		<div class="wpcnt">
			<div class="wpa">
				<span class="wpa-about">Advertisements</span>
				<div class="u top_amp">
							<amp-ad width="300" height="265"
		 type="pubmine"
		 data-siteid="111265417"
		 data-section="2">
		</amp-ad>
				</div>
			</div>
		</div><p><a href="http://londonglossy.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/1413538709-e73372357f12a05f3a03bfd08b9a0b77-1038x576-e1413555150552.jpg"><img src="http://londonglossy.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/1413538709-e73372357f12a05f3a03bfd08b9a0b77-1038x576-e1413555150552.jpg" alt="1413538709-e73372357f12a05f3a03bfd08b9a0b77-1038x576" width="600" height="333" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-63899" /></a></p>
<p>Politicians recently tried – and failed – to get smoking banned in London’s parks and open spaces. But recent research has suggested that a ban on fizzy soft drinks would do almost as much for public health.<br />
Scientists from the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF) have revealed that fizzy drinks may accelerate biological ageing just as much as smoking.</p>
<p><a href="http://londonglossy.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/1413538538-fb125012ebb3a493361c54a2e7f95ad0-600x400.jpg"><img src="http://londonglossy.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/1413538538-fb125012ebb3a493361c54a2e7f95ad0-600x400.jpg" alt="1413538538-fb125012ebb3a493361c54a2e7f95ad0-600x400" width="600" height="400" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-63900" /></a></p>
<p>The team were looking at things called telomeres. These are protective caps on the end of chromosomes that allow us to measure biological ageing.<br />
Telomeres shorten with age, and short telomeres are associated with chronic problems of ageing such as heart disease, diabetes and some types of cancer.</p>
<p>The researchers found that people who regularly drank sugar-sweetened fizzy drinks had significantly shorter telomeres than those who did not.<br />
This all suggests that fizzy drinks may actually speed up the rate at which cells age – although the scientists could not confirm that it was definitely the drinks that were causing the telomeres to shorten.</p>
<p><strong>What did the experiments involve?</strong></p>
<p>The findings come from studying thousands of DNA samples.<br />
The scientists measured telomeres in the white blood cells of 5,309 participants aged 20 to 65 with no history of diabetes or heart disease.<br />
The apparent link between fizzy drinks and biological ageing was seen throughout – regardless of age, race, income and education level.</p>
<p><strong>Exactly what did they find?</strong></p>
<p><a href="http://londonglossy.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/1413539320-d2ce592edd61039d6084478d8a3bb54d-600x635.jpg"><img src="http://londonglossy.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/1413539320-d2ce592edd61039d6084478d8a3bb54d-600x635.jpg" alt="1413539320-d2ce592edd61039d6084478d8a3bb54d-600x635" width="600" height="635" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-63902" /></a></p>
<p>Consumption of 20 fluid ounces of soda a day – equivalent to about two cans of cola – was associated with 4.6 years of additional biological ageing, based on telomere shortening.<br />
More than a fifth of the participants fell into this category.<br />
Professor Elissa Epel, a member of the UCSF team, said: ”This is the first demonstration that soda is associated with telomere shortness. Telomere shortening starts long before disease onset.”</p>
<p><strong>So what’s this got to do with smoking?</strong></p>
<p><a href="http://londonglossy.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/1413538935-fb62a725fc5a4f095f6b945728ba85d0-1366x910-e1413556136987.jpg"><img src="http://londonglossy.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/1413538935-fb62a725fc5a4f095f6b945728ba85d0-1366x910-e1413556136987.jpg" alt="1413538935-fb62a725fc5a4f095f6b945728ba85d0-1366x910" width="600" height="400" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-63903" /></a></p>
<p>The shortening of telomeres is a well-known effect of smoking. This is the first time a beverage has also been linked to increased biological ageing.<br />
Dr Cindy Leung, also from the UCSF, said: “It is critical to understand both dietary factors that may shorten telomeres, as well as dietary factors that may lengthen telomeres.</p>
<p>“Here it appeared that the only beverage consumption that had a measurable negative association with telomere length was consumption of sugared soda.”<br />
Professor Epel added: “Although we only studied adults here, it is possible that soda consumption is associated with telomere shortening in children, as well.”</p>
<p>Which raises the question: Could there be a soda ban coming to an office, restaurant or park near you?<br />
The findings of this study were published in the American Journal of Public Health.</p>
			<div style="padding-bottom:15px;" class="wordads-tag" data-slot-type="belowpost">
				<div id="atatags-dynamic-belowpost-68eccb4cbabed">
					<script type="text/javascript">
						window.getAdSnippetCallback = function () {
							if ( false === ( window.isWatlV1 ?? false ) ) {
								// Use Aditude scripts.
								window.tudeMappings = window.tudeMappings || [];
								window.tudeMappings.push( {
									divId: 'atatags-dynamic-belowpost-68eccb4cbabed',
									format: 'belowpost',
								} );
							}
						}

						if ( document.readyState === 'loading' ) {
							document.addEventListener( 'DOMContentLoaded', window.getAdSnippetCallback );
						} else {
							window.getAdSnippetCallback();
						}
					</script>
				</div>
			</div>
Discover more from London Glossy Post
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
