Originally published September 27 2005
Sugary drinks may damage your heath
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
Given the recent 135 percent increase in sugary drink consumption, researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health worry that women especially are at an increased risk for developing type 2 diabetes.
Ginger Fewell, 31, likes her sugar strong, cold and on the fizzy side.
"I have my first Coke at 10am after getting to work," says the St. Louis genome scientist.
For lunch, Fewell dashes to Subway for a sandwich and a fountain soda (a 32-ouncer if it's been a tough day), then downs another can a few hours later while cooking dinner.
When researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health tracked the soft drink consumption of 91,000 women over eight years, they found that those who guzzled one or more sodas or fruit punch drinks daily nearly doubled their risk of developing Type 2 diabetes, a life-threatening disease that causes chronically high blood sugar and can lead to heart and kidney damage.
A 20-ounce bottle of Coke contains 17 teaspoons of sugar; an equal amount of fruit punch has 18 teaspoons.
Drink any more soda and your risk of weight gain and eventually diabetes could start climbing.
"Imagine pouring that much sugar into a glass of water and drinking it," says Sharon Akabas, Ph.D., an associate research scholar at Columbia University's Institute of Nutrition in New York City.
Ginger Fewell, for example, would have to dump 56 teaspoons of sugar into a water glass to equal the amount of sweet stuff she's getting from her steady supply of soda.
While soda and punch were found to directly increase your risk of diabetes in the Harvard study, nutritionists agree that any sugary beverage -- even seemingly virtuous ones like vitamin-fortified water -- comes with a devilish downside: too many calories.
Keep in mind that one soft drink easily fulfills your daily sugar quota -- that means no Vitamin Water, sweet coffee drink or even sugary dessert later on in the day.
Research shows that a diet rich in low-fat dairy can help burn fat.
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