Drinking soda changes how your body absorbs sugar from all food

Bye-bye, sugar high.

A new study suggests drinking soda may be even worse for the body than previously thought.

A team of scientists from the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research has found that regularly consuming sweet drinks like sodas and flavored teas triggers a troubling adaptation in the body, effectively causing the intestines to prioritize the absorption of sugar over other nutrients.

Researchers have coined this troubling phenomenon “molecular addiction,” and their findings suggest our dangerous dietary habits can rewire our metabolisms.

This latest study, published in the Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry, focused specifically on moderate sucrose consumption.

For three months, lab mice were fed either regular water or water that contained 10% table sugar, about the same amount found in commercial sodas.

Researchers analyzed the metabolic changes in both test groups and found that mice given sucrose, or table sugar, developed insulin resistance and glucose intolerance.

Sugar, sugar everywhere

What’s more, the intestines adapted to enhance sugar absorption — meaning they absorbed more sugar from all foods, not just the soda.

Researchers observed a spike in the proteins that transfer sugar from the intestine to the bloodstream, which resulted in the mice getting maximum sugar from everything consumed.

The mice’s “soda” consumption was also shown to change the way both the liver and muscles of the mice functioned, which researchers believe could worsen metabolic diseases like diabetes and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD).

Losing nutrients

The intestines typically process lots of different nutrients, including proteins, fats and carbohydrates.

But drinking a lot of sugar disrupts this balance, increasing sugar transporters while decreasing transporters that carry proteins and fat.

This suggests that having a lot of sugar in your diet not only adds calories, but it also compromises the body’s ability to absorb and utilize essential nutrients.

Researchers believe this explains why, despite it being calorie-dense, excessive sugar often leads to cravings — and cutting out the soda can be such a struggle for so many.

These findings suggest a healthier approach to eating may be doubly difficult, requiring folks to overcome both psychological and physiological hurdles.

These findings further illustrate why liquid sugar does more damage to the body than sugar found in solid foods.

Whole foods contain fiber and other components that slow the body’s absorption of sugar, while sugar in beverages has no such barrier, leading to a rapid spike in blood sugar that can trigger these problematic intestinal adaptations.

The team concluded that consuming sugar-sweetened beverages “causes intestinal ‘molecular addiction’ for deregulated absorption of hexose-sugars, and drives diseases such as diabetes and obesity.”

In the United States nearly half of adults drink at least one sugary beverage per day, a habit that could lead them to an early grave.

Last year, the American Heart Association backed a study that found both sugar- and artificially-sweetened beverages can increase the risk of irregular heartbeat, known medically as atrial fibrillation or “AFib,” by up to 20%, a condition can increase the risk of stroke by fivefold.

According to a 2024 study, drinking just two 12-ounce cans of soda per week can effectively erase the heart health gains made during exercise.

Meanwhile, last month, researchers at the University of Michigan found you effectively shave 12 minutes off your lifespan every time you reach for your favorite soft drink.