Millions of new cases of diabetes and heart disease every year are caused by sugary drinks, according to newly published research.

Tufts University in Boston led the study, which found that about 2.2 million new diagnoses of type 2 diabetes and 1.2 million new cases of cardiovascular disease were attributed to sugar-sweetened sodas and juices each year, according to a press release.

The findings were published in the journal Nature Medicine this week. 

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The highest rates were found in Colombia, where 48% of new diabetes cases were linked to sugary drinks, and in Mexico, where nearly a third of cases were attributed to them.

Meanwhile, in Latin America, more than 24% of new diabetes cases were linked to sugary beverages, and 21% in sub-Saharan Africa, the study found.

In South Africa, 27.6% of new diabetes cases and 14.6% of cardiovascular disease cases were attributed to sugary drinks.

Sugary drinks cause blood sugar to spike because they are "rapidly digested," the research team said. 

When consumed on a long-term basis, these types of beverages, in addition to increasing the risk of type 2 diabetes and heart disease, can also lead to weight gain and insulin resistance, the researchers added.

Professor Dariush Mozaffarian, the study's senior author, said in a university press release, "Sugar-sweetened beverages are heavily marketed and sold in low- and middle-income nations." 

He added, "Not only are these communities consuming harmful products, but they are also often less well-equipped to deal with the long-term health consequences." 

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Certain groups are more likely to experience negative health effects from sugary drinks, including men and younger adults, the researchers noted, as news agency SWNS also noted.

New Jersey-based registered dietitian Erin Palinski-Wade, who was not involved in the research, said the findings were to be expected, as diets rich in added sugars are more likely to increase the risk of chronic health conditions, including type 2 diabetes.

"Sugar-sweetened beverages are a major cause of added sugar in the diet and easy to overconsume, as they provide little fullness," she told Fox News Digital.

"The high calorie content and lack of satisfaction due to little protein, fat or fiber in these drinks can lead to excess calorie consumption, which can lead to weight gain — especially gains in visceral fat (belly fat), which has been found to increase the risk of type 2 diabetes," she went on.

Palinski-Wade pointed out that there were some limitations to the new research.

"This was an observational study, not a causation study, and shows only an association between diets containing sugar-sweetened beverages and diabetes," she noted. 

"It does not prove that those drinks alone trigger an onset of type 2 diabetes."

To remedy the issue, the study authors called for a "multi-pronged approach," including public health campaigns, regulations on advertising and taxes on sugar-sweetened beverages, the release stated.  

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"We need urgent, evidence-based interventions to curb consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages globally, before even more lives are shortened by their effects on diabetes and heart disease," first author Laura Lara-Castor, now at the University of Washington, said in the release.

Mexico implemented a sugary drinks tax in 2014, which has shown to be effective in reducing consumption, the researchers stated.

"Much more needs to be done, especially in countries in Latin America and Africa, where consumption is high and the health consequences severe," wrote Mozaffarian. 

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"As a species, we need to address sugar-sweetened beverage consumption."

Many different factors are involved in insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes, Palinski-Wade noted.

"However, reducing your intake of sugar-sweetened beverages can go a long way toward improving overall blood sugar regulation and future health."

The new research was supported by the Gates Foundation, the American Heart Association and Mexico’s National Council for Science and Technology. 

Fox News Digital reached out to the researchers for further comment.

New research is emphasizing that socializing with friends and family may help protect people against heart attack, stroke, type 2 diabetes and other conditions and illnesses.

The study suggests that social interactions may keep people healthy because these interactions boost the immune system and reduce the risk of disease.

Cambridge University researchers, along with colleagues in China, came to these conclusions after studying protein in blood samples taken from over 42,000 adults recruited to the U.K. Biobank, news agency SWNS reported. 

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The study team said social relationships play a key role in well-being. 

Professor Barbara Sahakian of the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Cambridge said, "These findings drive home the importance of social contact in keeping us well. More and more people of all ages are reporting feeling lonely," as SWNS noted.

"That’s why the World Health Organization has described social isolation and loneliness as a global public health concern … We need to find ways to tackle this growing problem and keep people connected to help them stay healthy."

Evidence increasingly shows that both social isolation and loneliness are linked to poorer health and an early death, the same source reported. But the underlying mechanisms through which social relationships impact health apparently have remained elusive until now, the news agency also said.

U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy previously warned against the health risks of loneliness, as Fox News Digital reported earlier. 

"Loneliness is a common feeling that many people experience," he said when issuing an advisory nearly two years ago on the topic, per The Associated Press. "It's like hunger or thirst. It's a feeling the body sends us when something we need for survival is missing."

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"Millions of people in America are struggling in the shadows, and that's not right," he also said at the time. "That's why I issued this advisory to pull back the curtain on a struggle that too many people are experiencing."

The researchers connected to the new study said that one way to explore biological mechanisms is to look at proteins circulating in the blood, SWNS noted. Proteins, which are molecules produced by genes, are essential for helping the human body function properly.

They can also serve as useful drug targets, allowing scientists to develop new treatments to tackle diseases. 

The Cambridge team and scientists at Fudan University, China, examined the "proteomes," or the suite of proteins, in blood samples donated by more than 42,000 British adults aged 40 to 69. 

That allowed them to see which proteins were present at higher levels among people who were socially isolated or lonely — and how these proteins were connected to poorer health, SWNS said.

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The team calculated social isolation and loneliness scores for individuals in the study, which was published in Nature Human Behaviour, a monthly peer-reviewed journal. 

Social isolation is an objective measure based on, for example, whether people live alone, how frequently they have contact with others and whether they take part in social activities, the team said. 

Loneliness, by contrast, is a subjective measure based on whether an individual feels lonely.

When the researchers analyzed the proteomes and adjusted for factors including age, sex and socio-economic background, they found 175 proteins associated with social isolation and 26 proteins associated with loneliness. 

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Many of the proteins are produced in response to inflammation, viral infection and as part of immune responses, the team said — and they also showed links to cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, stroke and early death.

The researchers then used a statistical technique to explore the causal relationship between social isolation and loneliness, on the one hand, and proteins on the other.

With that approach, they identified five proteins that were found in abundance during periods of loneliness.

"We know that social isolation and loneliness are linked to poorer health, but we’ve never understood why," said Dr. Chun Shen of the department of clinical neurosciences at the University of Cambridge and the Institute of Science and Technology for Brain-Inspired Intelligence, Fudan University.

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"Our work has highlighted a number of proteins that appear to play a key role in this relationship, with levels of some proteins in particular increasing as a direct consequence of loneliness," he said, as SWNS reported.

Professor Jianfeng Feng of the University of Warwick said, "There are more than 100,000 proteins and many of their variants in the human body … AI and high-throughput proteomics can help us pinpoint some key proteins in prevention, diagnosis, treatment and prognosis for many human diseases and revolutionize the traditional view of human health."

He also said, "The proteins we’ve identified give us clues to the biology underpinning poor health among people who are socially isolated or lonely, highlighting why social relationships play such an important part in keeping us healthy."

One of the proteins produced at higher levels as a result of loneliness was ADM.

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Previous studies have shown that ADM plays a role in responding to stress and in regulating stress hormones and social hormones, such as oxytocin — known as the "love hormone" — which can reduce stress and improve mood.

The team found a "strong" association between ADM and the volume of the insula, a brain hub for interoception, the ability to sense what's happening inside the body.

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The greater the ADM levels, the smaller the volume of the region. 

Higher ADM levels were also linked to lower volume of the left caudate — a region involved in emotional, reward and social processes. Higher levels of ADM were also linked to an increased risk of dying young.

The researchers said another of the proteins, ASGR1, is associated with higher cholesterol and an increased risk of cardiovascular disease — while other identified proteins play roles in the development of insulin resistance, "furring" of the arteries and cancer progression.

Melissa Rudy of Fox News Digital contributed reporting.