• Switching from fizzy to unsweetened drinks could slash diabetes risk
• Cutting out just one sugary drink a day could reduce risk by a quarter
• Swapping hot chocolate for unsweetened tea and coffee could also help

By JENNY HOPE

Switching from fizzy drinks and hot chocolate to drinking water and unsweetened tea could slash your risk of developing diabetes by a quarter, research has shown.

Scientists believe that replacing just one sugary drink a day with unsweetened alternatives such as tea or coffee could help curb an epidemic of type 2 diabetes.

The study asked more than 25,000 people aged 40 to 79 to record everything they ate and drank in a food diary. Over the course of 11 years, 847 of the participants were diagnosed with type 2 diabetes.

Switching from fizzy drinks and hot chocolate to drinking water and unsweetened tea could slash your risk of developing diabetes by a quarter (file picture)

Scientists believe that replacing just one sugary drink a day with unsweetened alternatives such as tea or coffee could help curb an epidemic of type 2 diabetes (file picture)

Researchers found that for each five per cent increase in people’s total energy intake from sugar-sweetened drinks, the risk of them developing the disease increased by 18 per cent.

But swapping only one a day for water, unsweetened tea or coffee could cut the incidence of diabetes by up to 25 per cent.

Lead researcher Nita Forouhi, from Cambridge University, said: ‘We were able to study beverages, including sweetened tea or coffee, sweetened milk drinks, artificially sweetened beverages and juice – and examine what would happen if they were substituted for water.’

The report in Diabetologia, the journal of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes, found that replacing one soft drink or sweetened-milk beverage with a healthier alternative every day reduced the rate of diabetes by between 14 and 25 per cent.

It concluded: ‘Reducing consumption of sweet beverages and promoting water, unsweetened tea or coffee may curb the escalating diabetes epidemic.’

Dr Forouhi said: ‘The good news is that our study provides practical suggestions for healthy alternative drinks which can help the prevention of diabetes.’

And Professor Tom Sanders, from King’s College London, said drinks tended to reveal a lot about lifestyle.

He added: ‘Soft drinks are associated with fast food outlets compared to water, tea and fruit juice – which are associated with a healthy lifestyle.’

Professor Sanders went on to say: ‘As the risk of diabetes is associated with weight gain, it makes sense to replace high-calorie beverages with those with fewer calories.’

But Gavin Partington, from the British Soft Drinks Association, said: ‘Rather than singling out a particular product we should be encouraging people to enjoy balanced diet and active lifestyle.’