Diet and sugary drinks raise risk of common liver disease by up to 60%, new research finds – CTV
October 06, 2025
Drinking as little as one can of diet soda a day may increase the risk of nonalcohol fatty liver disease by 60 per cent, while drinking a sugary beverage could raise the risk by 50 per cent, a new unpublished study found.
Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, or NAFLD, is a condition in which fat builds up in the liver of people who drink little to no alcohol. The damage can be similar to what’s seen in a heavy drinker and lead to cirrhosis — advanced scarring of the liver — as well as liver cancer.
The condition, which is also called metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease, or MASLD, is one of the leading causes of liver cancer. It’s estimated that NAFLD has increased by 50 per cent in the United States within the past three decades — today, some 38 per cent of the population has the condition.
“Sugar sweetened beverages (SSBs) have long been under scrutiny, while their ‘diet’ alternatives are often seen as the healthier choice,” said lead study author Lihe Liu, a graduate student in the department of gastroenterology at the First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, in Suzhou, China.
