In 2 large US cohorts, the consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) was positively associated with mortality primarily through cardiovascular disease (CVD) and showed a graded association with dose. Researchers examined associations between consumption of SSBs and artificially sweetened beverages (ASBs) with the risk of total and cause-specific mortality among 37,716 men from the Health Professional’s Follow-up Study and 80,647 women from the Nurses’ Health Study. They found:

• 36,436 deaths (7,896 CVD and 12,380 cancer deaths) were documented during 3,415,564 person-years of follow-up.
• Intake of SSBs was positively associated with total mortality showing a graded association with dose, largely caused by CVD mortality. A modest association was observed for cancer mortality.
• ASB intake was positively associated with total and CVD mortality but not cancer mortality at high intake levels.