A soft drink a day won’t keep the doctor away — it may actually increase the risk for developing Type-2 Diabetes.

According to two separate studies published this year, the increased intake of refined carbohydrates such as high-fructose corn syrup, coupled with decreased intake of fiber, is connected with the growing number of Type-2 Diabetes cases all over the nation.

“If you go back about 20 years, there was hardly any of this high-fructose corn syrup. Now people are drinking high levels of sweetened pops,” said Mary Jane Oakland, associate professor of food science and human nutrition. “There aren’t many whole grains, fruits and vegetables in people’s diets, either. … There has been a swell in numbers of people developing Type-2 Diabetes, along with high rates of obesity.”

The most recent study, published last month in the Journal of the American Medical Association, claimed to successfully connect women’s daily consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages that contain high-fructose corn syrup to an increased risk for Type-2 Diabetes. The dietary intake of more than 50,000 female nurses who did not have diabetes before the study took place was examined during nine years. At the end of the study, researchers confirmed 741 new cases of Type-2 Diabetes.

Researchers said women in the study who reported drinking sugar-sweetened sodas more than once a day showed an 80 percent increase in risk for Type-2 Diabetes compared to women who drank less than one a month, after controlling for lifestyle factors such as physical activity and other dietary habits.

Drinking other types of sugar-sweetened beverages every day, such as fruit punch, was also found to significantly increase risk.

Diet soft drinks may be the solution for people who want to reduce their calorie intake, since rapid weight gain is also a contributing factor to developing Type-2 Diabetes, said Frank Hu, senior author of the study and associate professor of nutrition and epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health.

“Diet soda has artificial sweeteners that replace the sugar,” he said. “So in that respect, they are good. But, especially for people who aren’t crazy about soda, water is always the best choice.”

Hu said his group was unable to find a definite numerical increase in the risk for women who drink sugar-sweetened soft drinks in moderation.

“The more you drink, the higher your risk, but it’s harder to quantify the middle groups because their behavior is not as stable,” he said. “The idea is that soft drinks give you excess calories, but if you give up soft drinks and also don’t eat other calories you can better maintain your body weight and avoid more risk.”

Oakland, while agreeing that sugared soft drinks may increase risk, said things aren’t that simple.

“This doesn’t mean that for individual X, if they drink regular pop they’ll get diabetes. We just know the relationship is there,” she said. “It’s not a cause-and-effect relationship, it’s looking at the epidemiology of all this.”

Oakland cites the other study, published in May of this year in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, as finding more generalized results.

Researchers examined per capita nutrient consumption data in the United States between 1909 and 1997 and compared it with data about the prevalence of Type-2 Diabetes. They found the population’s increasing intake of refined carbohydrates, combined with a decreasing intake of fiber, ran parallel to the growing number of Type-2 Diabetes cases.

People can be healthier in many ways, Oakland said, including having access to healthy snacks.

“Keep fruits and vegetables around. Throw an apple and an orange in your backpack before you go to school. Keep a bag of carrots in the fridge. Sure, you need to plan ahead a little bit, but if you’re starving out of your mind you’ll eat anything, and that’s not healthy,” she said. “We try to teach people that eating is enjoyable, but it needs to be in moderation and internally regulated.”