Diet sodas might not raise diabetes risk

November 16, 2016

Nov 16: Drinking colas and other sugary drinks is tied to an increased risk of so-called pre-diabetes, a precursor to full-blown disease, but diet soda is not, a recent study suggests.

diet Previous studies on the link between diet sodas and diabetes have been mixed; some research pointing to a potential connection has suggested this relationship may be explained at least in part by soda drinkers being overweight or obese.

In the current study, however, adults who routinely consumed at least one can of soda or other sugar-sweetened beverages a day were 46 percent more likely to develop elevated blood sugar levels than people who rarely or never drink cola.

“Emphasis should be placed on substituting sugar-sweetened beverages with water, unsweetened teas, or coffee,” said senior study author Nicola McKeown, a nutrition researcher at Tufts University in Boston.

“For daily consumers of sugary drinks, kicking the habit may be a difficult challenge, and incorporating an occasional diet soda, while increasing fluids from other sources, may be the best strategy to ultimately remove sugar-sweetened beverages from the diet,” McKeown added by email.

Globally, about one in nine adults have diabetes, and the disease will be the seventh leading cause of death by 2030, according to the World Health Organization. Most of these people have Type 2, or adult-onset, diabetes, which happens when the body can't properly use or make enough of the hormone insulin to convert blood sugar into energy.

People with blood sugar levels that are slightly elevated, but not high enough for a diabetes diagnosis, are sometimes described as having “pre-diabetes” because many will go on to develop diabetes. In the current study, researchers examined data collected on 1,685 middle-aged adults over about 14 years.

At the start of the study, none of the participants had diabetes or pre-diabetes. They were 52 years old on average and typically overweight.

Participants completed questionnaires detailing what they ate and drank during the study period. Sugar-sweetened beverages were defined as colas and other carbonated beverages, as well as drinks such as lemonade and fruit punch. This didn’t include fruit juice.

People who drank the most sodas – typically around six 12-ounce cans a week – had a much greater risk of developing elevated blood sugar levels than other participants after adjusting for factors such as age, gender and weight, researchers report in the Journal of Nutrition.

Higher consumption of soda and other sugar-sweetened beverages was also associated with insulin resistance, a reduced ability to respond to the hormone insulin that is another risk factor for developing diabetes.

Even after accounting for changes in weight and other aspects of diet, the relationships between sugar-sweetened beverages and these metabolic risk factors for diabetes persisted.

Diet soda intake—defined as low-calorie cola or other carbonated low-calorie beverages— was not associated with elevated blood sugar or insulin resistance.

The study doesn’t prove soda or sugary drinks cause diabetes.

Another limitation of the study is that participants may not be representative of a typical U.S. adult, the authors note. People in the study were mostly white, middle aged and more likely to be women. They also tended not to be as overweight or thick around the middle as many U.S. adults, the authors point out.

Because pre-diabetic elevated blood sugar can often be reversed before it advances to full-blown disease, the findings suggest it makes sense for people to avoid regular sodas to minimize their risk of developing diabetes, the researchers conclude.

“Sugar sweetened beverages have been shown to increase weight gain and risk of diabetes – including prediabetes,” Laura Rosella, a public health researcher at the University of Toronto who wasn’t involved in the study, said by email.

The current study findings add to a large body of evidence suggesting that the sugar and calories in soda can contribute to the risk of obesity and diabetes, noted Dr. Robert Cohen, a researcher at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine who wasn’t involved in the study.

“I wouldn’t necessarily seek out diet drinks but the choice of non-calorie containing diet drinks is not associated with further insulin resistance or pre-diabetes in the way that calorie containing drinks are,” Cohen said by email.

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Your diet can impact your mental health, suggests Study

Agencies

January 4,2020

Washington D.C., Jan 3: A new study has found out that diet significantly affects the mental health and well being of an individual.

The study was published in the journal European Neuropsychopharmacology.

"We have found that there is increasing evidence of a link between a poor diet and the worsening of mood disorders, including anxiety and depression. However, many common beliefs about the health effects of certain foods are not supported by solid evidence," said the lead researcher, Professor Suzanne Dickson.

According to the researchers, the link between diet and mental health can be firmly established in certain cases like that of the ability of a ketogenic diet being helpful for children with epilepsy and the impact of vitamin B12 deficiency on poor memory, depression and fatigue.

"With individual conditions, we often found very mixed evidence. With ADHD for example, we can see an increase in the quantity of refined sugar in the diet seems to increase ADHD and hyperactivity, whereas eating more fresh fruit and vegetables seems to protect against these conditions," said Dickson

But there are comparatively few studies, and many of them don't last long enough to show long-term effects," added Dickson.

The study further concludes that some food items can be associated with treatment and the betterment of certain mental health conditions.

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Texting while walking more dangerous than talking on phone: Study

News Network

February 4,2020

Toronto, Feb 4: People who text while walking face a higher risk of an accident than those listening to music or talking on the phone, a study has found.

The study, published in the journal Injury Prevention, found that smartphone texting is linked to compromised pedestrian safety, with higher rates of 'near misses', and failure to look left and right before crossing a road.

Researchers from the University of Calgary in Canada call for a more thorough approach to exploring the impact of distracted pedestrian behaviours on crash risk.

Worldwide, around 270,000 pedestrians die every year, accounting for around a fifth of all road traffic deaths, according to the researchers.

'Pedestrian distraction' has become a recognised safety issue as more and more people use their smartphones or hand held devices while walking on the pavement and crossing roads, they said.

The researchers looked for published evidence to gauge the potential impact on road safety of hand-held or hands-free device activities.

This included talking on the phone, text messaging, browsing and listening to music.

From among 33 relevant studies, they pooled the data from 14 -- involving 872 people -- and systematically reviewed the data from another eight.

The analysis showed that listening to music wasn't associated with any heightened risk of potentially harmful pedestrian behaviours.

Talking on the phone was associated with a small increase in the time taken to start crossing the road, and slightly more missed opportunities to cross the road safely.

The researchers found that text messaging emerged as the potentially most harmful behaviour.

It was associated with significantly lower rates of looking left and right before or while crossing the road, and with moderately increased rates of collisions, and close calls with other pedestrians or vehicles, they said.

Texting also affected the time taken to cross a road, and missed opportunities to cross safely, but to a lesser extent, according to the researchers.

The review of the eight observational studies revealed that the percentage of pedestrians who were distracted ranged from 12 to 45 per cent, they said.

It also found behaviours were influenced by several factors, including gender, time of day, solo or group crossing, and walking speed.

The researchers acknowledge "a variety of study quality issues" which limit the generalisability of the findings.

"Given the ubiquity of smartphones, social media, apps, digital video and streaming music, which has infiltrated most aspects of daily life, distracted walking and street cross will be a road safety issue for the foreseeable future," the researchers noted.

"And as signage and public awareness campaigns don't seem to alter pedestrian behaviour, establishing the relationship between distracted walking behaviour and crash risk is an essential research need," they said.

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