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Carbonated drinks lead to obesity
Last reviewed: 01.07.2025
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Experts from Bangor University (UK) have discovered that regular consumption of carbonated drinks with added sugar can accelerate weight gain and fat metabolism, as well as increase blood sugar levels.
So, if you want to quench your thirst with some cola, think about the negative impact soda will have on your health and drink plain water.
The study found that regularly drinking sugary soft drinks affects the way our muscles use food for energy. Specifically, they become more willing to burn sugar instead of fat. And, as it turns out, these changes are long-lasting.
The scientists also showed that isolated muscle cells identified and responded to the sugar diet by switching from burning fat to processing sugars, just as the subjects' bodies did when drinking soda. The switch to inefficient metabolism was observed in subjects of both sexes who were lightly active, lean, and drank the sugary soda for just four weeks.
All this suggests that regular consumption of soda provokes the same changes in muscles as those that occur in people with obesity and type 2 diabetes.
The authors of the paper are confident that the authorities need to limit the sale of sugary soda. For example, strict taxation of such products would allow collecting significant funds that could be invested in healthcare and used to treat obese patients and diabetics.
The results of the study were published in the European Journal of Nutrition.
By the way, consumption of sweet soft drinks also provokes asthma, diabetes, kills the heart, harms blood vessels, causes pancreatic cancer and accelerates the aging of the body.
For reference: young men in the US drink an average of 1.8 liters of sweet soda daily, while the average American drinks 0.5 liters. Scary numbers, if you think about it.
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