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Why Soft Drinks Are So Fattening
Carbonated soft drinks are the single biggest source of calories in the North American
diet, accounting for about 7 percent of our daily calories. According to the Center for Science
in the Public Interest, teenagers get 13 percent of their calories from soft drinks. The average
American drinks upward of 50 gallons of soft drinks annually!
Apart from their water content, soft drinks are mainly refined sugar. Teens suck down the
equivalent of 15 teaspoons of refined sugar daily in sodas. That’s about the top end of
the carbohydrate limit that experts recommend for all foods combined in a day!
Soft drinks have been named as one of the leading causes of overweight and
obesity—along with Type 2 diabetes and other weight-related illnesses. They contain
high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS), which is toxic to the body, in particular the liver. HFCS
also causes profound fat accumulation and weight gain. This inexpensive sweetener is
dumped into soft drinks and is added to literally thousands of foods, from cookies and jams
to supersized muffins. It’s not merely the extra calories that make it such a nutritional
nightmare. There’s evidence that high-fructose corn syrup acts differently in the body
than regular sugar and may increase the risk of serious diseases. HFCS also causes
a rise in triglycerides, the blood fats that have been linked to heart disease. Animal studies
indicate that a high-fructose diet can trigger insulin resistance and excess levels of insulin.
Even without these dangers, the extra calories alone are a good enough reason to avoid it. In
1970, the average adult ate about half a pound of HFCS a year. Now that’s risen to about 70
pounds! Kids—with smaller bodies and a big thirst for sweets—chug down even more. It’s not
only the sugar that makes sodas a problem, but also what they replace in kids’ diets.
Children used to drink a lot more milk than soda. In the mid-1990s, the balance turned and
children were drinking twice as much soda as milk. At the same time, they began getting
lower amounts of vitamins and minerals in their diet.
Want to lose weight without trying? Give up (or cut back) the soft drinks. At 140 calories
per 12-ounce serving, you could easily lose half a pound a week (or more) by simply
switching to water, ice tea, or carbonated seltzer from the soft
drink fountain with just a dash of Sprite, 7-Up, or lemonade added for flavor. Here are some
other tips:
- Read food labels and limit your consumption of any beverages or foods that list HFCS
as one of the first three or four ingredients.
- Since corn syrup is the main ingredient in sodas, cutting back on them will make losing
weight much easier. Try to substitute seltzer or sparkling water with a squeeze of lemon
every once in a while (or more often, if you can).
- Go for smaller drink sizes. Those Big Gulp cups are belly-busters—and a sure path to
diabetes. If you must have bigger sized drinks, fill a Big Gulp cup halfway with club soda or
seltzer from the soda fountain and the other half with your favorite soft drink. You’ll be cutting
your calories by 50 percent.
Soft Drink Danger "Pancreatic Cancer"
Are you interested in contracting one of the deadliest cancers that is most
unresponsive to treatment? Yes, it is pancreatic cancer.
What about if served osteoporosis, heart disease, immune deficiency with a side of diabetes?
The good news is that now you can increase your chances of contracting these diseases,
while eating a delicious drink so acidic, which corrodes the lining of the digestive tract! All
this and might even make you fat while doing so. What is this miracle drink?
If you have not already guessed, I’m talking about soft drinks, soda, pop with poisonous gas
that we are hopelessly addicted with and considerable to deny their effects on our health.
While we still believe the disease just happens and has nothing to do with diet and lifestyle.
Cures come with a friendly smile of doctors; however, we ignore the real causes and still get
sick.
A study published in the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention found that
people who drink two or more soda per day increases their risk of pancreatic cancer
by 87%. The study includes over 60,000 men and women in Singapore Chinese Health over
14 years and found 140 of these patients had pancreatic cancer.
Sugar is the main culprit to blame. Research suggests that fructose causes pancreatic
cancer tumour cell multiplication and grows faster than sucrose. Pancreatic cancer tumour
cell fed both glucose and fructose in this study to have two types of sugar in different ways.
Although the tumor cells were found to thrive on glucose, fructose increases the rate of
multiplication.
And not only tumor cells prefer it, in cellular processes fructose also helps cancer cells to
use glucose and fructose more quickly. Since soft drinks are sweetened with high
fructose corn syrup, which contains more fructose than sugar does, it makes sense that the
pancreatic cancer cells would play a supportive environment to regular consumers of soft
drinks.
Interestingly, the study found that the pure fruit juice does not have the same effect on
the pancreas as the sugar sweetened drinks. According to Dr. Pereira it seems
reasonable to us because it is served in small doses, and has less sugar and is natural
sugar. Fruit juice does not increase blood glucose and insulin in the blood as much
as the soft drink does.
Back to current research - the author Mark Pereira of the University of Minnesota said: “The
high levels of sugar in soft drinks may be increasing the level of insulin in the body, which we
think contributes to pancreatic cancer cell growth.” Again, this makes sense. Eat sugar and
the pancreas will release insulin. By eating too much sugar something can go wrong in the
pancreas. Although some criticized the investigation, saying red meat, or smoking may be
responsible, but these factors are not directly related to the pancreas in the same way. There
is no evidence, but it says.
I do not think that anyone reading this article are really needing another reason to stop
drinking pops, but you can put it as a notch in the ‘cons’ column. And do not think you are
intelligent because you are drinking the diet versions. This is still poison, just another type of
poison that will kill you in a different way.
Why Drinking Soda is Bad for You
Soft drinks may taste great, but you'll find that no matter what brand you prefer, whether it
be Coca Cola, Pepsi, Mountain Dew, Sprite, Dr. Pepper, Root Beer, or Fanta, they'll tell you
that the drink is not a good source of fiber, Vitamin A, Vitamin C, calcium, or iron. When
you drink a soda, it is solely for its good taste.
There are many reasons why soda is not good for you, but remember that moderation will
always be the key. If you can find them, instead of buying the regular cans, buy the
small, half-sized cans of soda. You'll consume less sugars, caffeine, and carbonation.
This doesn't mean that the drink will be better or give you the excuse to drink more of the
small cans, it just means you'll consume less of the bad stuff.
First off, think about the ingredients:
* Carbonated water (plain water infused with carbon dioxide
* Caramel color (natural additive to create color)
* Natural flavors (often citrus flavors for added taste)
* Caffeine (diuretic and stimulate that can be addictive)
* Phosphoric acid (chemical that adds tangy or sour flavor by breaking down starch to
sugar)
* High-fructose corn syrup (no nutrition, lots of calories)
In a normal diet, you want to ingest as little sugars as possible, which is something that
you're not going to achieve by drinking a soda or two a day.
It's the Sugar
Because soft drinks contain no nutritional value, there's no health reason to drink them, but
there are many health reasons that one should not drink a soft drink. All sodas contain
caffeine, carbonation, and sugars (or sugar substitutes) that can be very harmful to your
health.
Studies show that soft drinks can lead to tooth decay, nutritional depletion, obesity, type 2
diabetes, and heart disease. These are the most common health problems that are
associated with heavy soft drink consumption, especially in children.
Soft drinks are packed with sugar, which is one of the main reason they are so bad for
you. It's recommended that you only have 10 teaspoons of sugars per 2,000 calories on a
daily basis, but one soft drink contains more than the allotted 10 teaspoons.
When this much sugar is consumed, your pancreas will produce and release more insulin,
which will empty the sugar in your bloodstream and dump it into your tissues and cells for
energy. This will raise your insulin levels, which can lead to your immune system
weakening, causing you to be more susceptible to disease.
Because the sugar is being dumped into your tissues and cells, the excess that your body
isn't able to burn up ends up being stored as fat, which causes weight gain. The weight gain
increase the risk of heart disease and cancer.
Studies show that there is an increased risk of breast cancer in rats when they consumed a
high-sugar diet. Although, the human body is a little different than a rat's, it is something to
keep in mind if you have breast cancer in your medical history.
It's the Carbonation
The carbonation and phospohic acid can decrease your blood calcium levels. Because
calcium is important to have healthy bones and muscles, you'll find that with less calcium in
the body, your bone mass and density will suffer. Soda and carbonated drinks will increase
your risk of osteoporosis.
Broken bones and bone fractures are also common when you have lowered bone density.
The more fragile your bones are, the higher your chance of an injury.
It's the Caffeine
Caffeinated beverages can be worse than all. First off, caffeine is a diuretic which can cause
you to become dehydrated if you're not careful; your kidneys will work harder to push out the
extra liquid in your body, which is slowly drying out your body.
Caffeine can also decrease the calcium in your body, as well as stimulate your central
nervous system, causing stress, a racing mind, insomnia, and the jitters.
Caffeine is very addictive, so when you drink more, you generally crave more over time. The
more caffeine you consume the more potential health problems you'll encounter.
Why Diet Soda is Bad for You
Artificial sugars, caffeine, phenylalanine, preservatives - diet sodas don't offer anything good,
and they may pose a health threat. You are likely already aware of the myriad of reasons
why soda is bad for you but you might wonder about diet soda. It seems logical that if you
cut out the calories in soda, then it shouldn't be
unhealthy. That, sadly, isn't the case. Calories aren't the only issue with sodas, and zero
calorie doesn't equal healthy. Dr Oz agrees, and has issued his 28-day National Soda
Challenge starting today to get the nation off soda and on health.
There is nothing good or nutritious in diet soda. Just as regular soda offers nothing but empty
calories, diet soda offers just plain nothing. Why waste your time and valuable stomach
space for no benefit when you could instead have skim milk, juice, or water. Calcium,
vitamins, and hydration area all much more important than a sweet fix.
According to livstrong.com, drinking just one diet soda a day can have health consequences.
Many diet sodas contain phenylalanine, an amino acid that can be dangerous to
those who suffer from phenylketonuria. If you have this disease, you shouldn't drink diet
sodas or many other protein-rich foods because the body cannot process phenylalanine.
The Mayo Clinic has said that artificial sweeteners can trigger increased sugar
cravings. Just as regular sodas can change the drinker's taste choices so that non-
sweetened foods seem bland, diet sodas can have the same effect. Dr. David S. Ludwig,
MD, PhD, a Harvard professor and Founding Director of the Optimal Weight for Life (OWL)
clinic at Children’s Hospital, Boston, says that diet sodas may be even worse because
artificial sweeteners are three times as sweet as natural sugars. They may encourage poor
food choices in other areas because the drinker feels they are saving on calories by having
diet soda.
Diet sodas still put your health at risk. Adults who drank just one or more a day may
face a higher risk of developing metabolic syndrome, type 2 diabetes, kidney stones
and chronic kidney disease, according to the Mayo Clinic. The Cleveland Clinic says
there is data suggesting a link between diet soda and heart disease, as well as type 2
diabetes. The author of the study says that diet soda drinkers tend to follow diets high in fat
and sugar and low in fiber. Their lifestyles tend to be sedentary so these factors may have
more to do with the heart disease risk than diet soda consumption.
Finally, a study presented at The American Society of Nephrology's annual Renal Week
conference suggests that diet soda consumption may be linked to kidney problems. In data
collected from 730 diabetic women as part of a larger study. Looking at data supplied at 3
points over 6 years, the women said how often they consumed sugar-sweetened beverages
or artificially sweetened sodas. Researchers also looked at blood tests they'd performed 11
years apart, specifically concentrating on kidney function. They adjusted for age, diet, and
lifestyle factors like smoking, and found that women who drank more than two diet sodas per
day doubled their risk for kidney damage.
Stick to what's natural and healthy when it comes to food and drink. Stay away from artificial
sweeteners, preservatives, and caffeine for your best health.
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