Every gulp of cola might evoke memories of youth, but what it’s actually doing is stealing precious years from your adult life.

Research examining over 5,800 foods in the American diet discovered that consuming a fizzy drink could rob you of 12 minutes of a “healthy life.”

Researchers from The University of Michigan conducted an investigation that was published in the Nature Food journal. This comes after recommendations were made in October advising families to refrain from drinking coffee after 2 p.m.

The study also revealed that eating a hot dog might reduce one’s healthy lifespan by 36 minutes, whereas consuming a 1 oz serving of nuts and seeds could add 25 minutes.

“Vegetarian and vegan meals are now commonplace in the American diet, available from high-end restaurants to fast-food outlets. Many are aware that their dietary choices impact their health and the environment,” said the study’s lead researchers, Katerina Stylianou and Olivier Jolliet, as reported by The Conversation and the Mirror US.

Scientists assessed specific foods by their composition and determined their effect on health using data from the extensive Global Burden of Disease study.

The study also looked at the environmental impact of various foods through the IMPACT World+ approach, evaluating them throughout their entire life cycle, considering elements such as processing, manufacturing, preparation, consumption, and waste management.

Substituting just 10 percent of meat in your diet with vegetables could add 48 minutes to healthy living. The findings showed that swapping 10 percent of daily calories from beef and processed meats with whole grains, fruits, vegetables, nuts, legumes, and certain seafood varieties could enhance healthy living by 48 minutes per person daily.

The experts encourage people to incorporate more nutritionally valuable foods into their meals, including field-grown fruits, vegetables, nuts and environmentally-friendly seafood.

They also advise cutting back on heavily processed meat, beef, shrimp and greenhouse-cultivated vegetables.

“The urgency of dietary changes to improve human health and the environment is clear,” Jolliet said.

“Our findings demonstrate that small targeted substitutions offer a feasible and powerful strategy to achieve significant health and environmental benefits without requiring dramatic dietary shifts.”