Study: Soda worse for you than other foods with natural sugars

We already know that drinking soda isn’t that great for your diet or your teeth. The sugar-loaded beverage packs the calories, and the sugar combines with bacteria in your mouth to create acid, which helps weaken your teeth.

Now researchers are saying that soda is actually worse for you than other sugary foods, too.

The study, published in the British Medical Journal, comes from researchers at St. Michael’s Hospital and Toronto University in Canada. Their focus was how different sugary foods affect blood glucose levels.

They found that foods with naturally occurring fructose sugars (like fruits and vegetables) don’t affect blood glucose levels. But foods featuring added glucose, like soda, cereals and sweets, had harmful effects.

The role of sugars in the development of various disorders is up for debate, but more research is being focused on its health effects. High fructose corn syrup, in particular, has come under fire, with links to growing obesity and diabetes rates.

“These findings might help guide recommendations on important food sources of fructose in the prevention and management of diabetes,” lead author John Sievenpiper said in a press release. “But the level of evidence is low and more high quality studies are needed.”

A typical 12 ounce can of Pepsi, for example, has 15o calories with 41 grams of sugar, with its second-largest ingredient being high fructose corn syrup (after carbonated water). A glass of orange juice (12 ounces) has 170 calories, with 31 grams of sugar.

If that’s not enough, another study suggests too much sugar in energy drinks may trigger violent behavior in kids.

There is one bit of good news: U.S. soda consumption fell to a 31-year low in 2016, according to Beverage Digest.

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