In a new study published in the journal Obesity, many soda brands contained more fructose levels than reported on the label. Americans drink on average over 50 gallons of soda a year, or the equivalent of 34 pounds of sugar.

Fructose is sweeter than glucose and is considered to be more damaging. According to the Corn Refiners Association, there are two ‘acceptable’ formulations for sugar. One formulation is 55 percent fructose and 45 percent glucose and the other contains 42 percent fructose and 58 percent glucose.

In the study conducted at the University of South California’s Keck School of Medicine, samples of Coke and Pepsi tested at 65 percent fructose, while Sprite had 64 percent. These combinations are within FDA standards, which allows a 20 percent variance on the amount of fructose, suggesting that 75 percent fructose is also allowable within current FDA standards.

The findings are relevant because researchers at the University of California Davis report in the Journal of Clinical Investigation that consuming too much fructose can actually put you at greater risk of developing heart disease and diabetes than ingesting similar amounts of glucose. via TIME

Earlier this week, Harvard researchers announced a major review of all work on diabetes, concluding that regular consumption of soda and other sugar-sweetened beverages is “associated with a clear and consistently greater risk of metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes.”

The announcement coincides with a government forecast that between one in three and one in five adult Americans will have diabetes by 2050.