Objectives To investigate whether sweetened beverage consumption is associated with risk of heart failure (HF) in a large prospective population-based study of men.

Methods and results A population-based cohort comprising 42 400 men, 45–79 years of age, was followed from 1998 through 2010. Sweetened beverage consumption was assessed by utilising a food frequency questionnaire. Incident events of HF were identified through linkage to the Swedish National Patient Register and the Cause of Death Register. Cox regression analyses were implemented to investigate the association between sweetened beverage consumption and HF. During a mean follow-up time of 11.7 years, a total of 4113 HF events were identified. We observed a positive association between sweetened beverage consumption and risk of HF after adjustment for other risk factors (p for trend <0.001). Men who consumed two or more servings of sweetened beverages per day had a statistically significant higher risk of developing HF (23%, 95% CI 1.12 to 1.35) compared to men who were non-consumers.

Conclusions Our finding that sweetened beverage consumption is associated with higher risk of HF could have implications for HF prevention strategies. Additional prospective studies investigating the link between sweetened beverage consumption and HF are therefore needed.