Drinking just two sugary beverages a day boosts your risk of type 2 diabetes by as much as 31 percent.

People who drink more sugar-sweetened beverages, including regular soda, fruit juice, fortified fruit drinks and Kool-Aid are far more likely to develop type 2 diabetes than people who instead drink diet soda, orange juice or grapefruit juice, according to researchers at the Slone Epidemiology Center at Boston University.

The study: Led by Julie R. Palmer, the team examined the association between type 2 diabetes, weight gain and the consumption of sugar-sweetened soft drinks and fruit drinks in 43,960 African American women. In 1995 and again in 2001, the women completed a questionnaire about the types of foods and beverages they typically consumed. A total of 17 percent reported drinking one sugar-sweetened soft drink each day, 32 percent drank one sweetened fruit drink each day and 22 percent had at least one glass of orange juice or grapefruit juice.

The results: Over 10 years of follow-up, 2,713 of the women developed type 2 diabetes. Those who drank more regular soft drinks and fruit drinks were more likely to develop diabetes than those who drank less of those beverages.

Specifically:

• Women who drank two or more soft drinks per day had a 24 percent increase in diabetes risk, compared with women who drank less than one soft drink per month.
  
• Those who drank two or more fruit drinks per day had a 31 percent increased risk, compared with women who drank less than one per month.
  
• Diet soft drinks, grapefruit juice and orange juice were not associated with diabetes risk.

--From the Editors at Netscape