If you love drinks sweetened with loads of sugar, like fizzy pop and lemonade, you may be dramatically increasing your risk for heart disease, says a study conducted by Harvard medical school researchers.
The study found that men who drank more sugar-sweetened beverages were 20% more likely to suffer a heart attack, even after factors such as smoking, family history and exercise were taken into consideration. The men ranged in age from 40 to 75 years old and were surveyed over a four year period. Researchers believe that one 12-ounce serving is enough to increase your relative risk of cardiovascular disease by 19%. Although artificially-sweetened beverages did not cause any adverse effects, other studies have shown that these may have a negative impact on metabolic diseases.
If you’re a woman, similar results were found in a group of female participants of a study conducted a couple of years ago.
So, you may want to cut down on your consumption of sugar-sweetened drinks, especially since this same study found it caused increases in triglyceride levels – bad for those of us trying to slim down after CoolSculpting!