Telomeres protect your cells, so the longer your telomeres, the better. As we get older, the shorter they become as a natural process. In 2014, researchers looked at a group of people who regularly consumed 20 ounces (600 mlL) or more of soda daily. The study, was published in the American Journal of Public Health reported that the soda drinkers’ telomeres shortened much more quickly than the norm – the equivalent of more than four and one-half years in addition to the normal aging that would take place over the course of a year.
The subjects of the study included only healthy adults with no history of diabetes or cardiovascular disease. The authors recommended that additional research (as it always does in diet studies) may have linkage between diet and disease.
It’s important to examine the pathways from “soda” to cell” including telomeres and their role in aging as well as understanding them might improve risk factors for cardio metabolic disease, one of the major associations of diet and heart disease. Please search for telomeres in the blog (that have some interesting diagrams of telomeres and their structures.
Source: You Are What Your Grandparents Ate. Nutrition, Experience, Epigenetics, & the Origins of Chronic Disease Judith Finlayson 2019.
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