This is the shocking reality of what guzzling Coca-Cola does to your penis
Researchers have found the soft drink could have devastating effects downstairs
WHETHER it's because they cause weight gain, tooth decay or sugar addiction, health experts have been warning us of the dangers of drinking too much coke for years.
But despite warnings, we just can't seem to resist the stuff - with the British Soft Drinks Association reporting that 55 per cent of fizzy drinks sold in 2014 were cola.
However, this potential consequence could put you off for good - if you're a man, that is - as scientists have revealed that drinking one litre of cola per day could reduce sperm count by up to a shocking 30 per cent.
In a study of 2,554 young men, researchers at Copenhagen University Hospital in Denmark found that knocking back cans of coke in large quantities - anything from one litre per day - can have a dramatic effect on a man's swimmers, with cola addicts indicating a sperm count of 35 million per millilitre, compared with 56 million per millilitre in moderate consumers.
And even though that's still within the normal range, a reduced sperm count raises the risk of eventually becoming infertile.
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The researchers concluded that there was no link between caffeine consumed in other drinks such as coffee and tea - leading them to believe it could be a unique ingredient in cola causing the problem, or the result of unhealthy lifestyle habits more generally.
However, a different study highlights that excessive cola consumption can cause other problems downstairs - as scientists from Nicolaus Copernicus University and the Prof. Franciszek Łukaszczyk Memorial Hospital in Bydgoszcz, Poland, found that it is linked with the development of erectile dysfunction.
The study noted that while getting it up is a complex process which relies on a number of physical and psychological processes, the sweetener used in many fizzy drinks, high fructose corn syrup, can damage the arteries in the penis. Meanwhile, the researchers also identified visceral fat deposition - in other words, belly fat - caused by unhealthy diet habits such as drinking cola is a also key risk factor for not being able keep it up.
So although having a can of coke every once in a while won't cause major damage, if you're regularly sipping on the sweet stuff it probably wouldn't hurt to make the switch to water.