If you drink soda, you’re going to want to substitute it with water after reading this! Maybe you or a family member drink soda as a bad habit, but what you probably don’t know is that it can kill you.

In this blog, I will go over all of the negative impacts that drinking just one can of soda a day can have on your body.

Increased Weight Gain

On average, one can of soda contains 39 grams of sugar. The American Heart Association recommends that you shouldn’t have more than 25 grams of sugar per day.

In a year’s time of drinking a soda a day, you will have consumed an extra 51,000 calories, which is equivalent to an extra 14 pounds of calories.

The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition conducted a large-scale study that studied a population of over 50,000 nurses over the course of 4 years.

The study found that women who consumed soda gained an average of 11 pounds more than non-soda drinkers gained. 

Diet Soda

If you’re thinking to yourself, “Well, I can just switch to diet soda,” I have a video here that shows diet soda significantly increases stroke risk. Diet soda can also lead to more food cravings, so it’s not much of an improvement.

Whether it’s diet or not, soda can cause metabolic syndrome, which is a cluster of conditions including high cholesterol, high blood pressure, diabetes, and weight gain.

The American Diabetes Association did a study that reported that consuming one or more sodas a day increased the risk of metabolic syndrome by 36%. 

They also found that the risk of type 2 diabetes went up by 67%, and that drinking one diet soda a week was linked to a 70% increased risk of diabetes .

The American Journal of Public Health found that drinking soda stimulates the appetite of your body and suppresses satiety, which is the feeling of fullness after you’ve eaten.

They also found that when participants drank diet soda, they actually consumed 17% more calories than they did in their typical, soda-free diet. 

Effects Of Soda On The Brain

The Journal of Alzheimer’s and Dementia gave 4,000 people memory tests and brain scans. They found that the more sugary soda that someone consumed, the worse they did on their memory tests.

The brain scans revealed brain shrinkage in those who drank one soda a day.

If you’re struggling with short- and long-term memory problems, it could be the soda that you’re drinking that’s causing it. 

Soda Ages You

Soda actually ages you! 

A study in The American Journal of Public Health linked drinking 20 ounces of sugar-sweetened soda a day to an additional 4.6 years of aging. 

This means that you age 4-5 years faster drinking soda on a daily basis compared to a non-soda drinker.

Soda & Your Joints

Drinking soda can also make your joints feel like they’re on fire!

A study in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that women who drank one or more soda a day had a 63% increased risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis, an inflammatory disease that causes joint pain.

Soda’s Impact On Your Organs

It’s not just your joints—soda can impact your organs as well! The Journal of Clinical Investigation found that visceral fat (fat around liver and small intestine) increased in subjects who consumed high-fructose drinks, including soda.

Visceral fat secretes chemicals associated with insulin resistance, high triglycerides, inflammation, and type 2 diabetes. 

Soda can also increase the risk of heart disease. 

A large study published in The Journal of Circulation found that the more sugary drinks that people consumed, the higher their risk of dying from any cause, but especially from cardiovascular diseases.

Soda Causes Depression

A study that followed 263,000 people for 10 years found that people that drank one soda a day were 30% more likely to develop depression versus people who didn’t.

Soda and its caffeine and sugar might make you feel better in the short term, but it can make you sad in the long run.

Summary

We may love the taste of soda, but is it worth faster aging, diabetes, depression, organ damage, extra weight, and an increased risk of death?

What if I told you that you can still enjoy tasty drinks without all of the negatives? You just have to learn to make the drinks yourself and make food simple!

If you need help doing that, my wife and I wrote an Amazon bestseller book that will help you live healthier, which you can find for free here.

If you want to learn more about visceral fat and how it builds up in the liver, check out my video that covers it here.