Featured Image Credit: Getty Stock Image
Topics: Health, Mental Health, Food and Drink, World News, Alcohol, Fitness, TikTok, New York, US News
Liv Bridge
Topics: Health, Mental Health, Food and Drink, World News, Alcohol, Fitness, TikTok, New York, US News
If you regularly order one of these beverages for a well-deserved sweet treat, a doctor has some heartbreaking news for you.
It's no secret that sugary food and drink is generally bad for us, although it might seem like the occasional sweet treat works wonders for our mental health.
On a deeper level, several studies show a high consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages could be contributing to the obesity epidemic in the US and around the world, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says sugary drinks are the 'leading sources of added sugars in the American diet'.
Indeed, it boils down to everything in moderation, though according to Doctor Evan Levine, a cardiologist in Scarsdale, New York, there are some drinks we should be steering clear of entirely if we're serious about our heart health.
Advert
The doc, who has an impressive following on his TikTok channel, drevanlevine, recently shared his top 10 'most toxic drinks' for your heart, which makes for a bit of a heartbreaking watch.
Fortunately, he's managed to narrow that list down to the top four worst of the bunch, which even includes a personal favorite of his.
Speaking to NY Post, Levine said many cans of soda are 'toxic' for our health.
“Lets be simple here: a can of soda has 10 teaspoons of sugar in it or the equivalent amount of corn syrup," he said, which raise triglycerides, threaten weight gain, spike blood sugar levels and increase the risk of diabetes, all of which pose a risk to the heart.
He said he wants 'everyone to imagine drinking 1/5 of a cup of pure corn syrup' when cracking open a carbonated can of pop, 'because that's what you're doing every time.'
"It's garbage," he added in his viral TikTok video.
Levine's favorite drink has made it to the top four worst-of-the-worst as the doc admitted a grande iced frap 'used to be my favorite' - up until he 'realized' its disastrous side effects.
"I actually got a high off this stuff and then crashed within two hours," he continued, explaining how many iced coffee drinks, which are made with coffee or a cream base and flavored syrups, contain almost 100mg of caffeine and 51 grams of sugar - the equivalent to near 13 teaspoons of sugar.
Levine said: "[I]t's potentially dangerous stress on the heart for anyone with heart disease to drink these concoctions of caffeine and sugar and a perfect storm to induce palpitations.”
The doctor said booze can be safe, 'if you have one or less drinks a day if you have no heart problems.'
However, he debunked the common theory that 'a few glasses of wine a day keeps the doctor at bay,' as the risk to the heart increases among those who have an existing condition or people who crank up the alcohol intake.
"There’s nothing heart healthy here and all those studies — most sponsored by the alcohol or wine industry — were likely flawed observational studies, with an association with better outcome but not causation," he said. "Simply put: people who drank a glass of wine may have been more athletic or had some other unaccounted benefit.”
The doc said this is because alcohol 'increases blood pressure, triglycerides, atrial fibrillation and — in higher doses — is a direct toxin to the heart, so much so we have a phrase in cardiology — alcohol cardiomyopathy.'
This heart condition is caused specifically through chronic heavy alcohol consumption, which can be fatal.
"Alcohol is a no-no," he added in his TikTok video.
The cardiologist added energy drinks to his top four bad boys of the beverage world, due to their toxic combo of caffeine and sugar.
"Drinks like Red Bull have about 1.5 times the caffeine as coffee but also contain almost eight teaspoons or more of sugar — or worse, corn syrup,” Levine added. “The Monster energy drink has almost 15 teaspoons of it.”
Outside of his top four, he added diet soda to the list, as many are sweetened with xylitol or erythritol, which he says have been 'linked to an increased risk of heart attack and stroke' in two recent trials.
Lemonade and orange juice also went into the top 10, due to many having added teaspoons of sugar, alongside milk above one percent and coffee creamers.
He went on to dub coffee creamers like Coffee Mate as 'a Homer Simpson toxic drink' due to its corn syrup content.
Levine advised drinking plant-based milk that has no added sugars before concluding: "Water, water, water is the best, least expensive. One carbonated water with nothing added, that's fine too."