New research suggests that drinking even one sugar-sweetened beverage such as cool drink a day may be linked to a slightly greater risk of high blood pressure. Sugar sweetened beverages are include carbonated drinks, bottled fruit drinks, lemonade, and sports or energy drinks, etc. This study was published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, October 2015 issue.

Collated data from 6 separate studies that included over 2.4 lakh people. People who drank one or more sugary drink per day were found to have a 12% increase risk of high blood pressure than those who didn't drink sugary drinks. The serviing size varied between 200 to 300 ML among the 6 studies.

These sugary processed drinks are the main source of sugar that modern Indians consume. Bottled drinks are full of empty calories but don't fill you up like real food. People who love processed drinks can't cut down on extra calories by eating less food, which leads to weight gain, in turn raising blood pressure. Researchers also found that people who love sugar sweetened drinks also tend to have unhealthy eating habits and exercise less another possible explanation for the findings.

High blood pressure is linked to cardio vascular disease; stroke. While the focus so far has been on everyday coffee drinkers who may be at a bigger risk of high blood pressure, results from 2 Nurses Health studies show that even drinking one caffeinated cola drink every day carried a slightly higher risk of high blood pressure since it increases the symptoms of high blood pressure. On the other hand, participants in the study who were heavy coffee drinkers weren't at risk of developing high blood pressure. The Nurses Health studies followed around 155,000 women for 12 years.

It's common knowledge that coffee is bad for children, but children drink more sugar-sweetened drinks such as caffeinated colas, fruit drinks, etc. at increasingly younger ages. Not only do the extra calories in the sweetened drinks lead to obesity, but they may also now be contributors to heart problems and diabetes.