Sugar Sweetened Beverages

A 2021 study by Norman-Burgdolf et al. used a questionnaire to find out the types and amounts of sugar sweetened beverages that 150 adults in Martin County, KY were drinking. They found that 22-38 year olds (Millennials) were getting 329 calories from sugar sweetened beverages each day. 

 

A 2010 study by Chen, et al. found that blood pressure went down for adults who were able to drink an average of one less 12 oz serving of sugar sweetened beverage each day than what they were accustomed to; on average, over the 18 months of the behavioral counseling intervention, their systolic blood pressure went down by 1.8 mm Hg, and their diastolic went down by 1.1 mm Hg.  The USDA FoodData Central database says that a 12 oz serving (child size) of Beverages, carbonated, cola, fast-food cola provides 95 calories.  So the Millennials in the Norman-Burgdolf et al. (2021) study are drinking the equivalent of 3.5 of these a day.  Extrapolating from the results of the Chen (2010) study, they could have the potential to reduce their blood pressure by 6.3 mm Hg systolic and 3.9 mm Hg diastolic, if they were able to quit drinking these beverages. 

 

A 2021 study by Doherty et al. found high consumption of sugar sweetened beverages to be associated with poorer overall dietary quality, specifically lower consumption of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains.  The Chen et al. (2010) study also found an association between higher consumption of sugar sweetened beverages and lower consumption of protein, dairy, fruit and vegetables, fiber, and calcium, and magnesium.  Whole grains (Kashino et al., 2020), fruits and vegetables (John et al., 1969), and dairy (Wang et al., 2015) have all been shown to have beneficial effects on blood pressure.  Additionally, Hartley et al. (2022) found one cup of legumes per day to be associated with lower incidence of hypertension, so legumes could be recommended as a good source of protein.  With regard to the low dietary calcium and magnesium levels, ideally we would like to see these increased by consumption of healthy foods such as dairy for calcium and pumpkin seeds, black beans, almonds, cashews, peanuts and spinach for magnesium (Office of Dietary Supplements, n.d.).  However, I found an article by Rylander et al. (2004) where they had success lowering blood pressure by giving people who were low in calcium and magnesium a liter of mineral water to drink each day. 

 

Other studies showing an associated between sugar sweetened beverage intake and hypertension include Sayon-Orea et al. (2015), Kim et al. (2016), Mansouri et al., (2020), Qin et al. (2020), and Farhangi et al. (2020).

 

References

 

Chen, L., Caballero, B., Mitchell, D. C., Loria, C., Lin, P.-H., Champagne, C. M., Elmer, P. J., Ard, J. D., Batch, B. C., Anderson, C. A. M., & Appel, L. J. (2010). Reducing consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages is associated with reduced blood pressure: a prospective study among United States adults. Circulation, 121(22), 2398–2406. 

 

Doherty, A. M., Lacko, A. M., & Popkin, B. M. (2021). Sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) consumption is associated with lower quality of the non-SSB diet in US adolescents and young adults. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 113(3), 657–664. 

 

Farhangi, M. A., Nikniaz, L., & Khodarahmi, M. (2020). Sugar-sweetened beverages increases the risk of hypertension among children and adolescence: a systematic review and dose-response meta-analysis. Journal of Translational Medicine, 18(1), 344. 

 

Hartley M, Fyfe CL, Wareham NJ, Khaw K-T, Johnstone AM, Myint PK. Association between Legume Consumption and Risk of Hypertension in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC)-Norfolk Cohort. Nutrients. 2022;14(16). 

 

John, J. H., Ziebland, S., Yudkin, P., Roe, L. S., & Neil, H. A. W. (2002). Effects of fruit and vegetable consumption on plasma antioxidant concentrations and blood pressure: a randomised controlled trial. Lancet, 359(9322), 1969. 

 

Kashino, I., Eguchi, M., Miki, T., Kochi, T., Nanri, A., Kabe, I., & Mizoue, T. (2020). Prospective Association between Whole Grain Consumption and Hypertension: The Furukawa Nutrition and Health Study. Nutrients, 12(4). 

 

Kim, Y., & Je, Y. (2016). Prospective association of sugar-sweetened and artificially sweetened beverage intake with risk of hypertension. Archives of Cardiovascular Diseases, 109(4), 242–253. 

 

Mansouri M, Sharifi F, Yaghubi H, et al. Sugar-sweetened beverages consumption in relation to hypertension among Iranian university students: the MEPHASOUS study. Eating & Weight Disorders. 2020;25(4):973-982. 

 

Norman-Burgdolf, H., DeWitt, E., Cardarelli, K. M., Gillespie, R., Slone, S., & Gustafson, A. (2021). Sugar-sweetened beverage consumption among adults in rural Appalachia. Preventive Medicine Reports, 24. 

 

Office of Dietary Supplements.  (n.d.).  Calcium Fact Sheet for Health Professionals.  National Institutes of Health. 

 

Office of Dietary Supplements.  (n.d.).  Potassium Fact Sheet for Health Professionals.  National Institutes of Health. 

 

Qin, P., Li, Q., Zhao, Y., Chen, Q., Sun, X., Liu, Y., Li, H., Wang, T., Chen, X., Zhou, Q., Guo, C., Zhang, D., Tian, G., Liu, D., Qie, R., Han, M., Huang, S., Wu, X., Li, Y., … Zhang, M. (2020). Sugar and artificially sweetened beverages and risk of obesity, type 2 diabetes mellitus, hypertension, and all-cause mortality: a dose-response meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies. European Journal of Epidemiology, 35(7), 655–671. 

 

Rylander, R., & Arnaud, M. J. (2004). Mineral water intake reduces blood pressure among subjects with low urinary magnesium and calcium levels. BMC Public Health, 4, 56. 

 

Sayon-Orea, C., Martinez-Gonzalez, M. A., Gea, A., Alonso, A., Pimenta, A. M., & Bes-Rastrollo, M. (2015). Baseline consumption and changes in sugar-sweetened beverage consumption and the incidence of hypertension: The SUN project. Clinical Nutrition, 34(6), 1133–1140. 

 

U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central. 2019.  Accessed February 15, 2023. 

 

Wang, H., Fox, C. S., Troy, L. M., Mckeown, N. M., & Jacques, P. F. (2015). Longitudinal association of dairy consumption with the changes in blood pressure and the risk of incident hypertension: the Framingham Heart Study. British Journal of Nutrition, 114(11), 1887–1899.