Both sugar-sweetened and artificially sweetened drinks increase the risk type II diabetes

This study was published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 2011 Jun;93(6):1321-7

Study title and authors:

Sugar-sweetened and artificially sweetened beverage consumption and risk of type 2 diabetes in men.

de Koning L, Malik VS, Rimm EB, Willett WC, Hu FB.

Departments of Nutrition and Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA.

This study can be accessed at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21430119

The objective of the study was to examine the associations of sugar- and artificially sweetened drinks with  type II diabetes. A 20 year analysis of the  intakes of sugar-sweetened (sodas, fruit punches, lemonades, fruit drinks) and artificially sweetened (diet sodas, diet drinks) was performed on 40,389 men.

The study found:
(a) The men who consumed the most sugar-sweetened drinks had a 25% increased risk of developing type II diabetes compared with the men who consumed the least sugar-sweetened drinks.
(b) The men who consumed the most artificially sweetened drinks had a 91% increased risk of developing type II diabetes compared with the men who consumed the least artificially sweetened drinks.

This study shows that drinking both sugar-sweetened and artificially sweetened drinks increase the risk of type II diabetes.