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ATLANTA — Drinking more than 2 liters of artificially sweetened beverages (equivalent to an all-day fast food diet soda) per week has a 20% higher risk of an abnormal heart rhythm called atrial fibrillation than people who don’t drink them at all. Rose.be new research found.
Atrial fibrillation, also known as A-fib, is an irregular heartbeat often described by many people with symptoms of the heart in the chest “shaking,” “trembling,” or “flip-flopping.”
Drinking a similar amount of sugar-sweetened beverages increases your risk of atrial fibrillation by 10%, while drinking about 4 ounces of pure, unsweetened juice, such as orange juice or vegetable juice, increases your risk of atrial fibrillation by 8%. % was found to decrease. Research found.
“This is the first to report an association between non-caloric and low-calorie sweeteners, as well as sugar-sweetened beverages, and an increased risk of atrial fibrillation,” said Penny Chris Etherton, professor emeritus of nutritional sciences at Penn State University. It’s research.” In a statement. She was not involved in the new study.
Although the study could only show an association between sweetened drinks and A-fib, the association remained even after genetic susceptibility to the condition was taken into account.a 2017 survey It was found that people with European ancestry had about a 22% risk of inheriting the condition.
Chris Etherton, also a member of the American Heart Association’s Nutrition Committee, said, “To confirm these results and fully understand the health effects on heart disease and other health conditions, we need to understand the importance of these beverages.” Further research is needed.”
“Until then, water is the best choice, and based on this study, non-calorie and low-calorie sweetened beverages should be limited or avoided,” she added.
Atrial fibrillation is dangerous and on the rise
Atrial fibrillation is the leading cause of stroke in the United States. Additionally, strokes related to A-fib tend to be “more severe than strokes due to other underlying causes,” according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Atrial fibrillation can also lead to blood clots and heart failure, and “can increase the risk of heart attack, dementia and kidney disease, all of which can be long-term risks,” the university’s medical department said. Professor Dr. Gregory Marcus said. Vice Chief of Cardiology Research at UCSF Health, University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine, told CNN.
Nearly 40 million people worldwide have atrial fibrillation, including 6 million in the United States alone, according to the Heart Rhythm Association, which represents more than 7,000 heart rhythm disorder experts from more than 90 countries. That’s what it means.
Many of these people suffer from chest pain, palpitations, shortness of breath, and fatigue. But for others, A-fib is asymptomatic and can be a silent killer. However, if the condition is detected, it can be treated with medications, lifestyle changes, and, if necessary, surgery to slow or restore the heart’s normal rhythm.
The rate of atrial fibrillation in the US population is increasing. The CDC estimates that approximately 12 million Americans will have A-fib by 2030.
“Age is one of the most important risk factors, and as the population ages, this disease is becoming more common,” Marcus said.
The obesity epidemic is also contributing to the increase, along with other risk factors such as high blood pressure, diabetes, chronic kidney disease, smoking and alcohol use.
“Previous studies have shown that heavy consumption of soft drinks is associated with an increased risk of (atrial fibrillation),” Naveed Sattar, professor of metabolic medicine at the University of Glasgow in Scotland, said in a statement. said. He was not involved in the new research.
“It is well known that the risk of (atrial fibrillation) is associated with type 2 diabetes, binge drinking of alcohol (commonly referred to as holiday heart disease), and illicit drug use (cocaine),” Sattar said. Ta.
Possibility of “additional health risks”
the study, Published on Tuesday In the journal Circulation: Arrhythmia and Electrophysiology, they analyzed data from around 202,000 people who participate in a large biomedical database called the UK Biobank. The participants were followed for an average of 10 years, and the ages of the participants ranged from 37 to 73, and more than half were women.
People who consumed more artificially sweetened beverages were more likely to be female, younger, heavier, and had a higher prevalence of type 2 diabetes, the study found. People who drank more sugary drinks were more likely to be male, younger, heavier, and have a higher prevalence of heart disease.
According to the statement, people who drank both sugar-sweetened beverages and pure juice were “likely to have higher total sugar intake than those who drank artificially sweetened beverages.”
“Our findings conclusively conclude that some beverages pose a greater health risk than others because of the complexity of our diets and the fact that some people may drink more than one type of beverage.” “You can’t attach it,” said study lead author Dr. Ning Jianwang, a professor at the university. Shanghai Ninth People’s Hospital and Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China.
“However, based on these findings, we recommend that people reduce or even avoid artificial sweeteners and sugar-sweetened beverages whenever possible,” Wang said in a statement. “Don’t take for granted that drinking low-sugar, low-calorie, artificially sweetened beverages is healthy. They may pose potential health risks.”
