Two soft drinks a day may lead to long term liver damage

telegraph.co.uk ^ | 12 Aug 2009 | Chris Irvine

[neverdem]

Two cans of fizzy drink a day could cause long term liver damage, resulting in the need for a transplant, according to new research.

Researchers are now urging parents to cut back on their children’s consumption of fizzy drinks as well as reducing fresh fruit juices substituting them for water.

Liver damage is normally associated with alcohol abuse but the new study has found that non-alcoholic drinks with a high sugar content can cause a condition called fatty liver disease.

Related Articles Artificial sweeteners 'do nothing to help weight loss' Scientists from Israel found that people who drank a litre of fizzy drinks and fresh fruit juices were five times more likely to develop fatty liver disease.

Even drinking a couple of cans of fizzy drinks a day raised the risk of liver damage in addition to causing diabetes and heart damage.

Doctors at the Ziv Liver unit in Haifa, Israel compared two groups of volunteers – neither of whom had a risk for developing fatty liver disease.

The group of 90 people, 45 men and 45 women aged 40-50, were asked about their level of physical activity, caloric intake and the amount of soft drinks they consume.

When they finished the study they found that 80 per cent of those who had consumed fizzy drinks and fruit juices had fatty liver changes. But only 17 per cent of the control group who had not drunk fizzy drinks developed fatty livers.

Dr Nimer Assy, who led the study, said his research - published in the Journal of Hepatology - showed long term consumption could result in liver failure and the potential need for a transplant

“We found people who drink more than two cans of Coke a day have increased their chances for a fatty liver, and if left untreated...,”

[neverdem]

Soft drink consumption is associated with fatty liver disease independent of metabolic syndrome

[Graybeard58]

We’re all gonna die!

[sonofstrangelove]

That is why I drink tea.

[umgud]

In other news, social security is going bankrupt because people are living too long.

[FlingWingFlyer]

I thought we already did this one back in the 70s. Harry Reasoner...

[wardaddy]

lol

[GeronL]

I hope its not true.

Hey does 3 or 4 a day have benefits?

[steve86]

This finding seems to relate to sugary soft drinks, not diet drinks (which may carry their own hazards).

[neverdem]

Breakthrough in fight against diabetes

FReepmail me if you want on or off the diabetes ping list.

[steve86]

Whoops, the article does state that aspartame can lead to fatty liver but I find that somewhat difficult to believe.

[SiVisPacemParaBellum]

I'm already dead. Too many Cokes, Root Beers, 7 Ups. My ghost is writing this reply.

[MetaThought]

Is it connected to the fructose(yes, there’s fructose in sucrose too...) in soft drinks, by any chance.

[goat granny]

I’ve been drinking 3-4 Pepsi’s a day for decades...I am 70 and have braimdamage. But when you get old, you blame everything on age...including spelling...

[BigCinBigD]

They can have my Diet Coke when they pry it from my cold dead bladder!

[Ramius]

As it turns out: Living a life inevitably leads to death.

Advice to follow.

[lmr]

I'm already dead. Too many Cokes, Root Beers, 7 Ups. My ghost is writing this reply.

I need to cut back, or I'll be joining you in the netherworld real soon.

[antiunion person]

Going by this article, I should have died years ago.
I want to hang around long enough for one of Obama’s czars to tell me to take a pill.

[dayglored]

> Hey does 3 or 4 a day have benefits?

It's the first two that do the damage ("Two soft drinks a day...").

So skip the first two, and go directly to the third, fourth, fifth, ...!!! (snicker)

[GeronL]

I hate when I accidently spell my soda. Its lost calories I need to make up with sandwiches

[Paleo Conservative]

What about carbonated diet drinks?

[bobby.223]

well that settles that. from now on, I will no longer mix an ounce of seven in with my 4 shots per blast whiskey drinks....well maybe not, been doin’ it for years and still goin’ strong!

[ditto h]

My cardiologist looked over my recent blood test and told me ,among other things , that my liver was normal. I have, for the last 40 years, enjoyed my bourbon and coke. Please stick your opinions up your....you know.

[divine_moment_of_facts]

That is why I drink tea.

Me too! But be careful of too much green tea.

[Jack Hammer]

You’re not alone out here in ghost land. Awhooooooooo!

Booga booga.

I’ve been drinking “fizzy drinks” by the quart (liter) for fifty years. Guess my liver looks like a map of the moon....

Oh, well - we all gotta die sometime.

[neverdem]

Is it connected to the fructose(yes, there’s fructose in sucrose too...) in soft drinks, by any chance.

But in the high fructose corn syrup that they use for soda pop, it's 55% fructose and 42% glucose, about a 4 to 3 ratio. When I went to med school 20 years ago, I never heard of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.

[jonrick46]

END THE USE OF SODA!!! COMBAT LIVER DISEASE!!! END GLOBAL WARMING! STOP THE RELEASE OF CO2 IN THE ATMOSPHERE!!!!!!

He he. /SARC

[sonofstrangelove]

I do not drink green tea because I dont like the taste. I prefer the good ole Lipton tea.

[divine_moment_of_facts]

I agree.. the fancy teas don’t have the rich flavor.. Lipton is the best!

[TheMole]

Researchers are now urging parents to cut back on their children’s consumption of fizzy drinks as well as reducing fresh fruit juices substituting them for water.

Another professional wordsmith churning it out. I can figure out that he means children should drink more water and less fruit juice and pop, but he actually writes something that's pretty close to the opposite.

[ccmay]

I never used to like fizzy mineral water, but over time I have become a big fan of San Pellegrino with a little lemon or lime. No sugar or calories to speak of, but very refreshing. I also like hot tea.

[ditto h]

I agree Lipton...here here

[MetaThought]

Does the UK also use HFCS ?

I kinda always thought that the wide use of HFCS was mainly an American phenomenon.

[max americana]

>We’re all gonna die!

Soda pop is bad for you. Now replace soda pop with Jack Daniels and you’ll live to be 100.

[truthguy]

I’ve had it with all these reports. Leave me alone. I gave up drinking years ago so I wouldn’t blow out my liver. I always have a 7-UP or Ginger Ale now. And now they are telling me this is bad. Screw em. I’ve had it with all this “the sky is falling crap”. I’m going to enjoy my soft drinks.

[Domandred]

Ah crap if only 2 soda a day then well I’m pretty much dead already...

[GeronL]

I wish we could stop limiting and taxing sugar imports so we wouldn’t need corn syrup.

[cricket]

Criminalizing carbonated drinks just a warm up for these food nazis.

We know, of course; it is not public 'health' they are concerned with. . .

[cydcharisse]

After taking into account all this scientific stuff, it appears I died 15 years ago.

[TheLurkerX]

Hmmm....let’s take some fatty liver changes and extrapolate that everyone’s going to die waiting for a liver transplant, totally ignoring the fact the 90 percent of the population would be dead by now if this assumption was anywhere near the vicinity of true.

[riri]

Hmmm....let’s take some fatty liver changes and extrapolate that everyone’s going to die waiting for a liver transplant, totally ignoring the fact the 90 percent of the population would be dead by now if this assumption was anywhere near the vicinity of true.

This is asinine. The whole country would have shot livers by the time they were 20.

[irishjuggler]

Good points. They started with tiny sample of folks who already had fatty liver disease and then compared them to an even smaller group without the disease. Pretty weak methodology. Even Britain's National Health Service is skeptical.
http://www.nhs.uk/news/2009/08August/Pages/FizzyDrinksFattyLiver.aspx

[sonofstrangelove]

Tea Tottlers rules!

[Squantos]

I refuse to drink water.......fish have sex in it !

[GeronL]

doh!

[American Constitutionalist]

I am not a doctor or scientist, but, doesn't your liver regulate some fats with other fats or acids ? ...

[NonValueAdded]

Sounds to me that the cause and effect “found” in the study was purely statistical and we must take it on faith that the exploration was thorough enough to hone it down to this cause and this cause only. “Oh yeah, we forgot to ask them if they ...” could be the death of the study, not the subjects. Hardly something upon which to base policy.

[American Constitutionalist]

As Thomas ( Stonewall ) Jackson said “ God has a fixed time for man to die, and until then, I wish all men would be as brave as these men “ ....

[Glenn]

Too many Cokes, Root Beers, 7 Ups.

Kill yourself all you'd like.

But belching all that CO2 and killing the planet is unacceptable.

[Fresh Wind]

I don’t know about long-term liver disease, but soda will kill a keyboard in seconds.

[Right Wing Assault]

and if left untreated

What is the treatment?