CONSUMING SWEET DRINKS PUTS THE BRAIN AT RISK

Each year, more than 180,000 people die due to the consumption of sugary drinks. Diabetes, heart disease or cancer are the fatal pathological manifestations that express the consequences of its excessive use, according to a report from the American Heart Association in 2013.

Taking into account this close relationship between the consumption of sugary drinks and soft drinks with adverse effects on cardiovascular risk markers, researchers analyzed the possible link between an excessive consumption of sweetened beverages and an increase in the risk of stroke. To do this, they followed more than 32,000 women between 49 and 83 years old and more than 35,000 men between 45 and 79, without cardiovascular disease, cancer or diabetes at the beginning of the study.

Through a food frequency questionnaire, they evaluated the consumption of sweetened beverages, including sugary drinks, artificially sweetened soft drinks and fruit juices. They verified 3,510 episodes of stroke, which included 2,588 strokes, 349 intracerebral hemorrhages, 156 subarachnoid hemorrhages and 417 unspecified strokes, during a follow-up period of 10.3 years.

The consumption of sweetened beverages was significantly associated with the risk of total stroke and cerebral infarction, but not with that of hemorrhagic effusion. These findings allowed the researchers to indicate that the consumption of sugary drinks is directly related to the risk of suffering a stroke.