Another Reason to Skip the Soda: High Blood Pressure
There's plenty of evidence that guzzling sugared drinks like sodas can harm your health. The extra calories can lead to obesity and contribute to heart problems and diabetes. Now researchers say the sweet beverages may boost blood pressure as well.
The risk is not entirely new, but the size of the relationship came as a surprise to the researchers, who published their findings in Hypertension: Journal of the American Heart Association. Led by Ian Brown, in the department of epidemiology and biostatistics at Imperial College London's School of Public Health, the group found that for every extra sugared beverage consumed, blood pressure — a ratio of systolic and diastolic pressure in the vessels — rose by an average of 1.6 mm Hg and 0.8 mm Hg respectively. While that may not seem like much, says Brown, when you consider that many children and adults down several cans of soda or sweetened fruit juices...
