Occasional drinkers of sugary beverages experienced a 649 cm increase in visceral fat over the 6-year follow-up period, while frequent drinkers had a visceral fat increase of 707 cm.
Advertisement
Visceral or “deep” fat wraps around a number of internal organs like the liver, pancreas and intestines. Impairments in insulin levels and the body being resistant to insulin are tightly linked to type 2 diabetes and increased risk of heart disease.
Scientists at the US National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute in MA tracked 1,000 middle-aged people for six years. “Sugary beverage consumers who are looking to reduce their sugar and calorie consumption may find that diet soda consumption helps – but only as long as they are careful to not eat more of something else”.
Diets soda was not linked to visceral fat increase.
The UK government recommends that free or added sugars shouldn’t make up more than 5 per cent of the energy or calories you get from food and drink each day.
Excessive belly fat is a common problem for most people that this area has typically been the target of exercise routines.
“Visceral fat is the kind that’s closely associated with the risks of type 2 diabetes and heart disease”, said Alice Lichtenstein, a spokesperson for the American Heart Association (AHA), who was not involved in the study.
The results, published yesterday, showed that those who drank sugary or fizzy drinks every day gained nearly a litre of extra visceral fat over the period.
To measure the frequency with which they drank sugar-sweetened soda drinks, participants were split into four categories: non-drinkers; occasional drinkers (who drank sugar-sweetened sodas once a month or less than once a week); frequent drinkers (once a week or less than once a day); and those who drank at least one sugar sweetened beverage daily.
“To policy makers, this study adds another piece of evidence to the growing body of research suggesting sugar-sweetened beverages may be harmful to our health”, She added.
The same patterns were not seen for those who drank “diet” drinks containing artificial sweeteners, suggesting that sugar itself plays a role.
This hormonal imbalance has the potential to increase the risk of Type 2 diabetes and heart disease.
“Those previous diet-soda findings are not supported by this study”, Lichtenstein said.
The NHS warn fizzy drink consumption can lead to tooth decay and weight gain.
‘More research is needed to confirm these findings and the reasons for them.
Sugar-sweetened drinks are considered a key contributor to rising obesity rates.
This study also coincides with the recommendation from the National Obesity Forum that sugar tax should be set at 50 per cent in order to tackle childhood obesity.
Advertisement
Gavin Partington, director general of the British Soft Drinks Association, said: ‘It’s concerning that the authors blame sugar sweetened drinks when they admit the data on consumption is limited.
