Do Sugary Drinks Raise Dementia Risk in Older Adults?

Higher intake of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSB) or artificially sweetened beverages (ASB) in later life was not associated with the risk for all-cause dementia, pooled data from six large prospective cohort studies showed. However, more research to examine the impact of such beverages in younger cohorts is warranted.
The null associations were consistent across subgroups defined by age, sex, BMI, and presence of chronic disease and the findings were robust in sensitivity analysis, reported the authors, led by Hui Chen, with the School of Public Health, The Second Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China.
The study was published online on June 18 in JAMA Psychiatry.
Mixed Data
Previous observational studies have suggested possible links between high consumption of sweetened beverages and increased dementia risk, although findings have been inconsistent.
To provide more definitive evidence, researchers analyzed long-term data from 10,974 adults enrolled in the Health and Retirement Study (2013), the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities study (1987-1995), the Chicago Healthy and Aging Project (1993-2012), the Rush Memory and Aging Project (1997-2005), the Framingham Heart Study original cohort (1986-1994), and its offspring cohort (1991-2001).
The mean age at baseline was 73 years and 60% were women. SSB and ASB intake were assessed using validated food frequency questionnaires and dementia diagnoses were confirmed through active follow-up and standardized clinical protocols.
A total of 2445 participants developed dementia during 116,067 person-years of follow-up.
The consumption of SSB and ASB was not associated with increased dementia risk. The pooled hazard ratio (HR) per serving per week was 0.99 (95% CI, 0.98-1.01; P = .18) for SSB and 1.00 (95% CI, 0.99-1.01; P = .99) for ASB.
Even among those consuming at least one daily serving, no statistically significant association was found (HR, 0.90; 95% CI, 0.78-1.03 for SSB and HR, 1.00; 95% CI, 0.84-1.21 for ASB).
The narrow CIs indicate 'relatively high precision,' the investigators noted and 'suggests that the lack of associations is less likely due to inadequate statistical power and more reflective of an absence of association between SSB, ASB, and dementia risk.'
Key strengths of the six studies include the long-term follow-up — 10.7 years on average — which is longer than most prior studies, and the inclusion of only older adults, therefore excluding early-onset dementia.
The limitation is that the study population had a lower prevalence of daily SSB and ASB intake (roughly 10%) compared with the general US older population, where it's estimated that roughly 20% of individuals aged 55 years or older consume these beverages daily.
Summing up, Chen and colleagues said their findings suggest that in late life, consumption of sweetened beverages may not independently increase the risk for dementia.
However, given their harmful effects on metabolic health and related chronic diseases such as type 2 diabetes and obesity, the effects of early-life consumption of SSB and ASB on the risk for dementia need to be investigated, they noted.

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