08/31/2026
At Rhythm Medical, we believe small daily choices shape long-term health — and recent research on even modest soda consumption and liver disease risk is a perfect example.
We help patients understand how everyday habits, from sugary drinks to hidden dietary sugars, can quietly impact liver function over time. We work with you to build sustainable, practical swaps — like trading soda for water or unsweetened alternatives — that support long-term liver and metabolic health.
Because at Rhythm Medical, prevention isn’t just a philosophy; it’s part of every treatment plan.
A study in the Health Workers Cohort Study (published in Annals of Hepatology) followed Mexican Social Security Institute employees and their relatives, tracking them from the mid-2000s through 2016-2018. Researchers looked at how much soda people drank and compared it to their risk of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) — now more commonly called MASLD.
Key finding: Drinking less than one can of soda a day was still linked with higher rates of liver dysfunction — a smaller amount than many people would consider a “real” soda habit. Soda intake was sorted into three buckets: under 1 serving/week, 1–3.5 servings/week, and 3.5+ servings/week, and liver disease risk was assessed using a hepatic steatosis index calculated from liver enzyme levels and BMI.
This isn’t an isolated finding. A separate, larger UK Biobank study (~124,000 people) presented more recently found similar or even higher risk from diet soda specifically — as little as one diet soda a day was linked to a 60% higher risk of NAFLD, versus 50% for sugary soda, and swapping soda for water lowered risk by roughly 13-15%.
Even modest soda habits — regular or diet — may be worth reconsidering for liver health, and water is the safer default.
