Hui Chen of Zhejiang University and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and colleagues conducted a multi-cohort study and found that consumption of sugar-sweetened soft drinks or sugar-sweetened alternatives in older adults is not associated with the risk of dementia. The researchers analyzed data from nearly 11,000 Americans aged 65 and older (mean age 73.2 years; 60 percent women) from the HRS, ARIC, CHAP, Rush MAP, and two Framingham Study cohorts. All-cause dementia cases were recorded at least two years after baseline. Statistical analysis of the data was performed using Cox proportional hazards models. The results were published in JAMA Psychiatry.
The average follow-up period for participants was 10.7 years (over 116,000 person-years in total). It was found that consumption of sugary beverages (carbonated and non-carbonated, as well as sweetened fruit juices), whether containing sugar or artificial sweeteners, at this age was not associated with the risk of developing dementia: the pooled odds ratios per serving per week were 0.99 and 1.00, respectively.
