Selena Gomez Promotes Sugary Coke Ad Through Social Media

Selena Gomez Lupus
Photo credit: Aflo / Splash News

Selena Gomez, who has previously opened up about her lupus diagnosis, is promoting Coca-Cola. And the Gomez Coke ad makes the famous soft drink look, well, sexy.

The 23-year-old songstress recently posted an image of her holding a Coca-Cola with her lyrics on the bottle.

Images of Gomez promoting Coke may be good for business, but if Gomez is drinking the sugary stuff herself, it could potentially cause complications with her lupus. It was widely reported that Gomez entered rehab in 2014, but she later admitted that she took a break to undergo chemotherapy to treat lupus.

Since her treatments for lupus, Gomez has gone back on tour—but admits that living with lupus isn’t going to be easy. In her GQ interview she added, “I just have to be patient. It’s slowly dissolving the older I get. And I just have to be patient and make great things with quality, from producing to singing to acting. And one by one, I will be able to change the dialogue and people won’t care about everything that’s happened to me.”

Lupus Patients and Sugar

It may seem strange that someone living with lupus would promote Coke – especially since some experts suggest that lupus patients should avoid sugar, pasta, and bread.

Researchers at the University of Florida are trying to develop an experimental treatment that focuses on blocking sugar metabolism. Researchers found that white blood cells, known as CD4 T-cells, use nutrients—but in lupus they mainly use glucose.

This process has been shown to increase inflammation in the immune system, along with tissue destruction commonly found in lupus. The researchers found that when they blocked glucose with a common type 2 diabetes drug—metformin – the CD4 T-cells returned back to normal and lupus symptoms were reversed.

Although the findings of the study are promising, they have yet to undergo human clinical trials.

Potential Negative Effects of Coke and Other Sugary Drinks

Drinking sugary beverages may have several negative health effects. According to findings from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health:

  • Regular consumers of sugary beverages have a 26 percent higher risk of type 2 diabetes.
  • A study that followed 40,000 men for two decades found that those who consumed at least one sugary beverage a day had a 20 percent higher risk of having a heart attack or dying from a heart attack.

Although the Selena Gomez Coke ad looks great—if Gomez is looking out for her own health she will want to make sure she steers clear of sugary beverages.

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Bacardi, F., “Selena Gomez opens up about her stay in rehab and life with lupus,” E Online, http://www.eonline.com/news/756757/selena-gomez-opens-up-about-her-stay-in-rehab-and-life-with-lupus, last accessed July 12, 2016.
Lupus LA, “Nutrition and SLE,” Lupus LA, http://lupusla.org/nutrition-and-sle/, last accessed July 12, 2016.
“University of Florida researchers say experimental lupus treatment shows early promise,” Lupus Research Institute, http://www.lupusresearchinstitute.org/lupus-news/2016/01/26/university-florida-researchers-say-experimental-lupus-treatment-shows-early, last accessed July 12, 2016.
“The Nutrition Source: Soft Drinks and Disease,” Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/healthy-drinks/soft-drinks-and-disease/, last accessed July 12, 2016.
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