Gulp! Another Reason to Can Cola Cravings :

It’s three in the afternoon, the yawns have started, and bleary-eyed I wander like a sugar zombie from my cubicle to search for the only thing that can help me slog through the rest of the afternoon. It’s time to get extreme with some serious caffeine; it’s time to “Do the Dew.”

I pop the top and hear the sweet fizz of my favorite sugary soda. I pull a Popeye -- squeezing every last drop from the can and slamming my soda in one fell swoop. I’m instantly energized and ready to finish my day with a new found fervor .

I break-dance back to my desk and find an email about a new finding on sodas that totally harshes my buzz.

“1 Daily Soda May Boost Heart Disease,” reads the WebMD headline.

Could my afternoon Dew be jeopardizing my life, one little12-ounce can at a time?

That appears to be the case, according to a recent study published in the American Heart Association's journal Circulation. Those of us with a “soda habit” have an increased risk of developing metabolic syndrome, which tends to be a precursor to heart disease and diabetes.The research is pretty clear that excessive soda slurping is not healthy. The large quantities of sugar in soda can increase insulin levels in the blood, which over time can lead to Type 2 diabetes, as well as high blood pressure, heart disease and weight gain .

Additionally, phosphoric acid found in many sodas inhibits the proper absorption of calcium which can weaken bones and teeth, which may explain why Americans have the highest incidence of osteoporosis in the world.

An analysis of 88 separate soda studies found that those who got extra “liquid calories” from sodas did not eat less , and gained more weight than their soda-skipping counterparts.

"We found quite a clear association between soft drink intake and taking in more calories," according to study coauthor and research director at the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at Yale University, Marlene B. Schwartz, PhD.

Schwartz goes on to explain that people don’t eat less because they are drinking soda instead of water, so they’re not compensating for the excess calories .

But is just one soda per day that bad?

"Even one soda per day increases your risk of developing metabolic syndrome by about 50 percent," according to Ramachandran Vasan, MD, senior author of the new study and a professor of medicine at Boston University School of Medicine.

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