Study links sugary beverage consumption to 184,000 deaths a year

Sugar is known to be bad for people's health, but the extent of the damage could still be surprising.

According to a recent study, soda, energy drinks, sweetened iced tea, and other sugary beverages have been contributing factors to the global deaths of around 184,000 adults annually.

The figure includes approximately 133,000 fatalities linked to diabetes, 45,000 from heart disease, and 6,450 from various cancers.

The most affected country by far is Mexico which averaged about 24,000 deaths at a rate of 404.5 per million adults, more than three times the rate of South Africa which came in second at 153.3 deaths per million.

The U.S. came in at fourth with nearly 125 deaths per million which translates to around 25,000 people.

The team calculated these figures by assessing the national dietary surveys from more than 50 countries against statistics for disease-related mortality and the availability of sugar.

Researchers hope the figures will lead to a greater acknowledgement of the problem and possibly even result in governmental actions.