18 ms·

Soda May Age You as Much as Smoking

273 points by bribri 12y ago

bengarvey 12y ago
Just in case anyone was wondering about diet soda... "Only the sugary, bubbly stuff showed this effect. Epel didn’t see any association between telomere length and diet soda intake. "
- stealthlogic 12y ago
  There are studies that link Diet Soda to other vascular risks. http://www.miami.edu/index.php/news/releases/study_finds_possible_link_between_diet_soda_and_vascular_risks/ http://www.miami.edu/index.php/news/releases/study_finds_pos... There are also studies emerging which link artificial sweeteners to Diabetes. http://www.theguardian.com/science/2014/sep/17/artificial-sweeteners-diabetes-saccharin-blood-sugar http://www.theguardian.com/science/2014/sep/17/artificial-sw...
  - bengarvey 12y ago
    Right yes, but not in this particular study
  - ep103 12y ago
    I think its generally understood that most artificial sweeteners are seen as sugar by the body, but don't actually get turned into sugar in the bloodstream. So it makes sense that it might contribute to diabetes (your body digests it like sugar), but not aging (which is accelerated by sugar in the bloodstream). I believe the whole point of coke 0 is that it doesn't use an artificial sweetener? But don't quote me on that last sentence.
    - bri3d 12y ago
      Coke Zero for the US market still uses aspartame, the same sweetener used in Diet Coke. Coke Zero is a more modern formulation which is supposed to taste more like "classic" Coke than Diet, which has its own distinctive "artificial" flavor which some customers have become accustomed to. It's also marketed very squarely towards young men: during the recent "Share a Coke with X" campaign, there was even a "Share a Coke Zero with a BRO" can, which made me laugh a bit.
      - orclev 12y ago
        There's also a Coke Zero Splenda version that substitutes Splenda for aspartame, but it's a separate product from the normal Coke Zero.
      - Lockyy 12y ago
        In the UK at least we have 'Share a Coke with a Mate' which I guess is our equivalent.
    - bengarvey 12y ago
      Coke Zero definitely uses Aspartame Source: The can I'm drinking right now.
    - ssmoot 12y ago
      I could be wrong, but I thought Coke Zero was just the name for Diet Coke with Sucralose instead of Aspartame.
      - johnward 12y ago
        I thought so too but if you look at the ingredients they both use aspartame.
      - tdicola 12y ago
        There's a version of Diet Coke sweetened with Splenda, but Coke Zero is sweetened with aspartame just like regular Diet Coke. The Splenda Diet Coke isn't bad, but it does taste a little different than normal Diet Coke or Coke Zero. Look for the Diet Coke cans with a yellow label to find the Splenda version.
      - pkroll 12y ago
        As the others have said, Coke Zero contains aspartame. However, it also contains acesulfame potassium which is another sweetener, so it may have a little less aspartame than Diet Coke. (The effect of multiple sweeteners is generally greater than an equivalent larger dose of one... or so I have... read. Maybe. In something somewhere. No promises.)
      - kalleboo 12y ago
        They seem to have gone back and forth, and more it varies by country. My experience in Sweden was that first they with big fanfare changed Coke Light (what they call Diet coke outside of English-speaking countries) to Sucralose, then introduced Coke Zero, which used Sucralose and silently changed Coke Light back to Aspartame, and then at some point silently also changed Coke Zero to Aspartame.
mikeyouse 12y ago
The key results from the paper: After adjustment for sociodemographic and health-related characteristics, sugar-sweetened soda consumption was associated with shorter telomeres (b = –0.010; 95% confidence interval [CI] = −0.020, −0.001; P = .04). Consumption of 100% fruit juice was marginally associated with longer telomeres (b = 0.016; 95% CI = −0.000, 0.033; P = .05). No significant associations were observed between consumption of diet sodas or noncarbonated SSBs and telomere length. Shortened telomeres are one way to measure genetic 'age'. So they saw 'aging' with sugar-sweetened soda, the opposite with fruit juice, and no significant difference with diet sodas or non-carbonated sugary sodas. The study was pretty substantial with ~5,300 participants with no history of cardiovascular disease or diabetes. It's nice to have another datapoint against some of the bro-sciencey "Fruit juice has as much sugar as soda" arguments. Late Edit: Here's a pretty good summary of telomere aging: http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/chromosomes/telomeres/ http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/chromosomes/telomeres...
- danielki 12y ago
  Did they describe how they controlled for behavioral habits? It seems like, as a group, the type of people who would drink large amounts of sugary soda would be less likely to make healthy behavioral choices in other aspects of their life, compared to people who drink fruit juice or diet soda. This could also explain the disparity between soda and non-carbonated sugar-sweetened beverages This study doesn't seem to show that soda ages you (as the article states), but instead that sugary soda consumption indicates a tendency towards other activities/habits that may prematurely age you.
  - mikeyouse 12y ago
    > This study doesn't seem to show that soda ages you (as the article states), but instead that sugary soda consumption indicates a tendency towards other activities/habits that may prematurely age you. No offense, but the authors are very accomplished public health researchers. If their study showed what you suggest, I think that would be their headline. What they showed with (relative) certainty is that those who drink sugary carbonated drinks have shorter telomeres than those who don't. There will be follow-up work to determine the mechanism and the causes. In either case; > Epel is co-leading a new study in which participants will be tracked for weeks in real time to look for effects of sugar-sweetened soda consumption on aspects of cellular aging. Telomere shortening has previously been associated with oxidative damage to tissue, to inflammation, and to insulin resistance.
squozzer 12y ago
It's funny but one never hears about the ill effects of carrots. "They" only study stuff that's already assumed to be bad for you. Ever wonder why?
- ch4s3 12y ago
  Are you joking? I can't tell.
  - stealthlogic 12y ago
    I sure hope so...
- brandonl222 12y ago
  Probably because mass consumption of carrots isn't a top public health issue? If consumption of carrots rivaled that of soda I'd be willing to bet there would be more studies on it just the same as there are studies on various other foods such as red meat, egg cholesterol, fish oil, etc.
  - orclev 12y ago
    Actually mass consumption of carrots can cause your skin to develop an orange tint (seriously, not joking here).
    - novalis78 12y ago
      ...and is being used by people who try to tan their skin.
    - ddispaltro 12y ago
      Same with yams. It happened to my brother when we were kids.
      - kaybe 12y ago
        How much of which jam did he eat and what did he look like? (colour/intensity)
Involute 12y ago
Are there any studies that associate telomere length with actual organism longevity in primates?
geoka9 12y ago
It's hard for me to understand the whole soda phenomenon in Canada and the US. Is it as addictive as cigarettes? Does it make you crave for more? Or it simply tastes so good that you can't get enough of it? Why not eat a bunch of apples instead (if you don't care about the amount of sugar you consume)? Wouldn't they taste better?
- vinceguidry 12y ago
  Pretty sure it's mostly due to marketing and also vertically integrated markets. You can't get away from soft drink advertising in the US. And the stuff is literally everywhere. In many (most?) restaurants, your beverage choices comprise soda and water. I would not be surprised at all if soda alone accounted for a double-digit percentage of the obesity rate.
  - johnchristopher 12y ago
    > [..] In many (most?) restaurants, your beverage choices comprise soda and water. This reminds me that in Belgium there's a fast food chain with menus for which the cashier can't swap the soda for water.
    - valarauca1 12y ago
      This is true for a lot of US resturants (especially fast food) they don't have a button for water, instead they just ring up a soda, and fill it with water.
      - jfoutz 12y ago
        I think the majority of the cost is the packaging The concentrated soda and carbonation isn't free, but a tiny fraction of the cost of the cup, lid and straw.
      - chadzawistowski 12y ago
        My understanding was that restaurants in the US are required to provide free tap water. It may be a very small cup, but it should be available.
nilkn 12y ago
Not to mention it can cause diabetes and it's horrible for your teeth. For me, it also caused acne. Soda's really, really bad for you, and I think at this point it would be viewed the same way that smoking is viewed if it weren't for the fact that soda affects only the consumer whereas cigarettes produce second-hand smoke and a suffocating odor that fills the room. Maybe 2050's Mad Men will shock its viewers with how office workers in 2000 drank soda in the office. (This is coming from someone who used to drink soda on a daily basis. I learned to stop when I had to get a crown on a molar in my early 20s.)
- TheSoftwareGuy 12y ago
  >I think at this point it would be viewed the same way that smoking is viewed if it weren't for the fact that soda affects only the consumer whereas cigarettes produce second-hand smoke and a suffocating odor that fills the room. And the addiction, don't forget that horrible, crippling addiction.
  - billmalarky 12y ago
    Soda has addictive properties. Caffeine being one but I would argue there's carb/sugar addiction potential in there too (look up carb withdrawal). Now I'm NOT saying it's even close to being as addictive as nicotine, but you get my point.
    - ams6110 12y ago
      Any substance that produces a rush of good feelings will cause cravings or "withdrawal" to one degree or another when you stop consuming it. Based on observations I would say that for some people, sugar/soda is as addictive as nicotine or maybe more so.
    - blisterpeanuts 12y ago
      Probably we're programmed to love sweet stuff, because of the symbiotic relationship between plants and seed eaters. We eat the fruit and spread the seeds. Unfortunately, sugary drinks trigger the instinct but have no beneficial effects, and they lack the phytonutrients of fruit and honey. We should just never drink or eat anything that is sweetened with either sugar or non-sugar alternatives. Easy to say and hard to do, though; I love sweet coffee, cake, and ice cream.
mbca 12y ago
Were these sodas sweetened with cane sugar or high-fructose corn syrup? (I did look at the abstract of the actual paper, but it doesn't seem to specify. The full paper might say, but it's paywalled.)
- johnward 12y ago
  I don't think it matters but chances are it's HFCS.
  - stealthlogic 12y ago
    It matters.
    - johnward 12y ago
      I guess it matters because it might actually prove our bodies handle HFCS and Sugar differently. I have never seen that proven anywhere else.
      - MacsHeadroom 12y ago
        Of course our bodies handle HFCS and "sugar" differently. There are about a dozen types of common simple sugars and all of them are handled differently because they are different molecules. Here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBnniua6-oM http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBnniua6-oM
        jjoonathan 12y ago
        Straw-man. The relevant question is whether or not HFCS is significantly worse than sucrose.
      - jjoonathan 12y ago
        If you want an actual scholarly article rather than a youtube video, here is one (especially useful are the figures on page 6): http://www.sugar.org/cra-lawsuit/wp-content/uploads/relevant_studies/MetabolismDr._Pepper_Study.pdf http://www.sugar.org/cra-lawsuit/wp-content/uploads/relevant...
Rovanion 12y ago
What an odd website, does not allow scrolling if javascript isn't turned on.
- igorgue 12y ago
  Then turn it on...
waylandsmithers 12y ago
All I want to know is if I can drink a diet coke a day with impunity.
deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
e40 12y ago
What about something like carbonated cranberry juice? I mix 1 part low-carb Trader Joe's cranberry juice and 4 parts carbonated water, and drink about 20 oz a day. When I first started, it tasted tart and not sweet. I don't think there's much sugar in it. If it's as harmful, I'd definitely give it up.
spikels 12y ago
Since longer telomere's may give you brain cancer we should all avoid 100% fruit juice and drink more non-diet soda! http://www.ucsf.edu/news/2014/06/114956/longer-telomeres-linked-risk-brain-cancer http://www.ucsf.edu/news/2014/06/114956/longer-telomeres-lin... Better yet ignore these preliminary and contradictory results until we actually understand what is actually going on.
menssen 12y ago
This is not a criticism of this study, but I do want to observe that "aging" has a very specific meaning here, and it does not really just mean "harmful." Aging causes things in your body to fail. Smoking, also, causes things in your body to fail, regardless of and unrelated to whether it causes "aging." (Anecdotally, as a person who has gone both through periods of heavy soda [here in the midwest, "pop"] consumption and who has been a pack-a-day smoker, there are orders of magnitude of difference in the effects on general health.)
- pseud0r 12y ago
  aging = rate of damage / rate of repair Some damage is intrinsic, caused by free radicals, wrongly transcribed DNA, misfolded proteins etc. Some damage is caused by external factors like sunlight (skin damage), sugar, smoking, pollution, radiation etc. Things that increases damage increases aging and things that decreases rate of repair also increases aging. Exercise increases rate of repair and slows aging in that way, while sitting still all day decreases the rate of repair and thus increases aging. You seem to think that aging is only the intrinsic damage, but in many cases the type of damage that happens can be the same and external factors can increase the intrinsic damage that happens continuously. Some of this damage will decrease cellular repair mechanisms and thus decrease the rate of repair and you get a vicious cycle, external damage like having a hand chopped of doesn't really influence cellular repair, but smoking and sugar intake do influence cellular repair in a negative way and can thus be said to accelerate aging.
ck2 12y ago
Wait is this the smoking gun to corn syrup? Because "sugar sweetened sodas" don't exist or are rare, at least not in the USA. They are actually corn-syrup sweetened. Especially since real sugar filled fruit juices did not have the same effect nor diet soda with no corn-syrup.
driverdan 12y ago
I don't see anyone discussing that this is based on the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). NHANES is all self-reported data meaning its accuracy isn't great. It's a decent way of looking for potential research topics but is in no way definitive. Any papers coming from NHANES data should be considered pre-research. Real data on this topic will come from properly controlled studies.
jongraehl 12y ago
Since she finds a strong shorter-telomere association in neither equally sweet juices NOR in diet soda, this result probably just unhealthy-lifestyle-correlation (e.g. drug addicts and undiagnosed diabetics drink more soda). Also, “The extremely high dose of sugar that we can put into our body within seconds by drinking sugared beverages is uniquely toxic to metabolism” (from her Time interview) seems an overreach. A properly functioning metabolism can handle some sugar, even in a spike.
- pseud0r 12y ago
  Sugar can increase aging, see for example this for starts http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_glycation_end-product http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_glycation_end-product
john704944 12y ago
Is anyone else seeing the website cut off at the bottom? There's no scroll bar, so I can't read beyond one screenfull.
novaleaf 12y ago
clickbait title from TIME. from tfa: > Only the sugary, bubbly stuff showed this effect. Epel didn’t see any association between telomere length and diet soda intake.
digital-rubber 12y ago
Articles with may, could, etc basically don't say anything else but, 'We want some attention for our article now, but do not shoot us if it turns out to be completely bogus. But if we were right, we want to be seen as awesome researchers, bringers of news etc'.
anotheryou 12y ago
aging per drink? per year? on average?

273 points by bribri 12y ago

Just in case anyone was wondering about diet soda... "Only the sugary, bubbly stuff showed this effect. Epel didn’t see any association between telomere length and diet soda intake. "

stealthlogic 12y ago
There are studies that link Diet Soda to other vascular risks. http://www.miami.edu/index.php/news/releases/study_finds_possible_link_between_diet_soda_and_vascular_risks/ http://www.miami.edu/index.php/news/releases/study_finds_pos... There are also studies emerging which link artificial sweeteners to Diabetes. http://www.theguardian.com/science/2014/sep/17/artificial-sweeteners-diabetes-saccharin-blood-sugar http://www.theguardian.com/science/2014/sep/17/artificial-sw...
- bengarvey 12y ago
  Right yes, but not in this particular study
- ep103 12y ago
  I think its generally understood that most artificial sweeteners are seen as sugar by the body, but don't actually get turned into sugar in the bloodstream. So it makes sense that it might contribute to diabetes (your body digests it like sugar), but not aging (which is accelerated by sugar in the bloodstream). I believe the whole point of coke 0 is that it doesn't use an artificial sweetener? But don't quote me on that last sentence.
  - bri3d 12y ago
    Coke Zero for the US market still uses aspartame, the same sweetener used in Diet Coke. Coke Zero is a more modern formulation which is supposed to taste more like "classic" Coke than Diet, which has its own distinctive "artificial" flavor which some customers have become accustomed to. It's also marketed very squarely towards young men: during the recent "Share a Coke with X" campaign, there was even a "Share a Coke Zero with a BRO" can, which made me laugh a bit.
    - orclev 12y ago
      There's also a Coke Zero Splenda version that substitutes Splenda for aspartame, but it's a separate product from the normal Coke Zero.
    - Lockyy 12y ago
      In the UK at least we have 'Share a Coke with a Mate' which I guess is our equivalent.
  - bengarvey 12y ago
    Coke Zero definitely uses Aspartame Source: The can I'm drinking right now.
  - ssmoot 12y ago
    I could be wrong, but I thought Coke Zero was just the name for Diet Coke with Sucralose instead of Aspartame.
    - johnward 12y ago
      I thought so too but if you look at the ingredients they both use aspartame.
    - tdicola 12y ago
      There's a version of Diet Coke sweetened with Splenda, but Coke Zero is sweetened with aspartame just like regular Diet Coke. The Splenda Diet Coke isn't bad, but it does taste a little different than normal Diet Coke or Coke Zero. Look for the Diet Coke cans with a yellow label to find the Splenda version.
    - pkroll 12y ago
      As the others have said, Coke Zero contains aspartame. However, it also contains acesulfame potassium which is another sweetener, so it may have a little less aspartame than Diet Coke. (The effect of multiple sweeteners is generally greater than an equivalent larger dose of one... or so I have... read. Maybe. In something somewhere. No promises.)
    - kalleboo 12y ago
      They seem to have gone back and forth, and more it varies by country. My experience in Sweden was that first they with big fanfare changed Coke Light (what they call Diet coke outside of English-speaking countries) to Sucralose, then introduced Coke Zero, which used Sucralose and silently changed Coke Light back to Aspartame, and then at some point silently also changed Coke Zero to Aspartame.

mikeyouse 12y ago

The key results from the paper: After adjustment for sociodemographic and health-related characteristics, sugar-sweetened soda consumption was associated with shorter telomeres (b = –0.010; 95% confidence interval [CI] = −0.020, −0.001; P = .04). Consumption of 100% fruit juice was marginally associated with longer telomeres (b = 0.016; 95% CI = −0.000, 0.033; P = .05). No significant associations were observed between consumption of diet sodas or noncarbonated SSBs and telomere length. Shortened telomeres are one way to measure genetic 'age'. So they saw 'aging' with sugar-sweetened soda, the opposite with fruit juice, and no significant difference with diet sodas or non-carbonated sugary sodas. The study was pretty substantial with ~5,300 participants with no history of cardiovascular disease or diabetes. It's nice to have another datapoint against some of the bro-sciencey "Fruit juice has as much sugar as soda" arguments. Late Edit: Here's a pretty good summary of telomere aging: http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/chromosomes/telomeres/ http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/chromosomes/telomeres...

danielki 12y ago
Did they describe how they controlled for behavioral habits? It seems like, as a group, the type of people who would drink large amounts of sugary soda would be less likely to make healthy behavioral choices in other aspects of their life, compared to people who drink fruit juice or diet soda. This could also explain the disparity between soda and non-carbonated sugar-sweetened beverages This study doesn't seem to show that soda ages you (as the article states), but instead that sugary soda consumption indicates a tendency towards other activities/habits that may prematurely age you.
- mikeyouse 12y ago
  > This study doesn't seem to show that soda ages you (as the article states), but instead that sugary soda consumption indicates a tendency towards other activities/habits that may prematurely age you. No offense, but the authors are very accomplished public health researchers. If their study showed what you suggest, I think that would be their headline. What they showed with (relative) certainty is that those who drink sugary carbonated drinks have shorter telomeres than those who don't. There will be follow-up work to determine the mechanism and the causes. In either case; > Epel is co-leading a new study in which participants will be tracked for weeks in real time to look for effects of sugar-sweetened soda consumption on aspects of cellular aging. Telomere shortening has previously been associated with oxidative damage to tissue, to inflammation, and to insulin resistance.

squozzer 12y ago

It's funny but one never hears about the ill effects of carrots. "They" only study stuff that's already assumed to be bad for you. Ever wonder why?

ch4s3 12y ago
Are you joking? I can't tell.
- stealthlogic 12y ago
  I sure hope so...
brandonl222 12y ago
Probably because mass consumption of carrots isn't a top public health issue? If consumption of carrots rivaled that of soda I'd be willing to bet there would be more studies on it just the same as there are studies on various other foods such as red meat, egg cholesterol, fish oil, etc.
- orclev 12y ago
  Actually mass consumption of carrots can cause your skin to develop an orange tint (seriously, not joking here).
  - novalis78 12y ago
    ...and is being used by people who try to tan their skin.
  - ddispaltro 12y ago
    Same with yams. It happened to my brother when we were kids.
    - kaybe 12y ago
      How much of which jam did he eat and what did he look like? (colour/intensity)

Involute 12y ago

Are there any studies that associate telomere length with actual organism longevity in primates?

geoka9 12y ago

It's hard for me to understand the whole soda phenomenon in Canada and the US. Is it as addictive as cigarettes? Does it make you crave for more? Or it simply tastes so good that you can't get enough of it? Why not eat a bunch of apples instead (if you don't care about the amount of sugar you consume)? Wouldn't they taste better?

vinceguidry 12y ago
Pretty sure it's mostly due to marketing and also vertically integrated markets. You can't get away from soft drink advertising in the US. And the stuff is literally everywhere. In many (most?) restaurants, your beverage choices comprise soda and water. I would not be surprised at all if soda alone accounted for a double-digit percentage of the obesity rate.
- johnchristopher 12y ago
  > [..] In many (most?) restaurants, your beverage choices comprise soda and water. This reminds me that in Belgium there's a fast food chain with menus for which the cashier can't swap the soda for water.
  - valarauca1 12y ago
    This is true for a lot of US resturants (especially fast food) they don't have a button for water, instead they just ring up a soda, and fill it with water.
    - jfoutz 12y ago
      I think the majority of the cost is the packaging The concentrated soda and carbonation isn't free, but a tiny fraction of the cost of the cup, lid and straw.
    - chadzawistowski 12y ago
      My understanding was that restaurants in the US are required to provide free tap water. It may be a very small cup, but it should be available.

nilkn 12y ago

Not to mention it can cause diabetes and it's horrible for your teeth. For me, it also caused acne. Soda's really, really bad for you, and I think at this point it would be viewed the same way that smoking is viewed if it weren't for the fact that soda affects only the consumer whereas cigarettes produce second-hand smoke and a suffocating odor that fills the room. Maybe 2050's Mad Men will shock its viewers with how office workers in 2000 drank soda in the office. (This is coming from someone who used to drink soda on a daily basis. I learned to stop when I had to get a crown on a molar in my early 20s.)

TheSoftwareGuy 12y ago
>I think at this point it would be viewed the same way that smoking is viewed if it weren't for the fact that soda affects only the consumer whereas cigarettes produce second-hand smoke and a suffocating odor that fills the room. And the addiction, don't forget that horrible, crippling addiction.
- billmalarky 12y ago
  Soda has addictive properties. Caffeine being one but I would argue there's carb/sugar addiction potential in there too (look up carb withdrawal). Now I'm NOT saying it's even close to being as addictive as nicotine, but you get my point.
  - ams6110 12y ago
    Any substance that produces a rush of good feelings will cause cravings or "withdrawal" to one degree or another when you stop consuming it. Based on observations I would say that for some people, sugar/soda is as addictive as nicotine or maybe more so.
  - blisterpeanuts 12y ago
    Probably we're programmed to love sweet stuff, because of the symbiotic relationship between plants and seed eaters. We eat the fruit and spread the seeds. Unfortunately, sugary drinks trigger the instinct but have no beneficial effects, and they lack the phytonutrients of fruit and honey. We should just never drink or eat anything that is sweetened with either sugar or non-sugar alternatives. Easy to say and hard to do, though; I love sweet coffee, cake, and ice cream.

mbca 12y ago

Were these sodas sweetened with cane sugar or high-fructose corn syrup? (I did look at the abstract of the actual paper, but it doesn't seem to specify. The full paper might say, but it's paywalled.)

johnward 12y ago
I don't think it matters but chances are it's HFCS.
- stealthlogic 12y ago
  It matters.
  - johnward 12y ago
    I guess it matters because it might actually prove our bodies handle HFCS and Sugar differently. I have never seen that proven anywhere else.
    - MacsHeadroom 12y ago
      Of course our bodies handle HFCS and "sugar" differently. There are about a dozen types of common simple sugars and all of them are handled differently because they are different molecules. Here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBnniua6-oM http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBnniua6-oM
      - jjoonathan 12y ago
        Straw-man. The relevant question is whether or not HFCS is significantly worse than sucrose.
    - jjoonathan 12y ago
      If you want an actual scholarly article rather than a youtube video, here is one (especially useful are the figures on page 6): http://www.sugar.org/cra-lawsuit/wp-content/uploads/relevant_studies/MetabolismDr._Pepper_Study.pdf http://www.sugar.org/cra-lawsuit/wp-content/uploads/relevant...

Rovanion 12y ago

What an odd website, does not allow scrolling if javascript isn't turned on.

igorgue 12y ago
Then turn it on...

waylandsmithers 12y ago

All I want to know is if I can drink a diet coke a day with impunity.

deleted 12y ago

[deleted]

deleted 12y ago

[deleted]

e40 12y ago

What about something like carbonated cranberry juice? I mix 1 part low-carb Trader Joe's cranberry juice and 4 parts carbonated water, and drink about 20 oz a day. When I first started, it tasted tart and not sweet. I don't think there's much sugar in it. If it's as harmful, I'd definitely give it up.

spikels 12y ago

Since longer telomere's may give you brain cancer we should all avoid 100% fruit juice and drink more non-diet soda! http://www.ucsf.edu/news/2014/06/114956/longer-telomeres-linked-risk-brain-cancer http://www.ucsf.edu/news/2014/06/114956/longer-telomeres-lin... Better yet ignore these preliminary and contradictory results until we actually understand what is actually going on.

menssen 12y ago

This is not a criticism of this study, but I do want to observe that "aging" has a very specific meaning here, and it does not really just mean "harmful." Aging causes things in your body to fail. Smoking, also, causes things in your body to fail, regardless of and unrelated to whether it causes "aging." (Anecdotally, as a person who has gone both through periods of heavy soda [here in the midwest, "pop"] consumption and who has been a pack-a-day smoker, there are orders of magnitude of difference in the effects on general health.)

pseud0r 12y ago
aging = rate of damage / rate of repair Some damage is intrinsic, caused by free radicals, wrongly transcribed DNA, misfolded proteins etc. Some damage is caused by external factors like sunlight (skin damage), sugar, smoking, pollution, radiation etc. Things that increases damage increases aging and things that decreases rate of repair also increases aging. Exercise increases rate of repair and slows aging in that way, while sitting still all day decreases the rate of repair and thus increases aging. You seem to think that aging is only the intrinsic damage, but in many cases the type of damage that happens can be the same and external factors can increase the intrinsic damage that happens continuously. Some of this damage will decrease cellular repair mechanisms and thus decrease the rate of repair and you get a vicious cycle, external damage like having a hand chopped of doesn't really influence cellular repair, but smoking and sugar intake do influence cellular repair in a negative way and can thus be said to accelerate aging.

ck2 12y ago

Wait is this the smoking gun to corn syrup? Because "sugar sweetened sodas" don't exist or are rare, at least not in the USA. They are actually corn-syrup sweetened. Especially since real sugar filled fruit juices did not have the same effect nor diet soda with no corn-syrup.

driverdan 12y ago

I don't see anyone discussing that this is based on the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). NHANES is all self-reported data meaning its accuracy isn't great. It's a decent way of looking for potential research topics but is in no way definitive. Any papers coming from NHANES data should be considered pre-research. Real data on this topic will come from properly controlled studies.

jongraehl 12y ago

Since she finds a strong shorter-telomere association in neither equally sweet juices NOR in diet soda, this result probably just unhealthy-lifestyle-correlation (e.g. drug addicts and undiagnosed diabetics drink more soda). Also, “The extremely high dose of sugar that we can put into our body within seconds by drinking sugared beverages is uniquely toxic to metabolism” (from her Time interview) seems an overreach. A properly functioning metabolism can handle some sugar, even in a spike.

pseud0r 12y ago
Sugar can increase aging, see for example this for starts http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_glycation_end-product http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_glycation_end-product

john704944 12y ago

Is anyone else seeing the website cut off at the bottom? There's no scroll bar, so I can't read beyond one screenfull.

novaleaf 12y ago

clickbait title from TIME. from tfa: > Only the sugary, bubbly stuff showed this effect. Epel didn’t see any association between telomere length and diet soda intake.

digital-rubber 12y ago

Articles with may, could, etc basically don't say anything else but, 'We want some attention for our article now, but do not shoot us if it turns out to be completely bogus. But if we were right, we want to be seen as awesome researchers, bringers of news etc'.

anotheryou 12y ago

aging per drink? per year? on average?