Do You Know Drinking Soda After Exercise Could Damage Your Kidneys

The consumption of soft drinks is being highly criticized, it seems clear that they play a fundamental role in the increase in overweight and obesity , and the higher incidence of diabetes around the world, but this new study adds another health risk to the consumption of soft drinks. soft drinks, especially if they are taken after playing sports, when you may think that you have already met your healthy and calorie-burning goal and you can allow yourself the indulgence of drinking your favorite soft drink.

Do You Know Drinking Soda After Exercise Could Damage Your Kidneys?

Be careful, drinking soda after exercise could damage your kidneys.

Drinking a cool soft drink after an intense workout in hot conditions, in which we have sweated and are thirsty, may be what we most want to cool down, but the latest research warns that it is better not to do it, soft drinks can cause more dehydration and interfere with kidney function.

Researchers at the University at Buffalo in New York recently evaluated the impact of soft drinks on kidney health when consumed during and after physical exertion. Their findings have been published in the American Journal of Physiology: Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology.⁽¹⁾

A bad combination: exercise, heat, sweat, kidneys and soft drinks

When we exercise in a hot environment, blood flow through the kidneys is reduced. This helps regulate blood pressure and conserve water. It is a normal response and does not cause harm. However, in clinical settings, a pronounced drop in blood flow through the kidneys can cause acute kidney injury (AKI) due to the accompanying decrease in oxygen delivery to the tissues.

Previous studies have shown that exercise, in general, but particularly at higher temperatures, increases biomarkers of acute kidney injury (AKI). At the same time, research also indicates that consumption of a high-fructose soft drink increases the risk of this kidney injury in rats suffering from dehydration.

Be careful, drinking soda after exercise could damage your kidneys

The authors of the present study brought together these two lines of research. As they explain:

“The purpose of our study was to test the hypothesis that consuming a soft drink during and after exercise in the heat elevates biomarkers of AKI, compared to a control trial of water.”

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After an intense workout, it is quite common for people to drink soda. Likewise, people who do manual labor in hot environments often surrender. It is important to understand whether this behavior can have negative consequences for kidney health.

To investigate, the researchers recruited 12 healthy, fit adults with an average age of 24 years.

Participants completed 30 minutes on the treadmill, then another 15 minutes doing three tasks designed to mimic physical work on an agricultural site.

After this 45-minute increase in activity, participants relaxed for 15 minutes. The research team provided each participant with 16 ounces of a citrus-flavored soft drink or water, high in fructose and caffeine. They repeated this 1-hour cycle a total of four times.

At least 1 week later, participants returned and performed the 4-hour routine one more time. This time, those who drank the soda in the first trial received water and vice versa.

Be careful, drinking soda after exercise could damage your kidneys.

The Effect of Soft Drinks.

• Before, immediately after and 24 hours after the session, the scientists measured a range of parameters, including heart rate, core body temperature, body weight and blood pressure.
• Importantly, they also looked for increased blood creatinine levels and reduced glomerular filtration rate, both of which are markers of AKI. As expected, in participants who had recently consumed the soft drinks, both markers were present.
• Additionally, participants in the soda trial were shown to be slightly dehydrated and have higher levels of vasopressin, an antidiuretic hormone that increases blood pressure. The authors conclude:
• Critics of the study comment that this study has few participants, and that it should be repeated with a larger group. Additionally, the authors comment that: “further work will be needed to discern the long-term effects of soft drink consumption during exercise in the heat and its relationship to kidney disease risk.”

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