A new Israeli medical study found that soft drinks are not only bad for your teeth, but can also cause damage to your liver.
Researchers at the Ziv Medical Center in Safed compared patients suffering from fatty liver disease (steatosis hepatitis) to a control group of healthy people.
They discovered that 80% of those diagnosed with fatty liver drink more than half a liter of soft drinks every day, including carbonated beverages and sweetened juices, compared to only 17% of the control group.
"As opposed to ordinary sugar, the sugar found in soft drinks, called fructose, does not cause the body to produce insulin, and is therefore absorbed a hundred times faster and goes straight to the liver where it helps create fat cells," explained Dr. Nimer Assy, director of the Liver Unit at the hospital and a senior lecturer at the Technion's Faculty of Medicine.
According to Assy, people who drink more that half a liter of soft drinks a day are five times more likely to develop fatty liver compared to people who refrain from soft drinks.
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