Commenting on the results, Dr Matthew Hobbs, head of research at Diabetes UK, said the link between sugar-sweetened soft drinks and Type-2 diabetes persisted even when body mass index was taken into account.
The technique can provide excellent, detailed images of the body's soft tissue and is an alternative to using X-ray techniques such as computed tomography (CT).
"Even so, it is not definitive evidence that sugar-sweetened soft drinks increase the risk of Type 2 diabetes, other than through their effect on body weight, " he added.