Diet and sugary drinks increase risk of atrial fibrillation by up to 20%, research says

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Drinking more than 2 liters of artificially sweetened beverages (equivalent to an all-day fast food diet soda) per week was associated with a 20% increased risk of an abnormal heart rhythm called atrial fibrillation compared to those who drank none at all. . Research found.

Atrial fibrillation, also known as A-fib, is an irregular heartbeat that is 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.

Penny Chris Etherton, professor emeritus of nutritional sciences at Pennsylvania State University, said: “This is the first reported link between non-caloric and low-calorie sweeteners, as well as sugar-sweetened beverages, and an increased risk of atrial fibrillation.'' This is the first study.” 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.

“More research is needed on these beverages to confirm these results and fully understand their health effects on heart disease and other health conditions,” said the American Heart Association's nutrition committee member. said Chris Etherton.

“Water is the best choice for now, 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 Main causes of stroke In the US. 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 cause blood clots and heart failure, and “can increase your risk of heart attack, dementia, and kidney disease, all of which are likely long-term risks,” says the University of California, San Francisco. Dr. Gregory Marcus, professor of medicine and associate director of cardiology research at UCSF Health, told CNN. Preliminary interview.

Approximately 40 million people worldwide Living with atrial fibrillationAccording to the Heart Rhythm Association, which represents more than 7,000 heart rhythm disorder experts from more than 90 countries, that number is 6 million in the United States alone.

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, once the condition is detected, can be treated Medications, lifestyle changes, and, if necessary, surgery are used 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 says.

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 high consumption of soft drinks is associated with an increased risk of AF (atrial fibrillation),” Naveed Sattar, professor of metabolic medicine at the University of Glasgow in Scotland, said in a statement. Stated. 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 hearts), and illicit drug use (cocaine),” Sattar said.

the study, Published on Tuesday In the journal Circulation: Arrhythmia and Electrophysiology, they analyzed data from around 202,000 people participating 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 clearly conclude that some beverages pose a greater health risk than others, due to the complexity of our diets and the fact that some people may drink more than one type of beverage. “We cannot do that,” 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.”