BOSTON, June 5 (UPI) -- Drinking a sugar-sweetened beverage every day, including sodas, other carbonated beverages and fruit juices, can increase the risk for non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, or NAFLD, according to a new study. Although the study, conducted at the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging (USDA HRNCA) at Tufts University, shows a relationship between sugar consumption from beverages and NAFLD, researchers said there has not been enough work done in this area to say sugar is definitely a cause of the disease.
"Although there is much more research to be done," said Nicola McKeown, Ph.D., a scientist in the Nutritional Epidemiology Program at the USDA HNRCA and an associate professor at the Friedman School, in a press release, "sugar-sweetened beverages are a source of empty calories, and people need to be mindful of how much they are drinking, perhaps by reserving this habit for special occasions."
Researchers analyzed surveys from 2,634 mostly white, middle-aged men and women enrolled in the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute's Framingham Heart Study. The participants were split into groups that consumed 1 beverage per month to one beverage per week, one beverage per week to one beverage per day, and one beverage per day.
According to the American Liver Foundation, roughly 25 percent of Americans have NAFLD, which is characterized by an accumulation of fat in the liver cells, but many never show symptoms of it.
The study is published in the Journal of Hepatology.