.gif)
Drinking carbonated beverages is associated with increased risk of fatal cardiovascular disease, a new Japanese study has found. The study in nearly 800,000 patients in Japan suggests that limiting consumption of carbonated beverages may be beneficial for health.
"Carbonated beverages, or sodas, have frequently been demonstrated to increase the risk of metabolic syndrome and cardiovascular disease (CVD), such as subclinical cardiac remodelling and stroke," said principal investigator Keijiro Saku, Dean and professor of cardiology at Fukuoka University in Japan. "However, until now the association between drinking large amounts of carbonated beverages and fatal CVD, or out-of-hospital cardiac arrests (OHCA) of cardiac origin, was unclear," Saku said.
The study compared the age-adjusted incidence of OHCAs to the consumption of various beverages per person between 2005 and 2011 in the 47 prefectures of Japan. It included 797,422 patients who had OHCAs of cardiac and non-cardiac origin. Data on the consumption of the various beverages per person was obtained from the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare of Japan, using expenditure on beverages as a proxy measure.
The analysis focused on the 785,591 OHCA cases that received resuscitation, of which 435,064 (55.4 per cent) were of cardiac origin and 350,527 (44.6 per cent) were of non-cardiac origin. Those of non-cardiac origin included cerebrovascular disease (4.8 per cent), respiratory disease (6.1 per cent), malignant tumour (3.5 per cent), and exogenous disease (18.9 per cent). The researchers found that expenditures on carbonated beverages were significantly associated with PTI Science Service 21 September 16 -30, 2015 individuals in the studies who were born at between 28 and 42 weeks gestational age and who had available wealth information at age 42, yielding a total sample of over 15,000 participants.
To measure adult wealth, the researchers looked at a combination of participants' family income and social class, their housing and employment status, and their own perceptions of their financial situation. To gauge participants' academic abilities, they examined a combination of validated measures for mathematics, reading, and intelligence, combined with ratings from teachers and parents. The researchers also accounted for several variables that might otherwise influence outcomes in childhood and adulthood, including birth weight, maternal prenatal health, and parental education and social class.
Children who were born preterm tended to have lower wealth at age 42 and lower educational qualifications in adulthood than those who were born full-term. Individuals born preterm were more likely to be manual workers, more likely to be unemployed, more likely to report financial difficulties, and less likely to own a house than those who were born full-term, even after other potential factors were taken into account. As predicted, preterm children also tended to demonstrate lower academic abilities in childhood, and for mathematics in particular. "What is perhaps most surprising is that most of the children we studied were not very preterm - born, on average, only 5 weeks early - and still we find these long lasting effects," said co-author Maartje Basten.
The rate of preterm births has increased in recent years, and data from children born in just the last decade indicate that preterm birth continues to be a risk factor for decreased cognitive functioning and lower academic achievement, researchers said. The study was published in the journal Psychological Science. PTI
Subscribe to PharmaTutor News Alerts by Email >>
