Just one can of soda a day increases risk of heart failure by 23%

You need to start avoiding your favourite soda pop as a team of researchers has warned that drinking more than one a day will increase risk of cardiovascular disease.

Bad news, soda lovers. Its time to cut down on sugary drinks as a team of researchers says that drinking over one fizzy beverage a day will lead to heart- related problems.

Drinking just one can of fizzy drink a day can raise your risk of heart failure by 23 percent, the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm study says, the Mirror reported.

A further analysis, excluding people diagnosed with heart failure in the first five years, showed the link still held true.

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The researchers warned that because it was an observational study, no conclusion could be drawn to say sweetened drinks definitely caused heart failure.

Regular consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages could lead to weight gain because the liquid calories are not filling, and so people don’t reduce their food intake at subsequent meals.

They stressed that the study only involved older white men and the findings may not be applicable to younger age groups, women or certain ethnic groups.

In an accompanying editorial, Spanish professors Miguel Martinez-Gonzalez and Miguel Ruiz-Canela said people who drink a lot of sweetened drinks often have a poor diet overall, which is more of a determinant of ill-health than any one component.

The study appears in the journal Heart.