Sugars in drinks and fruit juices are associated with a greater risk of type 2 diabetes. Why are they hurt more than food?
Excessive intake of sugars is one of the causes of type 2 diabetes but – as a new US study supports – not all sugars are equally harmful. Those we drink in packaged drinks and fruit juices, I am a little more. Compared to the sugar taken with food, the liquid one is more associated with a higher risk of metabolic diseases. Let’s see why.
An important distinction. In a study published in the magazine Advances in Nutritiona group of scientists from Brigham Young University (United States) and the University of Paderborn (Germany) analyzed the data of over half a million people from different continents to understand how the dosage of the different types of sugars taken during the day influenced the risk of type 2 diabetes, which represents about 90% of the total cases of diabetes. The study clarified why the sugars to drink have a more harmful effect on the body than those to eat.
Don’t make a habit. After correcting the effect, on the risk of developing diabetes, of some factors as a body mass index, excess calories taken and other lifestyle factors, the researchers realized that, for each additional portion of 350 ml of sugary drinks (such as Energy Drink, soft drinks or sports) per day, the relative risk (i.e. compared to the medium base risk of that person) to develop type 2 diabetes increased by 25%. The effect was visible already from the first intake of daily liquid sugars. In short, there was no “safe threshold” that guaranteed the absence of risk.
The “other” sugars. As for fruit juices, with each additional portion of 230 ml of daily fruit juice, the relative risk of incurring type 2 diabetes increased by 5%. Things changed when considered “solid” sugar. The intake of 20 grams daily of total sugar or sucrose (the daily sum of all added sugars or taken with solid food) showed an inverse association with type 2 diabetes – in other words, a protective association. How is it possible?
Empty calories. The answer has to do with the effects of the different sugars on the metabolism. Those contained in drinks are – the researchers write – «isolated sugars that bring to a greater glycemic impactwhile other sources of food sugars, in particular if consumed in foods rich in nutrients such as whole fruit, dairy products or whole grains, can cause more slow blood sugar responses due to the presence of fibers, fats or proteins “.
Sugars drunk overload the liver metabolism, increasing the chances of develop insulin resistancethe reduction of cell sensitivity to the insulin hormone action, an anteroom of type 2 diabetes.
Fruit to drink? Not always. In particular fruit juiceeven if it contains more vitamins and nutrients than cans in cans, it is very concentrated and rich in sugarsand in no way comparable to whole natural fruit, which provides a high supply of fiber useful for the control of blood sugar (the level of sugar in the blood). The research suggests that in addition to the recommendations on the total quantities of sugars assumed with the diet it must also be taken into account of the type of ingested sugars.
