Sugar Sweetened Beverage Intake and Biomarkers of Cardiometabolic Risk in US Women

The investigators will analyze cross-sectional data from 8,492 participants in the Nurses' Health Study who were free of diabetes and cardiovascular disease to evaluate the association between intake of sugar sweetened beverages (SSB), juice and artificially sweetened beverages (ASB) and biomarkers of hepatic function, lipid metabolism, inflammation and glycemic control. Biomarkers were measured from blood samples that were collected in 2 cycles, approximately 10 years apart.

Specifically, multivariate linear regression will be used to assess the associations of SSB, ASB, and fruit juice intake with concentrations of fetuin-A, alanine transaminase, gamma-glutamyl transferase, triglycerides, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), total cholesterol, C-reactive protein (CRP), intracellular adhesion molecule 1 (ICAM-1), vascular cell adhesion protein 1 (VCAM-1), adiponectin, insulin, and hemoglobin A1c as well as total cholesterol/HDL-C ratio.

Inclusion criteria

For the current study, we included participants who provided a blood sample and were previously selected as controls for nested case-control analyses of type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease, stroke, colon cancer, colon polyps, pancreatic cancer, and breast cancer in the Nurse's Health Study.

Exclusion criteria

Participants with self-reported prevalent diabetes or cardiovascular disease (CVD) at blood draw were excluded. After exclusions, a total of 8,492 individuals (6,961 from cycle 1 and 1,531 from cycle 2) with valid beverage intake data were included in the current analysis.