Soft drinks reduces metabolism within 4 weeks

Posted on Sat, 29 Sep 12

Drinking sugar-sweetened beverages switches your muscle metabolism towards becoming diabetic and overweight a new study had found.

The study, published in the European Journal of Nutrition, involved a group of healthy, moderately active, lean men and women who only occasionally drank sugar sweetened drinks. They were asked to drink sugar-sweetened beverages for 4 weeks and were then tested for changes in their muscle metabolism.

After the 4 weeks the researchers found that the sugar drinkers had changes in muscle metabolism that reduce your ability to burn fat and balance your blood sugar.

Dr Hans-Peter Kubis, who led the research, said: “This study proves that our concerns over sugary drinks have been correct. Not only can regular sugar intake acutely change our body metabolism; in fact it seems that our muscles are able to sense the sugars and make our metabolism more inefficient, not only in the present but in the future as well. This will lead a reduced ability to burn fat and to fat gain. Moreover, it will make it more difficult for our body to cope with rises in blood sugar.”

“What is clear here is that our body adjusts to regular soft drink consumption and prepares itself for the future diet by changing muscle metabolism via altered gene activity – encouraging unhealthy adaptations similar to those seen in people with obesity problems and type 2 diabetes.”

References:

Sartor F, Jackson MJ, Squillace C, Shepherd A, Moore JP, Ayer DE, Kubis HP. Adaptive metabolic response to 4 weeks of sugar-sweetened beverage consumption in healthy, lightly active individuals and chronic high glucose availability in primary human myotubes. Eur J Nutr. 2012 Jun 26. [Epub ahead of print]

 Press release. Bangor University. Drinking sugar-sweetened soft drinks leads to fat gain.