Sugary fizzy drinks may increase rheumatoid arthritis risk
Women who drink one or more sugar-sweetened soda a day are significantly more likely to develop rheumatoid arthritis than those who drink less than one sugary soda a month (or none). And the risk seems to be even higher for older women, says the research that is published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
Previous studies have shown that sugary soda is linked to obesity, type 2 diabetes and heart disease, all of which are more common in people with rheumatoid arthritis. So a research team looked at if sugary soda might play a role in the development of rheumatoid arthritis, too.
Nearly 190,000 women from large studies of nurses reported on their physical activity, weight and medical history using questionnaires every two years, and every four years they answered questions about their diet.
A total of 857 women developed rheumatoid arthritis during the study. After accounting for factors such as age, weight, smoking and alcohol use, the researchers found that women who drank more than one sugar-sweetened soda per day were 63% more likely to develop rheumatoid arthritis than those who drank less than one a month.
The increase in risk was seen only in women who went on to develop seropositive rheumatoid arthritis, which usually indicates more-severe disease, but not seronegative rheumatoid arthritis.
The study also showed that women who drank more sugary soda tended to exercise less, consume more calories and have poorer diets overall than women who drank fewer sugary beverages. Even so, the risk did not seem related to weight.
The connection could be down to mouth infections, which often result from sugary drinks – and many studies have shown gum disease to be linked to rheumatoid arthritis. But there is not enough evidence to confirm this. It may also be that sugar-sweetened soda increases molecules that promote inflammation in the body.
Older women who drank sugar-sweetened sodas had a greater risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis than younger women. And the overall number of sodas consumed increased the risk in older but not younger women. The experts involved in the research say that the effects of diet on health are cumulative, and it may be years before the chronic inflammation potentially caused by sugary soda finally causes rheumatoid arthritis symptoms.
Other drinks including fruit juice and diet soda were not associated with an increased rheumatoid arthritis risk.
The study does not prove that drinking sugar-sweetened sodas causes rheumatoid arthritis. But the lead researcher, Dr Yang Hu, has some advice:
“It would be helpful for [doctors] to advise patients who have early symptoms or a family history of rheumatoid arthritis to limit their consumption of sugar-sweetened soda. Diet soda, plain water and skim milk would be good alternatives.”
Click here to read the original research.
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Image credit: D Sharon Pruitt
