Cai XY, Zhang NH, Cheng YC, et al. - Increased consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) in patients suffering from chronic kidney disease (CKD) was identified to be linked with a higher risk of mortality, and a stratified association with dose was indicated. In this population, untimely deaths might be prevented by using possible alternatives for SSBs such as plain water and unsweetened coffee/tea.

• Data were analyzed from 3,996 CKD patients (median age at baseline was 67 years, 22% were black and 54% were female) who took part in the 1999-2014 NHANES.

• The confounder-adjusted risk of death was related to an increase of one serving per day of SSBs, with all-cause death of 1.18 (1.08-1.28).

• All-cause mortality of 1.14 (1.05–1.24) was reported in relation to intakes of increased 20-g added sugar/1000 kcal of total energy per day.

• A 14-25% decreased risk of all-cause mortality was observed in relation to equivalently substituting one serving/d of SSBs with unsweetened coffee (HR: 0.82), unsweetened tea (HR: 0.86), plain water (HR: 0.79) or non- or low-fat milk (HR 0.75).