A single 12-ounce can of Coca-Cola has been linked to higher risk of type 2 diabetes in a new study. An all-inclusive real-time study conducted by Cambridge University researchers links consumption of artificially sweetened drinks, including diet sodas, to Type 2 Diabetes.

The study has been published in the journal, Diabetologia. A sample of 25,000 males and females, from Norfolk, UK between ages 40 and 79, was taken and their consumption patterns were observed throughout the week, over an extended period of 11 years.

The research concluded that as many as 847 subjects developed Type 2 Diabetes during the course of the study. The study, linking different beverages' consumption to diabetes rates, confirms that a substitution of water or unsweetened tea or coffee for a daily serving of soft drinks lowers the risk of diabetes by 14%. Also alternating a daily serving of a sweetened milk beverage, considered the most powerful culprit of Type 2 Diabetes, with water or unsweetened tea or coffee, trims down the risk by 20%-25%.

Type 2 Diabetes, also called Diabetes mellitus, is the most common type of Diabetes. The bodies of people with type 2 diabetes either do not make enough insulin or the body cannot use the insulin well enough, precisely called insulin resistance. When this happens, glucose (sugar) can't get into the body's cells and instead builds up in the blood, disturbing the proper functioning of body cells.

What was attention-grabbing was the fact that diet sodas were considered as dreadful as artificially sweetened drinks, majorly because people consuming them were already obese, increasing their chances of developing Type 2 Diabetes. However, the study found no evidence linking fruit juice and even sweetened tea or coffee to diabetes.

Therefore, what is required is a lifestyle change wherein added sugar consumption shouldn't exceed 130 calories per day, reiterated even by the World Health Organization.