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However, the study could not confirm whether the sweetened drinks caused AFib, yet the association remained after accounting for a person's genetic susceptibility to the condition.

This large study of health data in the UK Biobank is among the first to assess a possible link between sugar- or artificially sweetened beverages and AFib.

More than 12 million people are expected to have AFib by 2030, according to the American Heart Association's 2024 Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics.

Researchers reviewed data from dietary questionnaires and genetic data for more than 200,000 adults free of AFib at the time they enrolled in the UK Biobank, between 2006 and 2010.

During the nearly 10-year follow-up period, there were 9,362 cases of AFib among the study participants.