It's not related to sugary drinks in old age, dementia risk

Jun 24, 2025

It's not related to sugary drinks in old age, dementia risk
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Beverages are classified into unsweetened and sweetened beverages depending on whether sugars (sugar, liquid fructose, etc.) are added. In particular, sugary drinks are known as risk factors for chronic diseases such as obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases because they can easily consume energy and sugar.

However, a study found that sugary drink consumption by adults over 65 years of age is not related to dementia.

This is the result of a study recently published in JAMA Psychiatry by researchers from Zhejiang University School of Medicine and Harvard University T, H. Chan School of Public Health in the United States.




The researchers meta-analyzed six U.S. cohort studies involving 19,974 participants (average age of 73.2 years, 60% of women) to assess whether consumption of sugary or artificial sugary drinks in adults over 65 years of age is related to all-cause dementia. The average follow-up period was 10.7 years, and the data were analyzed from May 27 to September 24, 2024.

Analysis showed that consumption of sugary and artificial sugary drinks was not associated with dementia risk. In the case of sugary drinks, the risk ratio (HR) per serving per week was 0.99, and artificial sugary drinks were 1.00, indicating that drinking a lot of these drinks did not increase the risk of dementia.

The researchers said that sugary drinks consumption and dementia risk in old age were not related, but added that further investigation is needed on the effects of early consumption of these drinks on dementia risk given the harmful effects on metabolic health and related chronic diseases in early life and middle age.




On the other hand, this study also showed a positive result that healthy diets, such as Mediterranean diets, lower the risk of dementia.



This article was translated by Naver AI translator.