Numerous studies have shown the negative health effects of drinking soda on your waistline and your teeth. Drinking soda, however, has far more serious health risks than many of us may realize.
According to Euromonitor, the average person in the United States consumes more than 126 grams of sugar per day. That’s equal to 25.2 teaspoons, or the equivalent of drinking a little over three 12 ounce colas.
Numerous studies have shown the negative health effects of drinking soda on your waistline and your teeth. Drinking soda, however, has far more health risks than many of us may realize.
Regular consumption of sugary drinks is linked to numerous health problems including diabetes, heart disease, asthma, COPD and obesity.
The 17 Real Risks of Soda Pop:
1. Soda beats up your Kidney.
In an 11-year-long Harvard Medical School study, including 3,318 women, researchers found that diet cola is linked with a two-fold increased risk for kidney decline, and an increase in kidney stones.
2. Soda supercharges the risk of diabetes.
High levels of sugar in soda places a lot of stress on your pancreas, potentially leaving it unable to keep up with the body’s need for insulin. Drinking one or two sugary drinks per day increases your risk for type 2 diabetes by 20%.
3. Soda cans are lined with BPA.
Soda cans are coated with the endocrine disruptor bisphenol A (BPA), which has been linked to everything from heart disease to obesity to reproductive problems.
4. Soda totally dehydrates you.
Caffeine is a diuretic. Diuretics promote the production of urine, causing you to urinate more frequently. When the body’s cells are dehydrated they have difficulty absorbing nutrients, and it also makes it more difficult for the body to eliminate waste.
5. Caramel coloring in soda is a known carcinogen.
The artificial brown coloring in colas is a chemical process, it is not made from caramelized sugar. It is made by reacting sugars with ammonia and sulfites under high pressure and temperatures.
These chemical reactions result in the formation of 2-methylimidazole (2-MI) and 4 methylimidazole (4-MI), which in government-conducted studies caused lung, liver, or thyroid cancer or leukemia in laboratory mice and rats.
6. Soda is insanely high in sugar & calories.
A 20-ounce bottle of Coca-Cola contains 17 teaspoons of sugar and 240 calories … empty calories devoid of any nutritional value.
It would take the average adult over one hour of brisk walking to burn-off the 240 calories in just one 20-ounce soda.
7. Soda fuels obesity in children.
Each additional soda or other sugary drink consumed per day increases the likelihood of a child becoming obese by about 60%. Sugary drinks are connected to other health problems for children as well.
8. Soda increases heart disease in men.
Each soda consumed per day increases the risk of heart disease by up to 35% in men.
University of Columbia University researchers followed roughly 2,500 New Yorkers for 10 years. All of the study volunteers were over age 40 and had never had a stroke.
At the start of the study, each participant indicated her or his diet soda intake as “none” (less than 1 per month), “light” (1 diet soda a month to 6 diet sodas a week), or “daily” (1 or more a day).
At the end of 10 years, the daily diet soda drinkers were much more likely (up to 35%) to have had a stroke or heart attack, or to have died from vascular disease.
9. Acid in soda destroys your dental enamel.
Lab testing on soda acidity shows that the amount of acid in soda is enough to wear away dental enamel. pH levels in soda can be as low as 2.5, as a frame of reference battery acid has a pH of 1, water has a pH of 7.0.
10. Diet Soda contains artificial sweeteners.
While many people opt for artificial sugar to lower caloric intake the trade-off for your health isn’t so sweet. Artificial sugars are linked to numerous illness and diseases including cancer.
11. Soda contaminates phosphoric acids.
Sodas that contain phosphoric acid removes much needed calcium from your bones, and leads to other health consequences.
Phosphoric acid can create issues with: kidneys, lowers bone density, decreases nutrients in the body, and increases acidity leading to mineral loss as well.
12. Drinking soda can lead to leaky gut syndrome.
Soda can feed the bad bacteria in your gut leading to an unhealthy increase in bad gut bacteria, and lowering the good gut bacteria. This can also lead to an issue called Leaky Gut Syndrome.
13. Just one soda daily can fuel metabolic syndrome.
According to Ravi Dhingra, M.D., lead author of the study and an instructor in Medicine at Harvard Medical School states “If you are drinking one or more soft drinks a day, you may be increasing your risk of developing metabolic risk factors for heart disease.”
The Framingham study included nearly 9,000 individuals, over a four year period. Researchers found that individuals consuming one or more sodas a day had a 48 % increased risk of metabolic syndrome compared to those consuming less than one soft drink daily.
14. Diet soda DOES NOT help you lose weight – it’s the opposite!
A University of Texas Health Science Center study found that the more diet sodas a person drank, the greater their risk of becoming overweight.
Consuming two or more cans a day increased waistlines by 500% greater than those who do not consume diet soda.
15. Diet sodas contain extremely dangerous chemicals.
They go by the names sodium benzoate or potassium benzoate, and they’re used in nearly all diet sodas.
“These chemicals have the ability to cause severe damage to DNA in the mitochondria to the point that they totally inactivate it – they knock it out altogether,” Peter Piper, a professor of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology at the University of Sheffield in the U.K., told a British newspaper. The preservative has also been linked to hives, asthma, and other allergic conditions, according to the Center for Science in the Public Interest.
According to the FDA, when benzoate is exposed to light and heat in the presence of vitamin C, it can be converted into benzene. According to the American Cancer Society, benzene is considered a carcinogen.
16. Daily sodas can lead to Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD).
The 2,634 individuals in the study completed a CT scan to measure the amount of fat in the liver. They saw a higher prevalence of NAFLD among people who reported drinking more than one sugar-sweetened drink per day compared to people who said they drank no sugar-sweetened beverages.
17. Some sodas actually even contain flame retardant.
Sodas like Mountain Dew contain Brominated vegetable oil (BVO), and is added to many citrus based sodas and sports drinks to prevent the drinks from separating.
What’s the concern? BVO is patented by chemical companies as a flame retardant. It is also banned in over 100 countries, but it is still used in the U.S.
How to Kick the Soda Habit
• Try drinking smaller serving sizes. Order small serving sizes at restaurants, or split a can of soda with someone.
Keep in mind that one twelve-ounce can has about 10 teaspoons (more than 3 tablespoons) of sugar. New York City’s Mayor Bloomberg has actually banned sales of 16-ounce sodas!
• Cut the soda with seltzer, gradually increasing the amount of seltzer.
• The best move is to just STOP SODA and Switch to water. Cause you can’t beat water. End of story.
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