This is how many minutes of your life you lose every time you have a fizzy drink

A study has looked into how many minutes 'of healthy life is gained or lost' by the food and drinks we consume on a regular basis.

And it's not good news if you like your fizzy drinks, according to a 2021 study by researchers from the University of Michigan.

Professor Oliver Jolliet and Katerina S. Stylianou explained to The Conversation that they 'combined 15 nutritional health-based dietary risk factors with 18 environmental indicators to evaluate, classify and prioritise more than 5,800 individual foods'.

They found that every time a person consumes a hotdog, they are likely to lose 36 minutes of 'healthy' life.

"In comparison, we found that eating a serving size of 30 grams of nuts and seeds provides a gain of 25 minutes of healthy life," the authors wrote.

"That is, an increase in good-quality and disease-free life expectancy."

The study looked into the 'marginal health effects in minutes of healthy life gained or lost of 5,853 foods in the US diet' (Getty Stock Images)

When it came to 'sugar sweetened beverages', however, they can shorten life by a whopping 12 minutes.

Cancer Council states that there are about '16 packs of sugar in a 600ml bottle of regular soft drink'.

And although the sugar itself doesn't increase your cancer risk directly, being overweight and obese 'are known risk factors for bowel, breast, pancreatic and other cancers'.

I think everyone knows that drinking too many fizzy drinks isn't good for you (Getty Stock Images)

But it isn't all doom and gloom as the study also noted that by 'substituting only 10 percent of daily caloric intake of beef and processed meats for a diverse mix of whole grains, fruits, vegetables, nuts, legumes and select seafood add 48 healthy minutes of life per day'.

A banana can provide 13 and a half minutes of life, while baked salmon gives another 16 minutes.

With that said, the researchers also mentioned various limitations of their study.

The over consumption of processed food is linked to several health risk (Getty Stock Images)

One, in particular, meant that they were unable to 'differentiate within the same food group, such as the health benefits of a watermelon versus an apple'.

They also acknowledged that 'one cannot live forever by just increasing fruit consumption' and that 'individual foods always need to be considered within the context of one’s individual diet'.

The key takeaway from the study is that making small changes to your diet, such as eating less processed foods, can be beneficial for your overall gut microbiome.

That's especially important because studies have shown that a diet heavy in ultra-processed foods can lead to an increased risk of obesity, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, certain cancers and mental health issues.

"It was encouraging to see how small, targeted changes could make such a meaningful difference for both health and environmental sustainability – one meal at a time," they added.