One common drink can have a huge impact on your wellbeing (Image: Olelole via Getty Images)
A heart surgeon has branded one of the world’s most popular drinks as “liquid death”, insisting that people simply should not consume it “period”. Dr Jeremy London holds board certification in general surgery, vascular surgery and thoracic surgery, and frequently shares medical advice through social media and interviews.
He is not the only medical professional raising concerns about the serious health consequences soft drinks can inflict on your wellbeing. In an Instagram post, Dr London set out “four things I absolutely avoid as a heart surgeon”. These included smoking, alcohol, breads and pastas, and soft drinks, reports the Mirror.
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He said: “Number one, smoking: no question the single worst thing you can do for your entire body. Destroys your lungs, causes lung cancer, high cardiovascular risks, heart attacks and strokes. Don’t smoke.”
Alcohol came second on his list. He said: “Hate to break it to you [but it’s] toxic. Toxic to every cell in your body. Your body, your rules, you decide for yourself. For me personally, removing alcohol from my life has probably been one of the most transformative decisions I’ve made as an adult.”
Soft drinks came third on his list. He said: “Liquid death. Just don’t drink them. Period. Done.”
Dr WIlliam Li (right), pictured here on an appearance on Good Morning America, also says the high consumption of soft drinks is linked to several serious illnesses (Image: Getty)
Concluding his recommendations, Dr London said: “Avoid breads and pastas. Avoid the refined flours and wheats. Eighty percent of weight control is diet, 20% is exercise. I guarantee you can out-eat any exercise that you do.”
During a follow-up interview with Today, Dr London remained resolute in his position on soft drinks (frequently referred to as fizzy drinks), though he acknowledged that labelling them as “liquid death” was intended to capture attention: “I think that soft drinks are just a scourge in our society, and so I was really trying to get some attention.
“Obviously, high-calorie soft drinks and ingesting a lot of calories that people don’t realise they’re getting with the sugar-based soft drinks is a big no-no.”
Fizzy drinks are “liquid death” and should be avoided (Image: Tfilm via Getty Images)
However, he is not the only prominent medical expert who believes fizzy drinks present a more serious health risk than most people recognise.
Dr William Li recently told the Zoe podcast: “Soda is everyone’s favourite whipping boy. Rightfully so. The preponderance of clinical evidence, public health evidence, shows that high consumption of soda is associated with everything from metabolic disease to cardiovascular disease to cancer risk.
“But is it the sugar? Is glucose that demonic element that we need to crucify? Answer’s no. Soda is not just water, otherwise that’d be just carbonated water. But soda itself has all these additives, colours, flavourings, preservatives, stabilisers… that is accumulated exposure to toxins. It’s not one exposure, it’s the chronic exposure over time.”
According to the NHS, children should avoid sugary fizzy drinks, squash and juice drinks completely as they can damage their teeth. Meanwhile, children who drink a lot of sugary drinks are more likely to become overweight.
Instead, they recommend swapping sugary drinks for diet, sugar-free or no-added-sugar drinks. Even better, stick to water to stay hydrated.
