The afternoon can adds up

That daily fizz feels harmless, but if the scale is creeping up, the drink in your hand is worth a second look. Here is what doctors and the research actually say.

Sugary drinks do not fill you

Sugar-sweetened sodas pile on calories without satisfying you, and they may even stimulate hunger so you eat more later.

“Large studies consistently link sugary drinks to weight gain”

A fast liquid sugar load

Internist Francesco Bajani, MD, calls regular soda's rapid sugar hit perhaps the single biggest driver of the diabetes epidemic.

“delivers a rapid liquid sugar load”

Each can raises diabetes risk

A major BMJ meta-analysis found every extra daily serving of a sugary drink raised type 2 diabetes risk by 18 percent.

Fructose lands in your liver

Your liver turns much of soda's fructose into fat, setting up fatty liver disease, higher triglycerides and heart trouble.

Diet soda is not a free pass

It kills a sweet craving with zero calories, and in a year-long University of Colorado study, dieters allowed sugar-free soft drinks lost three times more weight than water-only dieters.

But the belly fat catch

University of Texas research found older adults who drank more diet soda carried more belly fat, and the BMJ analysis tied each daily diet serving to an 8 percent higher diabetes risk.

A heart and stroke flag

Women's Health Initiative data on more than 81,000 older women linked heavy diet soda drinking to 23 percent higher stroke risk and 29 percent higher heart disease risk.

“I would recommend reducing both regular and diet soda and moving toward unsweetened drinks”

Prebiotic soda, a real step up

A Coke packs 39 grams of sugar, almost 10 teaspoons. Poppi and OLIPOP hold five grams or less plus fiber, so you skip the blood sugar swings that stall weight loss.

“Prebiotic sodas have five grams of sugar or less and contain beneficial fiber”

Stick to one can

OLIPOP carries about nine grams of fiber, Poppi about two. Dietitian Emily Spurlock caps it at one a day, since too much fiber at once means cramps, gas and bloating.

“I'd recommend people stick to one can a day”

Water wins by a mile

In a University of Nottingham study, women who drank only water lost 17 times more weight than dieters allowed diet soda, says nutrition researcher William Li, MD.

“women who just drank water lost 17 times more weight”

Three ways water works

Sixteen ounces spikes calorie burn 24 percent for an hour, drinking that much before meals helped dieters lose 44 percent more weight, and it feeds gut microbes that steady blood sugar.