Sugar-sweetened beverages are a big source of added sugars for Americans. If you drink a can of soda every day and don’t trim calories elsewhere, in three years you’d be 15 pounds heavier. Putting on too much weight can lead to problems like diabetes and some cancers.
One in 10 Americans gets 1/4 or more of their daily calories from added sugar. If you eat that much, one study found that you’re more than twice as likely to die from heart disease than someone who gets less than half as much. It’s not clear why. It could be that the extra sugar raises your blood pressure or releases more fats into the bloodstream. Both can lead to heart attack, stroke, and other heart diseases.