One soda a day increases diabetes risk, study says

You may want to put down that Diet Coke.

A new study finds that drinking even one can of soda a day can raise your risk for Type 2 diabetes by up to 22 percent.

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Already an epidemic in North America, consumption of sugary drinks like soda is on the rise in Europe, and scientists at the Imperial College in London wanted to see if they could establish a link between sugary drinks and Type 2 diabetes there as well.

To do so, they combed through 15 years of data on sugary drink consumption from more than 28,000 people in Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom.

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What they found was alarming.

Those who said they drank at least one soda a day showed a 22 percent higher risk for developing Type 2 diabates, regardless of weight, meaning your chance for diabetes rose whether you were thin, average or overweight.

"It's alarming," researcher Dora Romaguera told Bloomberg. "Most people are really not aware of the dangers of these drinks."

The American Beverage Association disputed the study, issuing the following statement:

"This study does not prove that regular soft drinks cause type 2 diabetes. Leading health organizations agree that the known risk factors for type 2 diabetes including being overweight or obese, race or ethnicity, increasing age, lack of physical activity and family history of diabetes."

The finding is similar to previous research showing that North Americans who consume sugary beverages have a 25 percent higher risk of developing Type 2 diabetes.

The European findings were published Wednesday in the journal Diabetologia.