Table 1. Characteristics of cohort studies included in the systematic review.

Author, country	Year	Cohort	No. of participants	Study period	Age at baseline (Mean ± SD or range)	Men (%)	Dietary assessment	Exposure	Outcome (case/total)	Follow-up	Confounders adjusted
											Nutrients	Demographic	Anthrop	Medical	Lifestyles
Paganini-Hill et al., US [29]	2007	The Leisure World Cohort Study	13,624	1980–2004	74 yrs (44–101 yrs)	36.6	Survey questionnaire	• Non-alcoholic beverages (cola and other soft drinks s with sugar- or artificially sweetened)	• All-cause mortality: 11,386/13,624	23 yrs	X	O	O	O	O
Sluik et al., 10 European countries [31]	2014	EPIC	265,295 (diabetic: 6,384, non-diabetic: 258,911)	1992–	35–70 yrs	40.3	Dietary questionnaires, semi-quantitative FFQ, and combined dietary methods of food records and questionnaires	• Sugar and confectionery	• All-cause mortality in diabetic: 830/6,384	9.9 yrs	O	O	X	O	O
								• Cakes and cookies	• All-cause mortality in non-diabetic: 12,135/258,911
								• Soft drinks
								• Juices
Tasevska et al., US [14]	2014	The NIH-AARP Diet and Health Study	353,751	1995–2008	50–71 yrs	58.3	DHQ	• Added sugar	• All-cause mortality: M, 28,617/206,371; W, 15,062/147,381	12–13 yrs	O	O	O	O	O
								• Added sugar intake from beverages
								• Added sugar intake from solids
Vyas et al., US [32]	2015	WHI-OS cohort	59,614	1993–2005	62.8 ± 7.2 yrs (50–79 yrs)	0.0	Questionnaire	• Diet drinks (such as diet coke or diet fruit drinks, with a 12 fl oz can as a reference size)	• All-cause mortality: 4,437/59,614	8.7 yrs	O	O	O	O	O
								• Frequency	• CVD mortality: 942/59,614
Yang et al., US [13]	2014	NHANES	11,733	1988–2010	≥ 20 yrs	48.1	24-h recall	• Added sugar	• CVD mortality: 831/11,733	14.6 yrs	O	O	O	O	O
Lai et al., UK [22]	2015	UKWCS	30,458	1995–2013	35–69 yrs	0.0	FFQ	• Pure fruit juice	• CVD mortality: 286/30,458	16.7 yrs	O	O	O	X	O
								• Orange juice (pure fruit)
Odegaard et al., Singapore [28]	2015	SCHS	52,584	1993–2011	45–74 yrs	44.0	Semi-quantitative FFQ	• Soft drink	• All-cause mortality: 10,029/52,584	16.3 person-yrs	O	O	O	O	O
								• Juice (fruit or vegetable)	• CVD mortality: 3,097/52,584
Barrington and White, US [20]	2016	VITAL study	69,582	2000–2008	50–76 yrs	48.8	Semi-quantitative FFQ	• Sugar-sweetened drinks (including sugar-sweetened soda (not diet), fruit drinks (not juice), and cranberry juice)	• All-cause mortality: 4,187/69,582	6.9 yrs	O	O	O	O	O
									• CVD mortality: 1,066/69,582
Liu et al., China [23]	2018	Mr. and Ms. OS Hong Kong	3,416	2001–2014	M: 72.4 ± 5.0 yrs, W: 72.5 ± 5.3 yrs (≥ 65 yrs)	50.0	FFQ	• Added sugar	• CVD mortality: 174/3,416	11.1 yrs	O	O	O	O	O
								• Added sugar intake from sweets
								• Added sugar intake from cereals
Liu et al., China [24]	2018	Mr. and Ms. OS Hong Kong	3,416	2001–2014	72.5 ± 5.2 yrs (≥ 65 yrs)	50.0	FFQ	• Added sugar	• All-cause mortality: 780/3,416	11.1 yrs	O	O	O	O	O
								• Free sugar
Collin et al., US [21]	2019	REGARDS	13,440	2003–2018	63.6 ± 9.1 yrs (≥ 45 yrs)	59.3	FFQ	• SSB	• All-cause mortality: 1,000/13,440	6.0 yrs	O	O	O	X	O
								• Naturally sweet 100% fruit juice	• CHD mortality: 168/13,440
Malik et al., US [25]	2019	HPFS	37,716	1986–2014	40–75 yrs	100.0	FFQ	• SSB	• All-cause mortality: 13,004/37,716	28 yrs	O	O	O	O	O
								• ASB	• CVD mortality: 3,757/37,716
	2019	NHS	80,647	1976–2014	30–55 yrs	0.0	FFQ	• SSB	• All-cause mortality: 23,432/80,647	34 yrs	O	O	O	O	O
								• ASB	• CVD mortality: 4,139/80,647
Mossavar-Rahmani et al., US [26]	2019	WHI-OS cohort	61,204	1993–	50–79 yrs	0.0	Questionnaire	• ASB (Diet drinks such as diet coke or diet fruit drinks, with a 12 fl oz can as a reference size)	• All-cause mortality: 9,769/61,204	11.9 yrs	O	O	O	O	O
								• Frequency
Mullee et al., 10 European countries [27]	2019	EPIC	451,743	1992–2013	50.8 ± 9.8 yrs	28.9	Dietary questionnaire	• Total soft drink	• All-cause mortality: 41,693/451,743	16.4 yrs	O	O	O	O	O
								• Sugar-sweetened soft drink	• CVD mortality: 9,106/451,743
								• Artificially-sweetened soft drink
Ramne et al., Sweden [30]	2019	MDCS	24,272	1991–2014	57.6 yrs (44–73 yrs)	38.6	Modified diet history (7-d food diary + FFQ)	• Added sugar	• All-cause mortality: 6,309/24,272	19–24 yrs	O	O	O	X	O
								• Free sugar	• CVD mortality: 1,952/24,272
								• Treats
								• Toppings
								• SSB
	2019	NSHDS	24,475	1991–2014	48.6 yrs (36–64 yrs)	46.3	FFQ	• Added sugar	• All-cause mortality: 2,881/24,475	19–24 yrs	O	O	O	X	O
								• Free sugar
								• Treats
								• Toppings
								• SSB
Anderson et al., UK [19]	2020	UK general population cohort	161,415	2006–2016	40–69 yrs	-	24-h recall	• SSB	• All-cause mortality: 2,311/161,415	7 yrs	O	O	O	X	O
								• ASB
								• Fruit or vegetable juice
Zhang et al., US [33]	2021	NHANES	247,215	1999–2014	≥ 20 yrs	50.4	24-h recall	• Added sugar intake from SSB	• All-cause mortality: 3,878/247,215	7.9 yrs	O	O	O	O	O
								• SSB	• Heart disease mortality: 676/247,215
								• ASB

ASB, artificially-sweetened beverages; CHD, coronary heart disease; CVD, cardiovascular disease; EPIC, European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition; MDCS, Malmo Diet and Cancer Study; NHANES, National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey; NSHDS, Northern Swedish Health and Disease Study; FFQ, food-frequency questionnaire; NHS, Nurses' Health Study; HPFS, Health Professionals Follow-Up Study; REGARDS, Reasons for Geographic and Racial Differences in Stroke; SCHS, Singapore Chinese Health Study; SSB, sugar-sweetened beverages; UKWCS, UK Women's Cohort Study; VITAL, The Vitamins and Lifestyle; WHI-OS, Women's Health Initiative Observational Study.