According to New research provides further evidence of the harms of consuming too many sweetened beverages, after linking soda and other fructose-containing products with increased risk of liver disease.

Senior investigator Dr. Valerio Nobili, of the Bambino Gesù Hospital in Italy, and colleagues recently reported their findings in the Journal of Hematology.

For this latest study, Dr. Nobili and team set out to investigate whether fructose and uric acid might be independently associated with NASH.

"Numerous studies have shown that high uric acid levels are associated with metabolic syndrome and NAFLD, but to date, to the best of our knowledge, no studies have tested the independence of associations among uric acid concentrations, fructose consumption, and NASH confirmed by biopsy," notes Dr. Nobili.

Using these data, the team calculated the participants' dietary fructose intake. They found that soda and other sweetened drinks were a major source of fructose; almost 90 percent of subjects reported drinking soda and other sweetened beverages at least once weekly.—Radio Pakistan