Heart surgeon warns people should avoid popular drink

With health and wellness on the rise, people are taking the phrase 'you are what you eat,' more seriously than ever. According to experts, 'you are what you drink' too.

Heart surgeon Dr Jeremy London has labelled one common beverage as ‘liquid death’ and said there were four things he ‘absolutely avoids’ as a cardiac surgeon.

In a social media post, Dr London, who holds board certification in vascular thoracic and general surgery, said the first thing he avoids is smoking, which he says is the ‘single worst thing you can do to your body’.

Secondly, he tells his followers alcohol is ‘toxic’ to every cell in your body, although he acknowledges everyone has their own rules. Despite this, it's not actually alcohol he brands as ‘liquid death’. In fact, it’s soft drinks.

A heart surgeon called soft drinks 'liquid death' (Getty Stock)

“Just don’t drink them, period, done,” he says, without adding any more context.

However, he later provided more context on his stance on soft drinks, which are also known as fizzy drinks, admitting that he may have slightly over-exaggerated his wording.

"I think that soft drinks are just a scourge in our society, and so I was really trying to get some attention," he admitted in an interview with TODAY, although he still stood by his stance.

"Obviously, high-calorie soft drinks and ingesting a lot of calories that people don't realise they're getting with the sugar-based soft drinks is a big no-no,” he added.

A number of studies have been done into the effects soft drinks have on health. One study, stated in the National Library of Medicine, performed a meta-analysis of 88 studies, examining the association between these drinks and nutrition and health outcomes.

They found ‘clear associations of soft drink intake with increased energy intake and body weight’.

He called the drinks 'a big no-no' (Getty Stock)

They also came to the conclusion that consumption of these drinks was associated with lower intakes of milk, calcium, and a number of other nutrients, which came was an increased risk of medical problems including diabetes.

Not only that, dentists have warned that soft drinks due to high sugar and acid levels, as Colgate states they can ‘ soften tooth enamel, which can contribute to cavities.’

And for everyone wondering, the fourth thing Dr London said he avoids may hurt a lot of people. Bread and pasta!

“Avoid the refined flours and wheats,” he added. “I guarantee you can out-eat any exercise you did,” he said, claiming 80% of weight control is diet, with the other 20% being exercise.

We may pretend we didn’t hear that one…