Sugar-sweetened drinks, stroke and dementia risk over 10 years in people
What it found
Drinks sweetened with sugar were not linked to a higher risk of stroke or dementia over 10 years in people.
Artificially sweetened soft drinks were linked to a higher risk of both.
What they found
Studies in people
Sugar drinks and stroke
People who drank more sugar-sweetened soft drinks or total sugary drinks did not have a higher risk of stroke compared to those who drank none. This was true whether looking at recent drinking habits or habits averaged over several years.
Sugar drinks and dementia
Drinking sugar-sweetened soft drinks or total sugary drinks was not linked to a higher risk of dementia or Alzheimer's disease. The researchers found no connection using either recent intake or long-term average intake.
Artificial sweeteners and stroke
People who drank artificially sweetened soft drinks every day had about three times the risk of ischemic stroke compared to those who drank none per week. This link held up after accounting for age, sex, diet quality, exercise and smoking.
Artificial sweeteners and dementia
Daily intake of artificially sweetened soft drinks was linked to nearly three times the risk of Alzheimer's disease compared to drinking none per week. This link remained after adjusting for lifestyle factors but faded when adding health conditions like blood pressure and diabetes.
Diabetes as a middle step
Having diabetes partly explained the link between artificially sweetened drinks and dementia. When the researchers removed people with diabetes from the analysis, daily artificially sweetened drinks were still linked to a higher risk of dementia.
What the authors conclude
- They conclude that artificially sweetened soft drinks were linked to a higher risk of stroke and dementia in their group.
- They note that sugar-sweetened beverages were not linked to these outcomes.
- The authors call for future research to confirm these findings and to study how artificially sweetened drinks might affect the body.
How it was done
Sugary drinks have been linked to heart and metabolic problems that raise the chance of stroke and memory loss. Scientists did not yet know if sugary drinks themselves were tied to new cases of dementia.
They followed 2888 adults over age 45 for stroke and 1484 adults over age 60 for dementia for up to 10 years. Participants filled out food questionnaires about their drink habits three times over several years. The researchers then counted 97 strokes and 81 dementia cases.
What it can’t tell you
- Because this study followed people over time rather than assigning drinks at random, it can only show a link, not a cause.
- Participants reported their own diets from memory, which may not be perfectly accurate.
- Almost all participants were of European descent, so the results might not apply to other groups.
Who paid
- Funding
- Funded by NINDS NIH HHS; NHLBI NIH HHS; NIA NIH HHS (from the PubMed record).
- Conflicts
- Disclosures - All other authors report no disclosures or potential conflicts of interest.
- Authors work at
- Boston University School of Medicine, MA; Swinburne University of Technology, Australia (M.P.P.); Boston University School of Public Health, MA
The paper
- Title
- Sugar- and Artificially Sweetened Beverages and the Risks of Incident Stroke and Dementia: A Prospective Cohort Study
- Type
- Study
- Evidence
- Studies in people
- Summarised from
- Full text
- Cite
- Pase MP, Himali JJ, Beiser AS, et al (2017). Sugar- and Artificially Sweetened Beverages and the Risks of Incident Stroke and Dementia: A Prospective Cohort Study. Stroke. doi:10.1161/STROKEAHA.116.016027Free full textPubMed 28428346DOI
Summary written 1 Oct 2026. Check it against the paper before it changes what you eat. How we summarise papers · Report an error