Just one soda a day can increase the risk of male pattern baldness

One less soda a day could prevent hair loss.

AND new study suggests that drinking your favorite pop could increase your chances of going bald.

Researchers at Tsinghua University in Beijing found that those who drank just one soda a day had a 57% higher risk of male pattern hair loss compared to those who avoided sodas.

Specifically, they analyzed the consumption of “sugar-sweetened beverages,” referred to in the study as SSBs, and hypothesized the likelihood that any high-sugar beverage could contribute to the condition. With the possible exception of diet soda, other sugary drinks, including sports drinks, sweetened coffee and tea, should be removed from the table if you want to keep your hair.

Data shows that half of men typically lose hair by the age of 50, and 25% of balding men notice the first signs of hair loss before the age of 21, according to data Cleveland Clinic.

Scientists have been searching for an effective treatment for hair loss for a long time, trying everything from tablets twice a day old-fashioned minoxidil, the active ingredient in Hold on and Rogaine. One team of Japanese researchers he even grew a hair follicle in a petri dish earlier this year — the first step toward developing a regenerative hair growth treatment.

But the recent progress could be for naught if people continue to guzzle soda. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention63% of adults aged 18 and over drink at least one sugary drink a day.

This latest study, published in the journal Nutrients, looked for links between sugary drink consumption and hair loss in a male sample, in a self-reported survey of 1,028 men, ages 18 to 45, located in China.

The participants answered questions about previous baldness, their eating habits and whether they have psychological problems. They were also asked how often they consumed certain foods and drinks – specifically soft drinks and sugary soft drinks.

This found a “significant association” between heavy consumption of sugary drinks and hair loss in men.

The researchers observed the highest intake of sugar-sweetened beverages among the youngest men surveyed and believed this was a result of “unawareness of the harm” of sugary drinks.

“Chronic illness and death are so vague and distant for young people that they are unwilling to give up the pleasures of SSBs for long-term health goals,” the authors wrote.

The researchers further concluded that consuming sugary drinks one to three times a week increased the risk of hair loss by 21%, while consuming four to seven sugary drinks increased the risk to 26%.

In addition to hair loss, they found a link between sugary drink intake and psychological health – potentially fueling a vicious cycle of depression and anxiety that worsens with hair loss.

In their analysis, the researchers found that people who consumed three sodas a day had about a 25% higher risk of depression. They also found that the simple sugars in such drinks were linked to increased anxiety among the 45-year-old study participants.

The scientists’ findings are correlative, meaning they can’t be sure that soda causes hair loss—only that soda drinkers lose hair more often.

This potential link between poor diet and baldness is not the first of its kind, however, as other researchers have analyzed effects of salt and a receding hairline. Some researchers have touted a healthy diet and a variety of vitamins and minerals as the holy grail for preventing hair loss, but it remains unclear whether eating clean foods is really the be-all and end-all.

It seems the Beijing researchers didn’t think so. They found no protective properties of a healthy diet, but called for additional studies to confirm their results.