RTT News reports that researchers at Imperial College London have concluded that just one soda consumed a day can raise the risk for diabetes, according to data collected on 350,000 adults from 18 different countries. The European study revealed just drinking one 12-ounce can of soda daily can increase the risk of diabetes by 18 percent. The researchers said the study “corroborates the association between increased incidence of Type-2 diabetes and high consumption of sugar-sweetened soft drinks in European adults,” reported News Inferno.
Head researcher for the study, Dora Romaguera, stresses the importance of the new data. “Given the increase in sweet beverage consumption in Europe, clear messages on the unhealthy effect of these drinks should be given to the population,” she told RTT News.
This new information adds to the list of the dangers of sodas and other sweetened beverages. Earlier this year, PepsiCo announced that the company would stop adding brominated vegetable oil (BVO) as an additive in some of its Gatorade drinks. BVO, derived from either soybeans or corn, is used by manufacturers to keep the ingredients in the beverages from separating, and it is found in several popular citrus-flavored beverages, such as Mountain Dew. BVO is also used as a flame retardant and is currently banned as a food and beverage additive in Japan and Europe.
A report by Scientific American revealed that BVO has been associated with people being treated for skin lesions, memory loss, and nerve disorder from large consumption of beverages containing the ingredient.
Highly-caffeinated energy drinks are also gaining a bad reputation. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently issued a warning against dimethylamylamine (DMAA), an ingredient found in several energy drinks and dietary supplements. The additive has been linked to eighty-six reports of serious health complications, such as heart attacks, seizures, mental health issues, and deaths.
“This is an untested market, and it is growing fastest among adolescents, teenage, and college students. These products are available to anyone at any age without warning and consuming too many of these drinks at one time can cause caffeine toxicity and other severe health problems,” says Virginia Buchanan, an attorney with Levin Papantonio Thomas Mitchell Rafferty & Proctor, P.A.
Krysta Loera is a writer and researcher with Ring of Fire. Follow her on Twitter @KrystaLoera
