Do you enjoy drinking sugar-sweetened beverages such as soft drinks, fruit drinks, sports drinks, energy/vitamin waters, sweetened iced tea, punch, or lemonade? If so, then you may change your habits after hearing these results found in a study published in 2010 by Vasanti S. Malik with the Harvard School of Public Health and colleagues. They concluded that higher consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages is associated with development of weight gain, type 2 diabetes, and metabolic syndrome! The risks for developing type 2 diabetes was 26% higher and the risk for developing metabolic syndrome was 20% higher in those with intake of 1-2 servings a day of sugar-sweetened beverages compared to those with intake of none or less than 1 serving a month of sugar-sweetened beverages. Due to the high levels of rapidly absorbable carbohydrates from added sugars and the large volumes consumed, drinking these beverages may lead to weight gain due to their high added sugar content and low satiety possibility, type 2 diabetes due to increasing blood glucose and insulin concentrations, and metabolic syndrome due to alterating taste preferences and diet quality from routine intake of highly sweetened beverages. Therefore, change your beverage choice to water!