1. Regular soda consumption may hasten cell aging According to researchers who discovered that sugary drinks were linked to cell aging, sugar-sweetened soda may increase disease risks independently from its role in obesity.
The study discovered that those consuming more soda had shorter telomeres – protective DNA caps located at the ends of cells’ chromosomes that protect chromosomes – compared with white blood cells from those who did not drink as much soda.
Telomere length can be measured most easily in white blood cells and has long been linked to human lifespan. Short telomeres have also been implicated in chronic diseases of aging like diabetes, heart disease and various forms of cancer.
Sugar-sweetened soda consumption could play a key role in disease development, not only through straining metabolic controls but also by hastening tissue aging.
According to an analysis of average telomere length decrease over chronological age, researchers determined that drinking 20-ounce soda daily contributed an extra 4.6 years of biological aging.
This would be similar to the effect smoking has on telomere length or regular exercise has on its anti-ageing effects.
Sugar-sweetened soda consumption among participating individuals averaged 12 ounces daily on average; approximately 21% reported drinking at least 20 ounces every day from this nationally representative sample.
