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You might want to possibly rethink gulping down bubbly soft drinks. Why? Because drinking these beverages could shorten your lifespan states a University of California study, according to the New York Daily News.

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Researchers at the school discovered that Telomeres, the protective units of DNA that cap cell chromosomes, were actually shorter in study participants who admitted to being soda drinkers. The length of Telomeres within white blood cells are associated with human lifespan.

Shorter Telomeres are connected to such chronic health compromisers as heart disease, diabetes, and some types of cancer.

Elissa Epel, Ph.D., professor of psychiatry at USCF and head clinician of the study contends, “This is the first demonstration that soda is associated with telomere shortness,” Epel said. “This finding held regardless of age, race, income, and education level. Telomere shortening starts long before disease onset.  Further, although we only studied adults here, it is possible that soda consumption is associated with telomere shortening in children as well.”

As a matter of fact, based on the way telomere length shortens on average with chronological age, the UCSF researchers calculated that daily consumption of a 20-ounce soda was associated with 4.6 years of additional biological aging.  The average soda drinker in the study admitted to consuming at least 20-ounces of the beverage every day.

Sugar-laden soft drinks and their damaging effects on health have been the focus of those health advocates who have rallied around law makers to make constructive moves to discourage the public from drinking these types of drinks that have been deemed detrimental to the body.