Association Between Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Consumption and All-Cause Mortality in Individuals With and Without Metabolic Syndrome: A Prospective Cohort Study

Background and aims: To examine the association between sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) intake and all-cause mortality among U.S. adults with and without metabolic syndrome (MetS), and to identify potential nonlinear dose-response relationships and high-risk subpopulations.

Methods

We analyzed data from 26,885 U.S. adults aged 20-79 years who participated in NHANES 2003-2018. MetS was defined based on the NCEP ATP III criteria. SSB intake was assessed using a single 24-h dietary recall and quantified as total beverage weight (g/day), energy intake (kcal/day), and sugar intake (g/day). Cox proportional hazards models and restricted cubic splines were used to assess the association of SSB intake and mortality in MetS and non-MetS groups.