Abstract P322: Soda Consumption is Associated With Carotid Intima-Media Thickness Among Middle-Aged Mexican Women

Abstract

Introduction: Soda intake is associated with cardiovascular disease. Other sweetened drinks often considered healthy alternatives to sodas could have a similar impact on cardiovascular risk. Hypothesis: Sugar-sweetened beverages commonly consumed by Hispanics have a negative influence on cardiovascular risk. Methods: We evaluated the cross-sectional relationship of sweetened beverages and common carotid intima-media thickness (CIMT) in 1,054 disease-free women without diabetes, high cholesterol, history of stroke and/or myocardial infarction, from the Mexican Teachers’ Cohort. Beverage intake was estimated from a validated food-frequency questionnaire in 2008 and 4 years later, CIMT measurements were performed by neurologists. We defined subclinical atherosclerosis as CIMT ≥0.8mm or presence of plaque and beverage intake was categorized in quartiles of servings/day. Results: Mean (±SD) soda intake was 0.5 ± 0.7 servings/day among 45.2 ± 4.7 year old women and atherosclerosis prevalence was 8.7%. After adjusting for age, smoking, secondhand smoke, physical activity, oral contraception, menopausal status, SES, and diet, % change of CIMT per 1 serving/day of soda was 1.3 (95% CI 0.2-2.3). Comparing extreme quartiles of soda intake, we observed a 3.5% (95% CI 1.1-5.8; p-trend=0.003) increase in CIMT (Figure). Intake of artificially-sweetened soda, fruit infused water, and juice was not associated to CIMT. None of the beverages were associated to subclinical atherosclerosis. Conclusions: In this cross-sectional study, soda intake was associated to increased CIMT while artificially-sweetened soda, fruit water, or juice intakes were not. Our results support prior results on the adverse consequences of soda intake in cardiovascular health. Keywords: sugar-sweetened beverages, cardiovascular risk, intima media thickness, cross-sectional