China: In a new study conducted by Tian Fu and colleagues, the findings suggest that drinking sugar-sweetened beverages increases the risk of inflammatory bowel disorders (IBD) more than drinking artificially sweetened beverages or drinking natural juices. The data from this study was published in Alimentary Pharmacology & Therapeutics.
Although high-sugar dietary habits have been linked to inflammatory bowel disorders, less is known about the relationships between various beverage kinds and IBD risk. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationships between the consumption of naturally sweetened beverages, artificially sweetened beverages, and sugar-sweetened beverages with the risk of IBD.

121,490 people in the UK Biobank who were IBD-free at enrollment were a part of this cohort study. Repeated 24-hour diet recalls between 2009 and 2012 were used to determine beverage intake. To calculate the hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for relationships between beverage consumption and the risk of IBD, Cox proportional hazard models were employed.
The key findings of this study were as follows:
1. 510 incident IBD cases were recorded over a mean (SD) follow-up of 10.2 years, including 143 cases of Crohn's disease (CD) and 367 cases of ulcerative colitis (UC).
2. Participants who consumed more than one unit per day of sugar-sweetened beverages had a considerably greater risk of IBD compared to non-consumers, but the trend was not statistically significant.
3. While UC did not show any significance, the CD did.
4. Natural juices and the use of artificially sweetened beverages did not appear to be significantly correlated.
In conclusion, this study revealed a link between excessive consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages and an increased risk of IBD, as opposed to artificially sweetened beverages or natural juices. In order to prevent IBD, especially CD, the findings, if proven causal, indicate reducing the consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages.
Reference:
Fu, T., Chen, H., Chen, X., Sun, Y., Xie, Y., Deng, M., Hesketh, T., Wang, X., & Chen, J. (2022). Sugar‐sweetened beverages, artificially sweetened beverages and natural juices and risk of inflammatory bowel disease: a cohort study of 121,490 participants. In Alimentary Pharmacology & Therapeutics. Wiley. https://doi.org/10.1111/apt.17149