Sugary drinks linked to ageing cells in new study

A link between the consumption of sugary drinks and the ageing of cells has been discovered in a new study by researchers at the University of California.

The study focused on telomeres, the protective caps on DNA which act as "a kind of genetic ticking clock", according to The Guardian's Azeen Ghorayshi.

It found that people who regularly consume drinks with high amounts of sugar had significantly shorter telomeres than those who did not.

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Shorter telomeres are associated with a shorter life, geneticists at the University of Utah discovered in an earlier study. They are also associated with chronic age-related diseases such as heart disease and some forms of cancer.

The consumption of roughly two cans of sugary drinks a day has been linked to 4.6 years of biological ageing, leading Professor Elissa Epel, one of the study's authors, to suggest that fizzy drinks may be "one of the invisible culprits" of such diseases.

"Regular consumption of sugar-sweetened sodas might influence disease development, not only by straining the body's metabolic control of sugars but also through accelerated cellular ageing of tissues," said Epel.

Drinking sugary beverages is already known to be a significant contributor to obesity and other health problems, but this is the first time researchers have made a link with ageing DNA. Professor Epel stressed however, that the results show an association between the two factors and do not prove that the consumption of sugary drinks causes cell ageing.

David Jacobs, a professor of public health and epidemiology at the University of Minnesota, said the while the results were "interesting", a longer-term study would be needed to improve the accuracy of the findings.