Study of 61,000 ethnic Chinese in Singapore finds up to 40% higher risk of type 2 diabetes

GRANNY was right when she said that drinking too many sodas and sweet drinks was bad for you.

Taking two or more soft drinks a week can increase one’s risk of type 2 diabetes, a new study by Singapore scientists has found.

They are 30 to 40 per cent more likely to contract diabetes compared to those who rarely consumed them, said Associate Professor Koh Woon Puay of the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine.

The beverages surveyed included soda and fruit and vegetable juices in a glass, can or fresh from hawker centres, and it did not distinguish between 100 per cent juice and juice drinks or cordial.

Participants with a higher intake of soft drinks were younger, mostly men with higher body mass indexes (BMI) and leading sedentary lifestyles. Those who drank more juice were also younger and were men, with higher levels of physical activity and were educated.

The findings are from the Singapore Chinese Health Study of more than 61,000 ethnic Chinese living here, aged between 45 and 74.

Another study of the same cohort, published earlier this month, said that too many soft drinks put a person at risk of pancreatic cancer, but those who drank mostly fruit juice instead of carbonated drinks did not have the same risk.

The Singapore Chinese Health Study was conducted by the department of Epidemiology and Public Health at the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine in the National University of Singapore, in collaboration with research scientists from several US institutions.

Supported by grants from the National Cancer Institute in the United States, it began in April 1993 when the subjects were diabetes-free.

According to the 2004 National Health Survey, 8.2 per cent of Singaporeans or some 328,000 people here have diabetes.

The results of this study, which was published in the American Journal of Epidemiology on Feb 16, was the first large study addressing the topic of soft drinks and juice intake and the incidence of type 2 diabetes in Asian people.

Dr Goh Su-Yen, director of the Diabetes Centre at the Singapore General Hospital, said that when data emerged from the Nurses Health Study in 2003 about the link between consumption of soft drinks and risk of type 2 diabetes, it sparked a fierce debate between scientists and the soft drinks industry.

“It is interesting, then, that this Asian study reports that the increased risk of diabetes was independent of level of weight gain or BMI, albeit the strongest association (and thus risk) was seen in the group which consumed more and had moderate to high weight gain,” she said.

Diabetes expert Dr Lee Chung Horn said: “The interesting thing is fruit juices seem to also come with a risk. Of course virtually all fruits contain natural sugars, and so a statistical association may not be all that surprising.”

Dr Goh said that while diabetics do not need to avoid fruit juices completely, they need to be aware of the sugar and calorie content in their drinks.

While Dr Lee felt that doctors should not be too rigid about the number of soft drinks, Prof Koh cited a 2004 National Health survey, which found that 47 per cent of Singaporeans consume soft drinks two times a week.

“The risk of getting diabetes goes up with a population that is rapidly putting on weight. This applies to Singapore and other Asian countries. For instance if the weight goes up by 3kg in the last five years, then the risk of getting diabetes increases to 70 per cent,” she added.