Accelerating the aging process

Do you want to accelerate the aging process?

Researchers at the University of California, San Francisco used a sample of 5300 healthy adults. Dr. Elissa Epel worked on the study for 5 years.

“We think we can get away with drinking lots of soda as long as we are not gaining weight, but this suggests that there is an invisible pathway that leads to accelerated aging, regardless of weight,” said Dr. Epel.

Epel’s team discovered that in people who drank more sugar-sweetened beverages, the ends of their chromosomes, known as telomeres, were shorter.

The shorter the telomere, the less a cell can regenerate thus aging the body, and raising the risk of disease and early death.

“This finding is alarming because it suggest that soda may be aging us, in ways we are not even aware of,” said Dr. Epel.

Researchers found no link in cell aging, however, when drinking diet sodas and fruit juices.

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