The consumption drinks with sugar or artificially sweeteners associated with an increased risk of developing irregular heart rhythmfinds a study published in the scientific journal of the American Heart Association “Circulation: Arrhythmia and Electrophysiology”.

THE Atrial Fibrillation is a condition in which the heart beats irregularly, increasing the risk of stroke by five times. More than twelve million people are expected to have atrial fibrillation by 2030, according to statistics from the American Heart Association.

Consumption of sugary drinks has been linked to type 2 diabetes and obesity in previous research, however this is one of the first large studies to assess a potential link to AF.

The research

An analysis of health data on more than 200,000 adults aged 37-73 by the UK biomedical data bank Biobank finds 20% higher risk irregular heart rhythm, known as atrial fibrillation, among adults who reported drinking two liters or more her week of artificially sweetened beverages compared to those who drank a smaller amount of such beverages.

At the same time, the risk was 10% higher among people who said they drank similar amounts of sugary drinks.

Participants were followed for an average of ten years. Blood samples were collected to measure genetic risk for atrial fibrillation, and participants also answered questionnaires about their diet. The risk was found to be high regardless of the genetic susceptibility of the research participants.

Smoking may also affect risk, as smokers who drank more than two liters of sugary drinks per week had a 31% higher risk of developing atrial fibrillation.

In contrast, drinking one liter or less of natural, unsweetened, fruit or vegetable juice per week was associated with an 8% lower risk of AF.

The researchers note, however, that the study could not confirm whether sugary drinks caused atrial fibrillation, but the association remained after taking into account a person’s genetic susceptibility to the condition.