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Soda May Age You as Much as Smoking

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Re: Soda May Age You as Much as Smoking

#161

Post by Scuds »

tsotha wrote: post #117
hughes wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even at the workplace, many offices offer unlimited free soda as a perk. I almost never touch the stuff and would love to have access to healthier options. I haven't seen a single job posting featuring regularly stocked fresh fruit as an incentive.

>Even at the workplace, many offices offer unlimited free soda as a perk. Is that still true? I know Microsoft did it in the early years, but that was a long time ago.

yes. Along with milk, canned carbonated water (Talking Rain), and canned fruit juice.

The salad bars are fairly low cost too and feature stuff from local producers in Washington State, so A+ for that.

... but that's not going to stop you from filling your plate with cheese, fried chicken strips, ranch dressing, and then calling it a salad.

Re: Soda May Age You as Much as Smoking

#163

Post by gwern »

mikeyouse wrote: post #107
Arnor wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

1. Some of us aren't subscribers to APHA or aren't interested in spending $22 on the article. 2. Why so confrontational? If you know the answer to the question, why not summarize it? Is the answer to the question so complicated that it would take more time and energy than the two paragraphs you composed in derision?

I can address #2; > If you know the answer to the question, why not summarize it? Is the answer to the question so complicated that it would take more time and energy than the two paragraphs you composed in derision? Every science article posted on HN gets the exact same treatment where well-intentioned but scientifically ignorant posters fill the comment section with drive-by posts saying "Correlation != Causation"…

> It's exhausting and completely unproductive.

And completely accurate. You know what's more exhausting than seeing someone point out that correlation!=causation? Being whiplashed by a dozen different studies, or correlation after correlation failing when subjected to a randomized test.

In this case, all you have to do is look at how they tried to defend against the universal healthy user bias (you know, the same thing that led to such epic fails as hormone therapy?), and see that all they did was adjust for weight and some self-reports. Bzzt. On top of that, note the anomalies:

> Only the sugary, bubbly stuff showed this effect. Epel didn’t see any association between telomere length and diet soda intake. “The extremely high dose of sugar that we can put into our body within seconds by drinking sugared beverages is uniquely toxic to metabolism,” she says. She also didn’t see a significant link between non-carbonated sugary beverages, like fruit juice, which Epel says surprised her.

You know what sugar-juice and diet soda have in common? People think they're healthier than regular soda.

Re: Soda May Age You as Much as Smoking

#164

Post by frozenport »

mikeyouse wrote: post #3

The key results from the paper: After adjustment for sociodemographic and health-related characteristics, sugar-sweetened soda consumption was associated with shorter telomeres (b = –0.010; 95% confidence interval [CI] = −0.020, −0.001; P = .04). Consumption of 100% fruit juice was marginally associated with longer telomeres (b = 0.016; 95% CI = −0.000, 0.033; P = .05). No significant associations were observed betwe…

Looks like its the carbonation?

Re: Soda May Age You as Much as Smoking

#165

Post by billmalarky »

TheSoftwareGuy wrote: post #156
nilkn wrote: post #14

Not to mention it can cause diabetes and it's horrible for your teeth. For me, it also caused acne. Soda's really, really bad for you, and I think at this point it would be viewed the same way that smoking is viewed if it weren't for the fact that soda affects only the consumer whereas cigarettes produce second-hand smoke and a suffocating odor that fills the room. Maybe 2050's Mad Men will shock its viewers with how…

>I think at this point it would be viewed the same way that smoking is viewed if it weren't for the fact that soda affects only the consumer whereas cigarettes produce second-hand smoke and a suffocating odor that fills the room. And the addiction, don't forget that horrible, crippling addiction.

Soda has addictive properties. Caffeine being one but I would argue there's carb/sugar addiction potential in there too (look up carb withdrawal).

Now I'm NOT saying it's even close to being as addictive as nicotine, but you get my point.

Re: Soda May Age You as Much as Smoking

#167

Post by e40 »

What about something like carbonated cranberry juice? I mix 1 part low-carb Trader Joe's cranberry juice and 4 parts carbonated water, and drink about 20 oz a day. When I first started, it tasted tart and not sweet. I don't think there's much sugar in it.

If it's as harmful, I'd definitely give it up.

Re: Soda May Age You as Much as Smoking

#168

Post by seanflyon »

toomuchtodo wrote: post #27
mikeyouse wrote: post #3

The key results from the paper: After adjustment for sociodemographic and health-related characteristics, sugar-sweetened soda consumption was associated with shorter telomeres (b = –0.010; 95% confidence interval [CI] = −0.020, −0.001; P = .04). Consumption of 100% fruit juice was marginally associated with longer telomeres (b = 0.016; 95% CI = −0.000, 0.033; P = .05). No significant associations were observed betwe…

> So they saw 'aging' with sugar-sweetened soda, the opposite with fruit juice, and no significant difference with diet sodas or non-carbonated sugary sodas. What compounds in soda are most likely causing this? If they're not seeing the results in fruit juice, its not sugar causing the damage.

Could be any number of things including a correlated behavior that they were unable to account for.

Re: Soda May Age You as Much as Smoking

#169

Post by mark-r »

TheSoftwareGuy wrote: post #156
nilkn wrote: post #14

Not to mention it can cause diabetes and it's horrible for your teeth. For me, it also caused acne. Soda's really, really bad for you, and I think at this point it would be viewed the same way that smoking is viewed if it weren't for the fact that soda affects only the consumer whereas cigarettes produce second-hand smoke and a suffocating odor that fills the room. Maybe 2050's Mad Men will shock its viewers with how…

>I think at this point it would be viewed the same way that smoking is viewed if it weren't for the fact that soda affects only the consumer whereas cigarettes produce second-hand smoke and a suffocating odor that fills the room. And the addiction, don't forget that horrible, crippling addiction.

Caffeine addiction is a thing, too.

Re: Soda May Age You as Much as Smoking

#170

Post by mikeyouse »

gwern wrote: post #163
mikeyouse wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can address #2; > If you know the answer to the question, why not summarize it? Is the answer to the question so complicated that it would take more time and energy than the two paragraphs you composed in derision? Every science article posted on HN gets the exact same treatment where well-intentioned but scientifically ignorant posters fill the comment section with drive-by posts saying "Correlation != Causation"…

> It's exhausting and completely unproductive. And completely accurate. You know what's more exhausting than seeing someone point out that correlation!=causation? Being whiplashed by a dozen different studies, or correlation after correlation failing when subjected to a randomized test. In this case, all you have to do is look at how they tried to defend against the universal healthy user bias (you know, the same thi…

> In this case, all you have to do is look at how they tried to defend against the universal healthy user bias (you know, the same thing that led to such epic fails as hormone therapy?), and see that all they did was adjust for weight and some self-reports. Bzzt.

They actually adjusted for age, smoking (never, former, current), pack-years of smoking, energy intake using the USDA's HEI, alcohol intake, physical activity (some/none), BMI, and waist circumference. They also didn't include anyone with prexisiting cardiovascular conditions or diabetes.

Their results confirmed earlier studies very strongly -- race, 'never' smokers, younger age, and healthy weight all corresponded to longer telomeres (P > You know what sugar-juice and diet soda have in common? People think they're healthier than regular soda.

I'm not sure what you're trying to imply with this one though. Just read page 5 of the actual study. This is good science and generic insults are just noise when everything is actually addressed:

http://www.chc.ucsf.edu/ame_lab/pdfs/Leung%20et%20al%202014a...

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