Soft Drinks Hard on Liver

Okay, we now know that soda is crummy for your kidneys and poor for your pancreas, but a new study in Hepatology shows that high-fructose corn syrup -- found in most sodas -- is also lousy for your liver. Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, a condition that sometimes stems from obesity, sets the stage for worse liver conditions such as cirrhosis, liver cancer and liver failure. The Duke University liver study showed that subjects who consumed more fructose ran the same risks -- liver scarring and liver inflammation -- as heavy alcoholics. Here's a creepy tidbit: one of the lead hepatologists on the study estimated that high-fructose corn syrup now makes up 10% of our caloric intake after being introduced into our food in the 1970s. Egggh. {via Los Angeles Times' Booster Shots health blog}