages including a tax of 1 cent of the dollar for every 28.3 grams of drink, since they assure that this measure could reduce consumption by 10 percent.
The American Heart Association recommends amaximum calorie limit from added sugars, which for women should not exceed 100 calories per half day, while for men the limit would be 150 calories per day.
