Frequent drinking of fizzy beverages and fruit juice linked to an increased risk of stroke: research

New data raises questions about the drinks people consume and the potential risks associated with them, according to researchers at Galway University in Ireland, in partnership with Hamilton’s McMaster University.

The five-year study recruited 13,500 people in 27 countries who had suffered a stroke. Researchers collected data on what they were drinking and whether it had any link to stroke.

"Fizzy drinks, fruit drinks and water,” said Dr. Andrew Smyth, a Physician at Galway University Hospitals and professor of clinical epidemiology. “And we looked at black tea, green tea and other types of tea."

Fizzy drinks, both with sugar and artificially sweetened, were linked with a 22 per cent increase chance of having a stroke. The increased risk of stroke climbed to 37 per cent with fruit juice consumption.

Smyth said it all came down to the harmful elements in drinks that can increase a person's chances of suffering a stroke.

"If you walk into the grocery store, you see some 100 per cent freshly squeezed fruit juice and then you also see a lot of other fruit drinks that are made from concentrates that have additives, sugars and extra things,” said Smyth.

Earlier research findings showed more than four cups of coffee a day is also linked to higher stroke risk, however, several types of tea have the opposite effect.

"We found with three to four cups a day of black tea or green tea reduced your chance of having a stroke by a third,” said Smyth. “What was interesting from that was that benefit was not seen for people who chose to add milk to the tea."

Smyth also said drinking seven glasses of water each day could reduce your risk for stroke.

Cardiologist and epidemiologist Dr. Christopher Labos is skeptical about these new research findings.

"When you're asking people to average out their food consumption over years, I'm not convinced that this type of approach amounts to much more than a rough guess,” said Labos, agreeing that caffeine intake and its link to poor health is something that should be watched closely.

"If a young person is going to take a monster energy drink, and maybe chug a second one and when you have that combination of high amounts of caffeine in a smaller body, I think there is some worry amongst regulators that maybe we should be doing more to limit serving size stuff on that stuff."

According to Smyth, the purpose of this research was to simply provide people with more information and education.

"Sometimes it might be best for you to make a different choice,” said Smyth.

Smyth hopes to give people the tools to pursue better health and minimize the risk for stroke.