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Sugar
Sugar-sweetened beverages and type 2 diabetes
Strong evidenceIndependentDiabetes Care, 2010
Sample size
310,819
participants
Study duration
14 years
Study type
Pooled cohort analysis
Plain English summary
Evidence from multiple independent prospective studies confirms that regular consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages is a significant independent risk factor for developing type 2 diabetes, beyond the effect of excess calorie intake alone.
Key findings
- One sugar-sweetened drink per day was associated with a 26% increase in type 2 diabetes risk
- The association was independent of body weight, suggesting metabolic effects beyond simple caloric excess
- Artificially sweetened beverages showed a smaller but still notable association
- Substituting SSBs with water or unsweetened drinks was associated with measurable risk reduction