Here’s the scoop: sugary drinks like soda, sweet tea, and energy drinks—known as sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs)—are tied to big health problems like type 2 diabetes and heart disease. You’ve probably heard this before, but a new study took a deep dive to figure out just how much damage they’re doing worldwide, and the numbers are eye-opening.
Researchers looked at 184 countries, comparing data from 1990 to 2020, and broke it down by things like age, gender, education, and whether people lived in cities or rural areas. In 2020 alone, sugary drinks were linked to 2.2 million new cases of type 2 diabetes and 1.2 million new cases of heart disease globally. That’s nearly 10% of all new diabetes cases and over 3% of new heart disease cases caused by SSBs. In the U.S., where soda and sweet drinks are everywhere, this hits close to home.
The study found some trends: men were affected more than women, younger adults more than older ones, people with higher education more than those with less, and city folks more than rural ones. The worst hot spots? Latin America and the Caribbean, where sugary drinks caused almost a quarter of new diabetes cases, and sub-Saharan Africa, where the problem’s been growing fast since 1990.
Why should you care? This isn’t just stats—it’s about real people getting sick from something as simple as what they drink. The study’s a big flag for countries like ours to rethink how we handle sugary drinks, maybe with tougher rules or better warnings, to help cut down on these health issues. Next time you grab a soda, think about what it might be doing beyond the sugar rush.
Here’s the link: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-024-03345-4