Sugary Drinks Linked to Global Rise in Diabetes, Heart Disease
New York TimesJAN 17
The rapid increase in sugary drink consumption poses a severe public health crisis, particularly in developing nations where health care systems are ill-equipped to handle the surge in diet-related diseases, and aggressive marketing targets vulnerable populations. We need urgent, evidence-based interventions to curb the consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages globally.
Several factors, including unhealthy diet and lack of exercise, cause Type 2 diabetes. Key risk factors for heart disease include high cholesterol and smoking. Therefore, this sugary drink study should be taken with a metaphorical pinch of salt — more so because it could neither definitively prove cause and effect nor test a behavior or intervention against a control group.