Swapping soda for coffee can reduce risk of early death: study

Health

By Brooke Steinberg

April 20, 2023 | 10:39am

Trading out soda for a cup of coffee could actually help people with Type 2 diabetes live longer, research suggests.

A new study from Harvard University published in the British Medical Journal found that high consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages increased the risk of early death and cardiovascular disease among those with Type 2 diabetes.

Meanwhile, beverages such as coffee, tea, low-fat milk and water were found to have a lower risk of early death.

Researchers at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health wanted to look into how consumption of a variety of beverages affects Type 2 diabetes patients since prior studies tend to look at the general population.

Type 2 diabetes occurs due to a problem with the way the body uses and regulates sugar as a fuel, according to Mayo Clinic. The two primary issues with Type 2 diabetes are the pancreas not producing enough insulin and cells responding badly to insulin and taking in less sugar.

They analyzed health data from 9,252 women who participated in the Nurse’s Health Study and 3,519 men who participated in the Health Professionals Follow-up Study over an average of 18.5 years. All participants had been diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes either at the start of or during the study.

Participants self-reported every two to four years how often they consumed SSBs, artificially sweetened beverages (ASBs), fruit juice, coffee, tea, low-fat cow’s milk, full-fat cow’s milk and plain water.

Results showed that those who regularly had SSBs, such as sodas, fruit punch and lemonade, had a higher possibility of all-cause mortality, as well as a higher risk of death from cardiovascular disease.

Each additional daily serving of an SSB was linked to an 8% increase in risk for death. However, all-cause mortality risk and risk of death from cardiovascular disease decreased for those who regularly drank beverages such as coffee, tea, low-fat cow’s milk and/or water.

“Beverages are an important component of our diet, and the quality can vary hugely,” lead author Qi Sun, associate professor in the Departments of Nutrition and Epidemiology, said.

“People living with diabetes may especially benefit from drinking healthy beverages — but data has been sparse. These findings help fill in that knowledge gap and may inform patients and their caregivers on diet and diabetes management.”

But swapping out one serving per day of an SSB with one serving of coffee decreased the risk of all-cause death by 18% and decreased the risk of death from cardiovascular disease by 20%.

Swapping an SSB with tea decreased the risk of all-cause mortality and cardiovascular disease mortality by 16% and 24%, respectively, swapping with plain water lowered risk by 16% and 20%, and low-fat cow’s milk lowered risk by 1% and 19%.

ASBs also had healthier outcomes compared to SSBs, but not as much as other options.

Trading out a daily serving of an SSB with an ASB had just an 8% decreased risk of all-cause mortality and a 15% decreased risk for cardiovascular disease mortality. 

“People living with diabetes should be picky about how they keep themselves hydrated,” Sun said. “Switching from sugar-sweetened beverages to healthier beverages will bring health benefits.”