Sweetened beverage consumption and increased risk of metabolic syndrome in Mexican adults

Objective: To examine the relationship between sweetened beverage consumption and components of the metabolic syndrome in a Mexican population. Design: We performed a cross-sectional analysis of data from selected adults participating in the baseline assessment of the Health Workers Cohort Study. Information on participants' sociodemographic characteristics, dietary patterns and physical activity were collected via self-administered questionnaires. Sweetened beverage consumption was evaluated through a validated semi-quantitative FFQ. Anthropometric and clinical measures were assessed with standardized procedures. The definition of metabolic syndrome was determined using criteria from the National Cholesterol Education Program Adult Treatment Panel III. The associations of interest were evaluated by means of linear and logistic regression models. Setting: The Mexican states of Morelos and Mexico. Subjects: A total of 5240 individuals aged 20 to 70 years (mean 39.4 (SD 11.5) years) were evaluated. Results: Overweight/obesity prevalence was 56.6%. The prevalence of metabolic syndrome in this sample was 26.6%. We found that for each additional daily sweetened beverage serving consumed, participants experienced an average increase of 0.49 mmol/l in TAG and a decrease in HDL cholesterol of 0.31 mmol/l. Subjects consuming more than two servings of sweetened beverages daily were at 2.0 times greater risk of metabolic syndrome than those who did not consume sweetened beverages. We also observed that higher sweetened beverage consumption increased the risk of all components of the metabolic syndrome. Conclusions: Our data support the hypothesis that sweetened beverage consumption increases the risk of metabolic syndrome in Mexican adults, possibly by providing excess energy and large amounts of rapidly absorbable sugars.