A new study has some bad news for heavy soda drinkers. Those who drink two or more glasses of soda or soft drink per day face a higher risk of death than those who drink less than one glass per month.

The study, published in journal JAMA Internal Medicine, followed more than 450,000 people in 10 European countries for 19 years. It found that men and women who consumed total, sugar-sweetened, and artificially sweetened soft drinks were "associated with a higher risk of all-cause mortality." 


Diet soda drinkers were linked to deaths from circulatory diseases, and those who drank sugar-sweetened sodas were linked to deadly digestive diseases. 

"Experimental evidence suggests that high blood sugar and high sugar intake can impair the gut barrier, leading to a ‘leaky gut’ and access to the gut immune system causing intestinal inflammation, alter gut microbiota, and increase susceptibility to gut infections," Dr. Sharon Horesh Bergquist, an assistant professor of medicine at Emory School of Medicine in Atlanta, told CNN. "These pathways may increase susceptibility to digestive diseases."

The study noted that none of the subjects had cancer, diabetes, heart disease or stroke before the research began. 

As a whole, the study also linked soft drink consumption to an increased risk for Parkinson's disease, but not with Alzheimer's disease or cancer.