A new study out of Harvard comes to a rather unsettling conclusion.
Drinking sodas or diet sodas everyday apparently increases your risk of dying young.
The causes of that early mortality?
"Chronic disease, such as diabetes, heart disease, and now, in some cases...cancer," says Dr. Melinda Sothern, Professor at LSU Health New Orleans School of Public Health.
According to the study, the more sugary drinks you drink...be they carbonated or non-carbonated soft drinks, sports drinks, fruit drinks or energy drinks...the higher your risk of early death from any cause.
Women were found to be more vulnerable to premature death, the more sugary drinks they have.
Women who drank more than four diet beverages per day also died at a higher rate than other groups, particularly from heart disease.
"Interestingly, in women, that finding was not associated with cancer. And, in men there was a small association. So, cancer, in general, was not associated with artificially sweetened beverages. But, the sweetened beverages, yes."
So, Dr. Sothern says a can of soda every now and then is okay, but...
"Clearly, the sugary beverages are much worse...clearly. The more sodas that you drink, added sugar drinks that you have...the earlier heart disease and, potentially, cancer will occur, according to this study."
"If you want to know how much sugar, in added sugar, you should take in per day...it's less than one 12-ounce can of soda. One 12-ounce can of soda has 39 grams. Women should not take in more than 25 grams, and men, not more than 37.5 grams," says Sothern.
So, you might want to swap your sugary drink out for an artificially sweetened one, and limit your consumption. But water is the best and healthiest choice, and could contribute to longevity.