Sugary drinks are killing 180,000 worldwide each year, study finds

By contributing to obesity and, through that, to diabetes, cardiovascular disease and cancer, the consumption of sugar-sweetened drinks appears to kill about 180,000 people worldwide each year, new research says.

Low- and middle-income countries are bearing the brunt of the death toll attributed to overconsumption of sugar-sweetened sodas, sports drinks and fruit drinks, according to an assessment published on Monday in the American Heart Association's journal, Circulation. Each year, more than 75 per cent of the world's deaths attributed to overconsumption of sugar-sweetened beverages occur in those poor and developing countries.

In Mexico - a country with a per capita consumption of sweetened drinks among the world's highest - about 24,000 adults' deaths in 2010 were attributed to overconsumption of sugar-sweetened drinks. That translated into the highest death rate of the world's 20 most populous nations: 405 deaths per million adults in one year.

The United States ranked second. In 2010, there were 125 deaths per million adults, or about 25,000 deaths total.

Researchers combed through national dietary surveys that captured patterns of beverage consumption in 51 countries from 1980 to 2010. They then mined databases to discern the availability and consumption of sugar in 187 countries.

They tallied consumption of drinks - homemade and mass-produced - that deliver 50 calories or more per eight-ounce serving, and did not count 100 per cent fruit juices.