When it comes to being healthy, soda has about zero positive attributes. But new research shows that some of the drink's negative effects can be offset if you move around more.
A new study led by Amy Bidwell, a former researcher at Syracuse University, found that fructose, the common form of sugar in sodas, has less of a health risk in people who are physically active even if they don't formally exercise.
Drinking soda regularly can lead to obesity, diabetes, poor cholesterol and other health complications. After the liver metabolizes it, fructose transforms into fatty acids that enter the bloodstream and increases blood sugar levels.
Published in the Medicine & Science in Sports & Science and The European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Dr. Bidwell analyzed data from 22 healthy, men and women in their early 20s who agreed to drink two servings of lemon-lime soda that contained 75 grams of fructose.
Researchers observed the bodies' response to the fructose intake, and recorded the participant's blood sugar and insulin levels and other aspects of metabolic health. The participants were also asked to record their daily diet and use an activity monitor that measured their physical activity.
They were asked to reduce their calories by 250, the same amount as the two servings of soda, to prevent weight gain.
For a period of two weeks, 11 of the participants had to complete a goal of 6 miles, or 12,000 steps a day, twice as much as they normally moved. The other group was asked to complete as much physical activity as they typically would.
After the two weeks, both groups received a one-week break before switching groups—so that all participants moved—and completed another two weeks.
The group that was asked to complete 12,000 step a day "wiped out all the disagreeable changed wrought by the extra fructose."
The two-fold study found that moving around more could reverse some of the effects soda has on our health. The first portion of the study published in the May issue of Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise found that the healthy, young, college kids who drank two servings of soda each day (the typical amount Americans drink) and remained relatively inactive had increased cholesterol levels, significantly high amounts of low-density lipoproteins and a 116 percent increase of inflammation markers.
Published in The European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, the second portion of the study found that the control group who didn't move much also began to show signs of insulin resistance, the first step towards diabetes.
But both studies found the group who walked 12,000 steps each day wiped out the negative effects soda had on their health. Increased physical activity resulted in normal cholesterol and blood sugar levels.
"I don't want people to consider these results as a license to eat badly," Dr. Bidwell says.
The study found that the participants did not go out of their way to make workouts longer. Instead, they parked their cars further away or simple "sat less, moved more."
So take the stairs next time you pop the top of that can of coke.
