Soft Drink's Affect on Health

New research might make you rethink your drink. A new study uncovered how America’s thirst for soda speeds up cellular aging in the body.

We all know that grabbing a soda pop with your food order isn’t the best choice for your health, but new research uncovers some shocking side effects beyond the waistline. ¹

THE RESEARCH

Researchers at the University of California, San Francisco used a sample of 5,300 healthy adults. Dr. Elissa Epel worked on the study for 5 years. ²

“We think we can get away with drinking lots of soda as long as we are not gaining weight, but this suggests that there is an invisible pathway that leads to accelerated aging, regardless of weight,” said Dr. Epel.

Epel’s team discovered that in people who drank more sugar-sweetened beverages, the ends of their chromosomes, known as telomeres, were shorter.The shorter the telomere, the less a cell can regenerate thus aging the body, and raising the risk of disease and early death .

“ This finding is alarming because it suggest that soda may be aging us, in ways we are not even aware of ,” said Dr. Epel.

WHAT HAPPENS TO YOUR SKIN

There’s a chemical reaction in your body called glycation that occurs when a sugar attaches to a protein. It’s a natural process and a certain amount of glycation is expected to happen throughout your lifetime. However, when there’s too much, Advanced Glycation End-Products (or AGEs) form and speed up the aging process. ³ AGEs change your skin and how your skin cells function. In time, they’ll destroy the elastin you already have and slow the production of new collagen. The result is dull, uneven, wrinkled skin.

IS IT REVERSABLE?

The effects can take years to show up, so your best defense is to live a healthy lifestyle now. In addition to keeping sugar to a minimum, be sure to exercise, get plenty of sleep, avoid cigarettes, and protect your skin from the sun’s damaging UV rays.

Because once you start to notice the negative effects AGEs have on your skin and body, reversing those signs is not easy. It can be done with nutritional supplements and lifestyle changes, but it’s not going to happen overnight. If you develop good habits early, you can outsmart this process.

Sources:
1. http://www.byrdie.com/effects-of-sugar
2. http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2014/10/18/ucsf-study-links-soda-to-premature-aging-disease-early-death/
3. http://agefoundation.com/age/