A recent study found that kids who drink sodas or other sugar-sweetened beverages daily have an increased risk of developing high blood pressure as they get older.
Researchers from Harvard University and the University of Toronto looked at health data from over 25,000 people, including more than 1,600 who, after 25 years of observation, had high blood pressure.
They found that, compared with the participants who drank three or fewer servings of sugar-sweetened beverages every week, people who drank more than two servings daily a day had an elevated risk of high blood pressure.
In contrast, participants who replaced one serving of sugar-sweetened beverages with water, milk or whole fruit instead of juice decreased their risk of developing high blood pressure by 9% to 22%.
“Dietary habits in early life can have lasting health consequences,” said senior study author Vasanti Malik, adjunct assistant professor of nutrition at Harvard. “High blood pressure is also emerging earlier in life, with growing rates being seen in younger adults, in children and adolescents, which highlights the importance of early detection and prevention.”
The study was published in the journal Circulation.
