The One Thing an Endocrinologist Is Begging You to Stop Doing In 2025

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 11.6% of the U.S. population has type 2 diabetes and an additional 38% of U.S. adults have pre-diabetes. Together, that’s half the population! What makes those statistics even more alarming is that people with type 2 diabetes have a reduced life expectancy, in large part because the disease increases their risk for heart disease and stroke.

Here’s what’s encouraging: Type 2 diabetes is largely preventable and, in some cases, even reversible. Want to lower your risk? There’s one action an endocrinologist recommends committing to in 2025.

Related: This Weird Change Is an Unexpected Sign of Diabetes Doctors Are Begging People to Pay Attention To

The One Habit an Endocrinologist Is Begging People to Stop Doing in 2025

“By far and away, the worst habit in America is the sugary drink habit,” Dr. Robert Lustig, MD, a professor of pediatrics in the Division of Endocrinology at the University of California, San Francisco, and a clinical researcher focusing on obesity and diabetes, told us.

This includes soft drinks like soda, but it’s not limited to that: There are also other types of drinks you may not have realized with loaded with sugar, including flavored coffees, energy drinks, many fruit juices and sweetened tea.

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“Sugar is the primary driver of diabetes, heart disease, fatty liver disease and tooth decay. Sugar is also implicated in cancer and dementia,” Dr. Lustig says. Scientific research backs this up: In one study, people who consumed soda at least five times a week were at a significantly increased risk for type 2 diabetes. Another study showed a strong link between sugary drink consumption and increased risk for cardiovascular disease, which is the No. 1 cause of death in the U.S. Research has also shown that consuming sugary drinks regularly increases the risk of stroke and dementia.

Why are sugary drinks so powerful in causing all these detrimental effects to happen? Dr. Lustig theorizes that sugar poisons mitochondria, which are small organisms found in every cell—and when mitochondria are damaged, it causes cells to die, because they can no longer produce enough energy.

Related: Craving Sugar? Here’s What Your Body Is Actually Trying To Tell You

How to Quit Sipping Sugary Drinks In 2025

Dr. Lustig understands that asking people to stop consuming sugary drinks regularly is a big request—it isn’t easy to give them up, in part because, he says, they’re addictive.

“Stopping an addictive habit is the single hardest thing to do,” he says.

His best advice? Tell the people you spend time with about your goal and why you’re doing it, asking for their support. That way, when your partner goes grocery shopping, they’ll know not to bring a case of soda home to tempt you. Or it may cause your friend to think twice about their drink order too whenever you meet up for meals—a healthy win for everyone! If you are a parent, remember that you are modeling behavior for your kids. If they see you go without soda, it shows that they can too.

Related: A ‘No Sugar Diet’ Can Be a Great Way to Lose Weight and Improve Energy, According to Nutritionists—Here’s How to Do It

Dr. Lustig also recommends staying out of places where you know you will be tempted. If you always get a soda and popcorn at movie theaters, this could mean watching movies at home instead. Similarly, if you can’t resist Starbucks’ sugary coffee drinks, it could mean making your own coffee and sweetening it with cinnamon instead, which (unlike sugar) lowers inflammation.

Another good move? “Addiction is broken at the point of sale. The grocery store is your drug den. Stay out of it. Order your groceries online,” Dr. Lustig advised.

The encouraging news is that consuming less sugar gets easier over time. Your body will stop craving it and you’ll find yourself thinking about it less. Remember, every time you don’t give in to having a sugary drink, you’re actively taking a step to lower your risk of many major health conditions including type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, stroke and dementia. That’s powerful! That soda will seem a lot less alluring when you think about what you can gain from skipping it.

Up Next:

Related: Does Sugar Cause Inflammation?

Sources

• Dr. Robert Lustig, MD, professor of pediatrics in the Division of Endocrinology at the University of California, San Francisco
• National Diabetes Statistics Report. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
• What is type 2 diabetes? Medicine. 2011
• Can Diabetes Be Reversed? UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine
• Regular consumption of soft drinks is associated with type 2 diabetes incidence in Mexican adults: findings from a prospective cohort study. Nutrition Journal. 2020
• The Impacts of Sugar-Sweetened Beverages (SSB) on Cardiovascular Health. Cureus. 2022
• Leading Causes of Death. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
• Sugar- and artificially-sweetened beverages in relation to stroke and dementia – Are soft drinks hard on the brain? Stroke. 2018
• Neurodegeneration: Exploring Commonalities Across Diseases: Workshop Summary. Mitochondrial Pathology.
• Sugar Habit Hacker: Initial evidence that a planning intervention reduces intake. Journal of Behavioral Addictions. 2021