If you routinely turn to a nice cold can of soda to get you through the day, researchers say you could be shaving years off your life.
According to the CDC, a whopping 63 percent of US citizens reach for a soda, sweetened coffee, or energy drink at least once a day, if not more.
And the youth isn't much better, with around 45 percent of American high school students cracking open a soda every day.
So, it's fair to say we have a bit of a problem with the delicious yet sugary beverage, and it's almost certainly contributing towards our swelling obesity and various other health problem.
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However, a new study from researchers at the University of Michigan has revealed just one can of pop can eat away at our longevity on this Earth at a shocking rate, snatching not just one, two, or even three minutes from our last breath of life, but 12 precious minutes. Per drink!
The scientists studied a list of 5,853 foods in the typical US diet to determine the life gained or lost in each serving.
They examined the health impact of one gram of a specific food, and then adjusted it to a standard serving size, which made for some concerning results.
And it's not just fizzy drinks that are jeopardizing our health.
A beef hotdog can cause us to lose a whopping 36 minutes, 'due to the detrimental effect of processed meat', the authors add, while corned beef in a dish with tomato sauce and onion can cause us to lose more than an hour at 71 minutes.
The study noted: "Scores for frankfurter and breakfast sandwiches, burgers and red meat are almost exclusively negative, indicated that eating an additional serving of these foods is health-damaging."
This is because such food groups have higher preservatives and nitrates added to them, which have also been linked to other diseases and cancer.
At the lower end of the life-threatening scale is bacon (six minutes) and chicken wings (three minutes and 30 seconds).
Fortunately, it's not all bad news as the researchers found some foods can actually prolong life.
Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, surprisingly, take the biscuit here, by offering to add up to 33 minutes of life, though can't be beaten by a hearty dish of fish like sardines with a tomato-based-sauce, which adds 82 minutes.
Fruits like bananas can add almost 14 minutes to life and a good handful of nuts (around 30 grams) can heap on 26 minutes.
The study notes: "[The] increasing the consumption of nuts, and of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, (driven by nut content), legumes, seafood, fruits, snack bars, ready-to-eat cereals and non-starchy vegetables is health beneficial," before it recommends swapping 10 percent of our daily calories from beef and other processed meats for fruit, vegetables, legumes and nuts to boost longevity by up to 48 minutes.
Dr Olivier Jolliet, the researcher behind the study, told The Conversation: "The urgency of dietary changes to improve human health … is clear.
"Our findings demonstrate that small, targeted substitutions offer a feasible and powerful strategy to achieve significant health and environmental benefits without needing dramatic dietary shifts.”
Topics: Food and Drink, Health, Michigan, Science, US News, Earth
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