No one doubts that our diet has a direct effect on the quality of our body’s health. Effectively “we are what we eat“… but also what we drink. And, indeed, certain drinks can be really bad for our bodymaking it age more easily.
In particular, when it comes to aging, carbonated drinks have incredibly bad effects. And not just because of their consumption promotes weight gain and the incidence of other pathologiesbut also why it can influence (and not a little) the health of the cells of our organismcontributing to their own faster aging.
In fact, sugary drinks are rightly pointed out as one of the possible causes of obesity, heart disease and type 2 diabetes. Diseases that, as we age, are increasingly dangerous and, from this point of view, the intake of excess sugars can only favor its onset.
A 2014 study published inAmerican Journal of Public Health (titled Soft Drinks and Cellular Aging: Associations Between Sugar Drink Consumption and Leukocyte Telomere Length in Healthy Adults from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys), it shows that sugary drinks can cause premature aging on a cellular level.
The subjects who drink more sugary drinks, in fact, have i shorter telomeres. The latter are the terminal regions of the chromosomes and their length is directly linked to longevity and the risk of developing chronic diseases.
Therefore, habitually drinking carbonated drinks favors tissue aging. And, even if the study was carried out on adults, it is not excluded that these effects may also affect children.
Apparently, in fact, the‘constant intake of half a liter of sugary drinks per day corresponds to 4-6 years of aging for a telomere shortening measure similar to that associated with cigarette smoking.