People who drink lots of sugar-sweetened drinks and soda may be putting themselves at a greater risk of chronic kidney disease, according to a study.

The findings, published in the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (CJASN), contribute to the growing body of evidence pointing to the negative health consequences of consuming sugar-sweetened beverages.

Certain beverages may affect kidney health, but study results have been inconsistent.

Researchers from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in the US studied 3,003 African-American men and women with normal kidney function.

"There is a lack of comprehensive information on the health implications of the wide range of beverage options that are available in the food supply," said Casey Rebholz from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

"In particular, there is limited information on which types of beverages and patterns of beverages are associated with kidney disease risk in particular," Rebholz said.

The researchers assessed beverage intake through a food frequency questionnaire administered at the start of the study in 2000-04, and they followed participants until 2009-13.

Among the 3,003 participants, 185 (6 per cent) developed chronic kidney disease (CKD) over a median follow-up of 8 years.

Consuming a beverage pattern consisting of soda, sweetened fruit drinks, and water was associated with a higher risk of developing CKD.

Participants in the top tertile for consumption of this beverage pattern were 61 per cent more likely to develop CKD than those in the bottom tertile.

The researchers were surprised to see that water was a component of this beverage pattern that was linked with a higher risk of CKD.

They noted that study participants may have reported their consumption of a wide variety of types of water, including flavoured and sweetened water.