Do sugar-sweetened drinks increase visceral fat?
Consuming sugar-sweetened beverages may increase the amount of visceral fat that your body stores. This is the outcome of a study published in the American Heart Association’s journal Circulation. As these drinks are the largest contributor of added sugar intake in the USA, researchers looked at data from just over 1,000 patients in the Framingham Heart Study (an ongoing project into cardiovascular disease). The participants were given CT scans at the start of the study, and after a 6-year follow-up the researchers observed that there was a direct correlation between increased sugar-sweetened drink consumption and increased visceral fat.
Visceral fat is fat that covers internal organs and has been linked with the development of diabetes and heart disease due to its impact on inflammation and release of adipokines. The exact mechanism in this study is not fully known, however the authors hypothesised that the added sugars in the drinks could contribute to insulin resistance as well, eventually leading to type 2 diabetes, whilst also promoting fat accumulation in visceral tissues. There was no association for diet soda. The study supports the current dietary recommendations of limiting the number of sugar-sweetened beverages that one consumes, to protect against cardiometabolic diseases.
