Is Drinking Soda

Associated with
Mortality?
By Allana Roszyk and Macy Wright
“Death by Diet Soda?” - The New York Times, Sept. 6, 2019
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/06/health/diet-soda-health-death.html?searchResultPosition=6

Amy Mullee, PhD; Dora Romaguera, PhD; Jonathan Pearson-Stuttard, BMBCh; et al. Association Between Soft Drink Consumption and
Mortality in 10 European Countries. JAMA Intern Med. Published online September 3, 2019. doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2019.2478

● Objective: To determine whether there is any correlation between the amount of soft drink
consumption and overall or cause-specific mortality.
● Procedure: 451,743 people (with a mean of age 50.8) from 10 European Countries reported
whether or not they drink soda and how often. A follow-up was carried out a mean of 16.4
years later.
● Results: 41,693 deaths had occurred by the time of the follow up. People who drank more
than 2 glasses of soda per day showed higher all-cause mortality.
● Conclusion: Soda is associated positively with all-cause mortality.
Original Journal Article VS. Media Journal Article
Original Journal Article Media Journal Article

1. “Self-administered questionnaires
1. “...people who drank two or more
were used in all centers, except in
glasses of sugar-sweetened beverages
Greece, Spain, and Ragusa (Italy), where
a day were eight percent more likely to
data were collected during personal
die young”
interviews.”

2. “For sugar-sweetened soft drinks, a 2. “...other research in the United States

positive association was found among has found a correlation between
participants with a BMI of 30 or higher artificially sweetened beverages and
(obese) but not among those with a premature death.”
BMI between 25 and under 30.”
Original Journal Article VS. Media Journal Article
Original Journal Article:
3. “…greater consumption of total,
sugar-sweetened, and artificially
sweetened soft drinks was
associated with a higher risk of
all-cause mortality.”
4. “Higher all-cause mortality was
found among participants who
consumed 2 or more glasses per
day”
Media Journal Article:
3. “A new study that links artificially
sweetened beverages to
premature death is prompting
public angst.”
4.“...prodigious consumers of
artificially sweetened drinks were
26 percent more likely to die
prematurely than those who rarely
drank sugar-free beverages.”
Other media outlets with same headline
1. “Drinking soda increases risk of death – even if it's artificially-sweetened” - Philly Voice
https://www.phillyvoice.com/soda-death-risk-sugar-artificially-sweetened/
2. “Drop the Pop: Soda Tied to Higher Risk of Early Death” - U.S. News
https://www.usnews.com/news/health-news/articles/2019-09-03/drop-the-pop-soda-tied
-to-higher-risk-of-early-death
3. “Once Again Soda Tied to Higher Risk of Early Death” -WebMD
https://www.webmd.com/diet/news/20190903/once-again-soda-tied-to-higher-risk-of-ea
rly-death#1
4. “Even Diet Sodas Are Tied to an Increased Risk of Early Death”
https://www.livescience.com/diet-soda-early-death-risk.html
Rewritten Headline
“Possible Correlation Between Soft Drink Consumption
and All-Cause Mortality Shown In New European Study”
Questions
● Do you think that the media article’s headline attracts many people, and if

so, does it cause them to stop drinking diet soda? Why or why not?

● What do you think stops people from clicking on the link to the original

journal article?