Sweet drinks may raise your blood pressure. Photo: Getty Images, David McNew
It hasn't been a good time for the makers of sweet fizzy drinks lately - and perhaps the people who drink them too. A recent survey, for instance, suggested fizzy drinks of the diet variety could lead to heart problems. Meanwhile campaigners in the US are calling for a ban on a certain type of brown colouring that's used in several popular brands of cola because it's been linked to cancer.
And if that hasn't made you think carefully before tugging on that ring-pull, here's another study that might. According to researchers from Imperial College London, sugary drinks such as non-diet fizzies and sweetened fruit juice could increase your blood pressure.
Writing in the journal Hypertension, the researchers claim their study - which involved almost 2,700 people in the UK and the US - suggests for every extra sugary drink you have per day there could be a small but significant rise in your blood pressure.
But it might not be the drinks themselves that are causing the problem, since the researchers admit they also discovered people who drink lots of sugary drinks also eat a lot of salt - and eating too much salt is a well-known cause of high blood pressure. Sugary drinks fans tend to have generally unhealthier diets too, the researchers claim.
"Aside from blood pressure, we do know sugary drinks will add extra calories to our diets and excess calories can lead to obesity, a major risk factor for heart disease," says BHF senior dietitian Victoria Taylor, who adds the research doesn't show why there's a link between sugary drinks and high blood pressure.
Are you seriously considering giving up your cola habit?