It takes so many minutes of your life to drink 1 Cola, research shows
When we take a look into the world of cola, everything seems to be running smoothly there. For example, Coca-Cola recently introduced a new flavor. And not so long ago, a serious competitor for Coca-Cola and Pepsi was launched. All fun and well, but now it turns out that we should actually stop drinking cola altogether. At least not if we want to lead a long and happy life...
Research from the University of Michigan shows that every time you drink a glass of cola, you lose twelve minutes of your life. In short (and bluntly): for every glass of cola, you die 12 minutes earlier. Uh... Cheers?
MINUTES TO LOSE...
The researchers developed a Health Nutritional Index, which calculated how many minutes a healthy person gains or loses when a certain food is eaten for over 5800 food items. More specifically, they looked at marginal health effects: the small, extra changes in someone's health as a result of consuming a certain food. For cola, this means you lose 12 minutes of your life when you drink one glass. But it can be worse. If you eat a hotdog, you simply take away 36 minutes of your life.
And to think that 40% of American children believe that hotdogs, burgers, and bacon are vegetables...
... AND MINUTES TO GAIN
The products that take minutes off your life are all ultra-processed foods. We already know they are bad for us; they are full of additives, sugar, fat, and salt. But we also know that they disappear into our shopping cart bizarrely easily. The supermarket is indeed full of them.
Fortunately, the study also provides good news. There are also foods that can actually help you gain minutes of your life. If you eat a banana? Then add about 13.5 minutes to your life. With 30 grams of nuts, you even gain 26 minutes according to the research. And so you can do math in your head all day long – or you take it with a (small) grain of salt and try to enjoy a bit as well. After all, life is too short, right?
