Fizzy drinks may increase cardiac arrest risk

A study suggests that a diet high in fizzy drinks may increase your risk of having a cardiac arrest, but fruit juice, tea and coffee do not appear to increase your risk.
It is already known that fizzy drinks can lead to obesity and type 2 diabetes, and it was previously found that the risk of heart disease and stroke is increased when consuming a high number of fizzy drinks.
The study looked at 800,000 Japanese people who had suffered a cardiac arrest and discovered that the more money someone had spent on fizzy drinks, the more likely they were to end up suffering a cardiac arrest outside of a hospital.
The data recorded looked at drink types and also expenditure on different drink types, from 2005 to 2011. There was no evidence that other drinks such as tea, milk, water, fruit juice, vegetable juice or coffee had any links to the risk of suffering a cardiac arrest.
“Carbonated beverage consumption was significantly and positively associated with out-of-hospital cardiac arrests (OHCAs) of cardiac origin in Japan, indicating that beverage habits may have an impact on fatal cardiovascular disease,” said Professor Keijiro Saku, of Fukuoka University in Japan.
However, the British Soft Drinks Association (BDSA) highlighted the lack of a direct link between fizzy drinks and an increased risk of cardiac arrest, with Direct General Gavin Partington saying: “The author of this study, which is neither peer-reviewed nor published, admits that the association is not causal. In fact, the report does not contain any evidence to show that drinking carbonated drinks causes OHCA.”
A cardiac arrest is when the heart stops pumping blood around the body, which is different to a heart attack. A heart attack occurs when the supply of blood to the heart is blocked, typically by a blood clot.
A cardiac arrest will almost always result in death unless treated by CPR immediately, and signs someone is suffering from one will be if they lose consciousness and their breathing stops. Each year tens of thousands of people in the UK suffer a cardiac arrest.

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