This study set out to see how drinking soda affects telomere length.

As you probably know, telomeres are the “end caps” of chromosomes. Telomeres protect your chromosomes from deterioration and damage. It’s commonly accepted that you can estimate cellular “age” by looking at your telomere length. The shorter your telomeres, the older you are cellularly.

This study tracks adults, their soda consumption and their telomere length. They found that people who drank 8 ounces of sugar sweetened beverages per day were approximately 1.9 years older cellularly, and those people who drank 20 ounces of sugar sweetened beverages per day were approximately 4.6 years older than non soda drinkers.

Consider the fact that cigarette smokers are approximately 4.6 years older than non smokers from a cellular perspective.

Soda and other sugar sweetened beverages are as bad for your aging as cigarettes.

Amazing.

Study: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4229419/