Capitalism - sugar coated

Sugary drinks are killing 184,000 adults around the world every year, and should be eliminated from people’s diets, medical experts have warned. The global death toll from sugar-laden drinks – ranging from soft drinks to fruit smoothies – has been revealed in a new paper published in the American Heart Association’s Circulation journal.

Most of the deaths are from people who die from diabetes, estimated at some 133,000 a year. Around 45,000 people die each year from heart disease and another 6,450 from cancer, according to the study - which is the first comprehensive assessment of the global deaths attributable to sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs).

When it comes to the total number of deaths annually, the United States tops the list – with 25,347. But when it comes to the actual death rate, Mexico is top – with 404.5 deaths per million adults. Most of the deaths are concentrated among adults aged 20 to 44 years of age in low and middle income countries, say researchers. Britain has 1,316 deaths a year, with an estimated mortality rate of 30.5 per million adults.

It should be a global priority to substantially reduce or eliminate sugar-sweetened beverages from the diet,” commented Dr Dariush Mozaffarian, senior author of the study and dean of the Friedman School of Nutrition Science & Policy at Tufts University in Boston. “There are no health benefits from sugar-sweetened beverages, and the potential impact of reducing consumption is saving tens of thousands of deaths each year.”

As the tobacco industry previously did, the British Soft Drinks Association to protect their profits denied any connection with the consumption of their products and bad health leading to death.

SOYMB blog’s comment is that over 3 million children die each year caused by malnutrition, through no faut of their own. Apologists for capitalism are also in denial mode to the fact that the buying and selling system is to blame, too