Despite the fact that the Canadian public is well aware of the unfavourable but common effects associated with sugary drinks (i.e. weight gain) there is hardly a lack of want for beverages like soda or juice. According to the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada, “sugary drinks are the single largest contributor of sugar in the [Canadian] diet.” It’s possible that Canadians are underestimating the potential consequences of a high-sugar diet, and it comes with big risks. Recent studies have associated sugary drinks with the development of many types of ailments and diseases—all of which can be fatal.
Sugar Sweetened Beverages Can Shorten Your Lifespan
Not only does sugar have the potential to cause certain diseases, but it can also reduce your life expectancy. Regular consumption of sugar sweetened beverages sometimes causes chronic inflammation, a leading cause of death worldwide.
When dealing with an injury like a cut or recovering from the flu, inflammation is necessary because it helps the body heal; but inflammation that persists overtime
(especially as a result of one’s diet) can be dangerous. The body can turn on itself and attack viable tissues and organs. This is why 3 of 5 people die from chronic inflammation through afflictions such as stroke, diabetes, arthritis, heart disease, bowel diseases, and dementia.
It’s not just our organs, muscles, and tissues that are vulnerable to sugar. Our DNA is also susceptible. A 2016 Cell Reports publication about fruit flies suggests that high-sugar consumption in early adulthood is enough to permanently damage genes and increase risk of premature death later in life. In fact, results showed the average lifespan decreased by 7% in the flies who were fed the high-sugar diet.
Similar research has also been done on humans. A study published by the American Journal of Public Health looked at over 5,000 adults in America. Those who drank slightly less than two cans of soda per day (20 oz.) tended to age almost five years more. These insights were produced by studying the participants’ DNA, specifically the length of their telomeres. Telomeres are protective caps on the ends of chromosomes that naturally shrink overtime. In this study, the high consumption of sugar sweetened beverages seemed to accelerate the telomere shrinkage, and therefore caused the advanced aging.
Sugary Drinks Could Increase Your Risk of Cancer
The correlation between cancer and sugar sweetened beverages is getting stronger. A study published in May 2021 by the British Medical Journal (BMJ) found that a high consumption of sugary drinks, especially in teen and adult years, correlated to a higher risk of early-onset colorectal cancer (EOCRC) in women. In fact, adult women who had two or more daily servings of sugar sweetened beverages more than doubled their risk of EOCRC when compared to women who consumed less than one weekly serving.
Another report by the BMJ, this one from 2019, evaluated the connection between various sweetened drinks and risk of cancer. The study featured over 100,000 adult participants in France and concluded a “positive association” between consuming sugary drinks and developing cancer.
The cause of cancer in relation to specific nutritional decisions continues to be studied. What we know for sure is that smart dietary choices are essential for your health. Limiting your consumption of soda, fruit juices, and artificial sweeteners, and replacing these beverages with healthy, hydrating drinks like natural spring water is one of the easiest steps you can take toward a healthier life.
Drinking Spring Water Can Change Your Life
The evidence is clear: if Canadians can’t find practical ways to lower their consumption of sugary drinks, we will continue seeing diagnoses that could have potentially been avoided. However, it’s not enough to just stop favouring sweetened beverages. These drinks need to be actively replaced with water.
Many consumers refuse to quit drinking soda because they can’t find water that tastes good. If this has been your experience, it’s time to switch to spring water. One of the greatest benefits of spring water is its delicious, fresh taste. Spring water is naturally filtered, so chemicals like fluoride and chlorine (which often ruin the taste of water) are not added in. This preservation helps maintain the purity and taste of spring water. This is also the reason why spring water is the best water you can drink. It contains important minerals, flushes out toxins, and hydrates and reinvigorates your body.
Bear Springs Delivers the Best Spring Water in the Toronto Area
Finding the best spring water is the first step to drinking the best spring water.
Bear springs delivers natural Canadian spring water to the Greater Toronto Area. The convenience of bottled water delivered right to your front door is one of the many reasons why bear springs customers choose our water delivery service again and again.
A bonus to drinking bear springs is our glass bottled water options. You can enjoy the amazing taste of our wilderness water in glass, while helping the environment.
Daily Consumption of Sweetened Drinks Can Lead to Heart Disease
The Heart and Stroke Foundation predicts that over the next two decades and beyond, “sugary drink consumption in Canada will be responsible for over 63,000 deaths, 300,000 cases of ischemic heart disease and almost 40,000 strokes.” Infrequent consumption of sugar sweetened beverages can drastically decrease your odds of developing heart disease and/or experiencing a stroke.
How do sugary drinks affect the heart? A study shared in February 2020 by the Journal of the American Heart Association sought to answer this exact question.
Monitoring approximately 6000 people for over twelve years, researchers analyzed
these consumers based on how often they had a sweetened beverage. Ultimately, the data determined that drinking more than twelve ounces of sugary drinks per day was linked to a 53% higher chance of high triglyceride levels (which harden arteries) and 98% higher risk of lowered healthy cholesterol. Both factors can lead to heart disease and/or stroke, which is why sugar sweetened beverages should only be enjoyed sparingly, never as your daily drink of choice.
Sugary Drinks Can Cause Diabetes
Type 2 Diabetes is a result of insulin resistance, which inhibits proper regulation of sugar in the bloodstream. Insulin is produced by the pancreas in response to the amount of sugar that enters the body. This is why regularly consuming sugary drinks might debilitate the pancreas overtime, or it could lead to obesity: the number one risk factor of diabetes. According to the Heart and Stroke Foundation, one soda per day is enough to increase your risk of diabetes by 22%.
While living with diabetes is manageable, it can cause further health problems. The leading cause of death for diabetics is heart disease, often caused by high blood pressure and high cholesterol, as well as high blood sugar. Diabetes is also known to increase the possibility of stroke, dementia, kidney disease, pregnancy complications, and more.
