What They Aren't Telling You About Soda Pop

Are you the kind of person that has to have a can of soda every day, or even more frequently than once per month? This article is for you. Apparently it's not only your waistline that's at stake.

A study released today in the journal Diabetes Carefound that people with a daily habit of just one or two sugar-sweetened beverages—anything from sodas and energy drinks to sweetened teas and vitamin water—were more than 25 percent likelier to develop type 2 diabetes than were similar individuals who had no more than one sugary drink per month.

If you don't drink this kind of soda pop, then your risk of developing type 2 diabetes is 1 in 10. An increase of 25 percent raises the risk to about 1 in 8. One-a-day guzzlers in the study also had a 20 percent higher rate of metabolic syndrome, a collection of indicators such as high triglyceride levels suggesting that diabetes is not far off.

What is going on physiologically to cause this?

The main reason is spikes in blood glucose and insulin. Sweetened drinks are often consumed quickly and in large quantities and their sugar content is rapidly absorbed. Frequent spiking can lead to insulin resistance, inflammation, and hypertension—often precursors to diabetes.

Oh, and this just in:

High fructose corn syrup, the sugar in many sweetened drinks, is emerging as possibly riskier than other sugars because it seems to produce more belly fat. And belly fat is tied very closely to high blood pressure and other cardiovascular problems.

And Finally...

Type 2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome aren't the only risks of a one or twice a day habit. Those who guzzled two or more sugary drinks a day had a risk of coronary artery disease 35 percent higher than non-guzzlers, even after adjusting for other unhealthy lifestyle factors.

So?...

This study and many others have found that you receive no benefits out of drinking these beverages. This needs to be a wake-up call for the American public.