FRIDAY, March 5 (HealthDay News) --Increasing consumption of sugary soft drinks contributed to 130,000 new cases of diabetes, 14,000 new cases of heart disease and 50,000 more life-years burdened with heart disease in the last decade, a new U.S. study finds.

"The finding suggests that any kind of policy that reduces consumption might have a dramatic health benefit," said senior study author Dr. Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, an associate professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, who was to present the finding Friday during the American Heart Association's Cardiovascular Disease Epidemiology and Prevention annual conference, in San Francisco.

The study used a computer simulation of heart disease that has been applied to other cardiovascular risk factors, such as obesity and dietary salt, Bibbins-Domingo explained. "We probably underestimated the incidence, because the rise is greatest among the young, and our model focuses on adults 35 and older," she said.

One plausible explanation is that the increased incidence of cardiovascular problems is due to a rising incidence of diabetes, Bibbins-Domingo said, while an increase in obesity might also be responsible.

"Whatever the mechanism, large population studies do suggest an effect of drinking large lots of sweetened beverages," she said. "No one argues that these drinks are not fine in moderation, but over the past decade their consumption has been on the rise, while consumption of other beverages has declined."

A statement by Maureen Storey, senior vice president for science policy for the American Beverage Association, noted that the study had not yet been published in a scientific journal, and therefore had not undergone review by outside, qualified scientists.

"What we do know is that both heart disease and diabetes are complex conditions with no single cause and no single solution," Storey said in the statement, which noted that consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages is not listed as a risk factor by the American Heart Association. "Rather, we need to continue to educate Americans about the importance of balancing the calories from the foods and beverages we eat and drink with regular physical activity."

But the study does suggest that any kind of policy that reduces consumption might have a health benefit, Bibbins-Domingo noted. One such policy is a proposed tax on sugar-sweetened drinks, she noted. "The reason why there is a current debate about a tax is that scientific evidence in populations has consistently shown that more than one drink a day increases your risk," she said.

The American Heart Association recommends limiting consumption of sugar-sweetened drinks such as soda pop, while "alternative choices are available," said Dr. Robert H. Eckel, a professor of medicine at the University of Colorado and a past president of the association.

"Juice from fruit itself is nutrient-rich, and its nutritional value goes beyond the carbohydrate content," Eckel said.

The recommended daily sugar intake amounts to just one can of sugar-sweetened soda a day for a man and slightly less for women, he said.

More information

The cardiovascular effects of dietary sugar are described by the American Heart Association  .

FRIDAY, March 5 (HealthDay News) -- The makers of insulin pumps used to treat diabetes should try to supply more information to U.S. officials when filing reports about potential problems with the devices, an advisory panel to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said Friday.

Makers of medical devices are required to report when a device malfunctions or may have contributed to the death or serious injury of a patient. The FDA said it has seen a sharp rise in the number of "adverse events" related to insulin pumps, which have become increasingly popular in recent years, the Dow Jones news wire reported.

The panel of outside medical advisors met to discuss the increase in problems and whether anything could be done to minimize potential risks to patients. Panel members said more information is needed in adverse-event reports to help the FDA gauge if an insulin pump contributed to a patient's problem, the news service reported.

"It could be a pump failure or it could be people failure," said Marc Rendell, a panel member and director of the Diabetes Center at Creighton University in Omaha, Neb., noting it can be difficult to train patients to properly use the devices. Other doctors on the panel -- the General Hospital and Personal Use Devices Panel -- also said they find many pump problems are due to patients not following instructions, such as changing some pump parts every three days or using the proper settings, Dow Jones reported.

Problems with the pumps have resulted in deaths and injuries. This prompted the FDA to ask the advisors to review the matter and come up with ways to get manufacturers to do a better job of finding, reporting and fixing the problems.

According to an FDA review of insulin pump problems, there have been 16,849 adverse-event reports since 2006, including 310 deaths, 12,093 injuries, and 4,294 malfunctions of pumps. The problems have been spread across various manufacturers and include both hardware and software issues.

While the reason for most of the deaths is unknown, a number were due to diabetic coma; blood sugar that was too low; blood sugar that was too high; diabetic ketoacidosis, a complication of diabetes; and unresponsiveness, according to the agency.

Since 2004, there have been 18 recalls of pumps. In many cases, the pump makers failed to identify and report the specific difficulties with the devices, according to the FDA. The agency has said that in most cases the manufacturers' response to the problems had been incomplete, including incomplete details about deaths related to the pumps.

Insulin pumps are small self-contained devices that supply measured doses of the hormone insulin to diabetics. The pumps are primarily used by people with type 1 diabetes, a disease in which the pancreas does not produce insulin, which is essential for controlling the body's blood sugar levels. In 2007, some 375,000 type 1 diabetics were using these pumps, according to the FDA.

The FDA asked the panel to consider several questions, including: What should be taken into account in looking at the risk of pump failure? Are there risks in patients changing from an insulin pump to another method of delivering insulin? What are the risks of using a defective pump? And what can be done to get manufacturers to do a better job of reporting and diagnosing pump problems.

The FDA isn't obligated to follow the recommendations of its advisory panels, but it typically does so.

More information

For more on the pumps and other alternate sources of insulin, visit the U.S. National Library of Medicine.

MONDAY, Feb. 15 (HealthDay News) -- Women who take diabetes drugs known as thiazolidinediones, which include Avandia and Actos, are at a greater risk of bone fractures, a new study finds.

Women who took a thiazolidinedione drug for a year were 50 percent more likely to suffer a bone fracture than patients who didn't take the drug, the researchers found. Women older than 65 were most vulnerable, with a 70 percent higher risk.

"Older women are already at a higher risk of osteoporosis and osteoporosis-related fractures, which might explain why they appeared to be the most affected," study senior author Dr. L. Keoki Williams, of the Center for Health Services Research at Henry Ford Hospital, said in a news release.

Thiazolidinedione drugs -- which include pioglitazone (Actos) and rosiglitazone (Avandia) -- help people with type 2 diabetes better control their blood sugar levels. The drugs work by lowering resistance to insulin and cutting the amount of glucose made by the liver.

But doctors have worried in recent years about reports linking the drugs to bone loss and higher risk of fractures.

The researchers studied 4,511 patients who filled at least one prescription for a thiazolidinedione between 2000 and 2007 at Henry Ford Hospital. Men were not found to be at higher risk of fracture in this study group, the study authors noted in the news release, although other recent research has suggested such a link.

The findings are published in the February issue of the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.

The drugs "may put some patients at increased risk for other health issues, and I encourage patients to talk with their physician about other suitable options," Williams added.

More information

The U.S. National Library of Medicine has more about thiazolidinediones.