Study Links Popular Childhood Beverages to Higher Blood Pressure in Adulthood

That daily soda or even too much fruit juice in childhood could affect your heart years later.

A new study published in Circulation suggests that children who regularly drink sugary beverages or large amounts of fruit juice may have a higher risk of developing high blood pressure as adults.

Researchers followed more than 25,000 participants from childhood for up to 25 years. They tracked how often participants drank sugary beverages, fruit juice, and ate whole fruits, then looked at who later developed high blood pressure.

The results showed that people who drank two or more sugary drinks every day had a 52% higher risk of developing high blood pressure compared with those who drank fewer than three servings a week. Different drinks showed different risks. Every daily serving of soda was linked to a 23% higher risk, while each daily serving of sports drinks increased the risk by 36%.

Fruit juice also showed an effect when consumed in large amounts. People who drank 1.5 or more glasses of fruit juice daily had a 35% higher risk of high blood pressure than those who drank it less than once a week. Researchers noted that moderate amounts of 100% fruit juice are generally considered acceptable, but drinking large quantities may not be beneficial.

On the other hand, whole fruits appeared to protect heart health. Replacing one daily serving of a sugary drink with whole fruit was associated with a 22% lower risk of high blood pressure. Replacing fruit juice with whole fruit reduced the risk by 19%.

Because this was an observational study, it cannot prove that sugary drinks or fruit juice directly caused high blood pressure. However, researchers say the findings highlight the importance of building healthy drinking habits early in life and choosing whole fruits over sugary beverages whenever possible.

REFERENCE: Michelle Nguyen, Hala B. AlEssa, Andrea J. Glenn, Deirdre K. Tobias, Jorge E. Chavarro, Walter C. Willett, Frank B. Hu, Anthony J. Hanley, Catherine S. Birken, John L. Sievenpiper, Vasanti S. Malik. Consumption of Fructose-Containing Food and Beverage Sources in Childhood Through to Adulthood and Risk of Hypertension: A Prospective Cohort Study. Circulation, 2026; DOI: 10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.125.077666