180,000 Deaths Worldwide Associated With Sugary Drinks

We have even more reason to be chugging water instead of soda — a new study now estimates that the number of deaths worldwide associated with sugary drinks may be more than 180,000. 

The newest research from Harvard, presented at a meeting at the American Heart Association, examined data from the World Health Organizaton's Global Burden of Disease study in 2010 as well as other sources of data. According to Forbes, the study looked at where sugary drinks were consumed, and by gender and age. Worldwide, in 2010, the number of deaths associated with sugary drinks and the diseases that come with them — diabetes, heart disease — was upward of 184,000. 

Where the most deaths associated with sugary drinks occured was in Mexico, where about 318 per 1 million deaths were linked to sugary drinks. The study found that those most at risk in Mexico were adults under the age of 45. And Americans didn't fare so well, either — with about 25,000 deaths. The study authors push for more initiatives similar to the New York City (failed for now) soda ban and taxes on sugary drinks. But the American Beverage Association (ABA), in response to the study, argues that the newest stats are more "sensationalism than science." "It does not show that consuming sugar-sweetened beverages causes chronic diseases such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease or cancer — the real causes of death among the studied subjects," said the ABA in a statement. "The researchers make a huge leap when they take beverage intake calculations from around the globe and allege that those beverages are the cause of deaths which the authors themselves acknowledge are due to chronic disease."