Fewer fizzy drinks may improve blood pressure

Risk factor for heart attack and stroke

Drinking fewer sugar laden soft drinks may help to lower blood pressure, say researchers.

A US study found cutting back on sugar sweetened soft drinks by around a can a day, resulted in a drop in blood pressure in people with hypertension. "Our findings suggest that reducing sugar-sweetened beverages and sugar consumption may be an important dietary strategy to lower blood pressure and further reduce other blood pressure-related diseases," said Dr Liwei Chen assistant professor of epidemiolody at Louisiana State University Health Science Centre School of Public Health, New Orleans.

Hypertension or high blood pressure is a known risk factor for heart attack, stroke, metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes. "It has been estimated that a 3-millimeters of mercury (mm Hg) reduction in systolic blood pressure should reduce stroke mortality by 8 percent and coronary heart disease mortality by five per cent. Such reductions in systolic blood pressure would be anticipated by reducing sugar-sweetened beverages consumption by an average of two servings per day," Dr Chen added.

The researchers analysed data from 810 adults with either prehypertension or stage 1 hypertension who were trying to improve their blood pressure through weight loss, exercise and a healthy diet. At the start of the study, the volunteers drank an average 10.5 fluid ounces of sugary drinks a day, equivalent to just under an average sized can. After 18 months, only half as much was drunk each day.

After taking into account known risk factors for blood pressure, the results showed that cutting back on a single serving of soft drinks a day was associated with a 1.8 millimeters of mercury (mm Hg) drop in systolic pressure and a 1.1 mm Hg fall in diastolic pressure. Part of the fall in blood pressure would have been due to weight loss. But even when this was taken into account, the change in blood pressure was still statistically significant.

"Although this study was conducted among mostly overweight adults and many with hypertension, we believe that others will benefit by reducing the consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages," Dr Chen said. "However, such evidence from humans is lacking, and we plan to conduct such research among non-hypertensive individuals."

The findings are published in the journal Circulation.