180,000 Deaths in a Bottle

An early release of a study on deaths associated to consumption of sugary drinks has suggested that over 180,000 deaths are occurring each year due to consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages. Many news sites are covering this, so here are a few places you can read more about it: Forbes, Bloomberg, and CNN.

Be sure to keep in mind that there is no way to directly PROVE that sugary drinks increase death, since the deaths are due to chronic disease (i.e. people aren’t dropping dead solely b/c they are drinking a soda). However, many chronic diseases occur due to poor dietary choices – for example, sugary drinks increase calorie and sugar consumption which increase obesity and diabetes rates. These chronic conditions can lead to many problems that result in death.

Also, I think juice should be included in this study as well – 4 ounces of juice is one serving. Who drinks only 4 ounces? While it is 100% fruit, it is basically just sugar and it having 16 ounces is the same as drinking 16 ounces of soda.