Beverage Industry Responds to Sugary Drinks Death Claims: Ancient Egyptians Had Heart Disease Before Soft Drinks

01 Jul 2015 --- Following a study published yesterday that concluded that sugary soft drinks consumption leads to diseases that directly cause premature death, the American Beverage Association has responded by tackling each of the issues highlighted in the report.

The study, carried out by the Tufts University in Boston, claims that 184,000 deaths each year could be avoided by reducing consumption of sugar sweetened beverages. It said that deaths caused by diabetes, heart disease and cancers were to be blamed on soft drinks.

In response to the Global Burden of Disease Study, the American Beverage Association issued the following statement: “America’s beverage companies are committed to being part of real solutions to public health challenges. This study does not show that consuming sugar-sweetened beverages causes chronic diseases and the authors themselves acknowledge that they are at best estimating effects of sugar-sweetened beverage consumption.

America’s beverage companies are doing their part to offer consumers the fact-based information and the beverage options they need to make the right choices for themselves and their families.”

The association went on to tackle each issue separately. On diabetes, it said: “According to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) - one of the funding organizations of the research, those at greater risk for Type 2 diabetes include certain racial and ethnic groups (such as Hispanic/Latino, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, and American Indians and Alaska Natives), as well as those who: are over age 45; have a family history of diabetes; are overweight; do not exercise regularly; have low HDL cholesterol or high triglycerides; have high blood pressure; have impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) and/or impaired fasting glucose (IFG); have a history of cardiovascular disease; have polycystic ovary syndrome; have other clinical conditions associated with insulin resistance. Other than knowing geographical region, we have no details regarding whether these factors were accounted for in this study.”

Additionally, a study published in the Journal of Nutrition which looked at eight European countries found no association between digestible carbohydrate, including sugar, and diabetes risk, the association pointed out.

On Heart Disease, the association said that heart diseases are a complex set of problems with no single cause and no simple solution: “When it comes to risk for heart disease, there is nothing unique about the calories from added sugars, or sugar-sweetened beverages for that matter. According to the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health, the major risk factors for heart disease are: high blood pressure, high blood cholesterol, diabetes, smoking, being overweight, being physically inactive, unhealthy diet and stress.

“While many risk factors are beyond our control, there are things we can do - including not smoking, maintaining an appropriate body weight and being physically active - to help mitigate risk for heart disease,” it continued.

“A recent study found that atherosclerosis was found in ancient Egypt and other cultures long before sugar-sweetened beverages were invented,” the association concluded.