1. Soda Is Useless
First of all, there are no nutritionally beneficial components in soft drinks. Soft drinks mostly consist of filtered water and refined sugars. Yet the average American drinks about 41 gallons of soft drinks each year.
2. Weight Gain & Obesity
Many people either forget or don't realize how many extra
calories they consume in what they drink. Drinking a single 330 ml can a
day of sugary drinks translates to more than 1lb of weight gain every
month.Several scientific studies have provided experimental evidence that soft drinks are directly related to weight gain. The relationship between soft drink consumption and body weight is so strong that researchers calculate that for each additional soda consumed, the risk of obesity increases 1.6 times.
According to the results of high quality study reducing consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages helped reduce body mass index in the heaviest teenagers.
Intake of sugar-sweetened beverages is strongly associated with accumulation of fat around the abdominal area.
3. Diabetes
Rapidly absorbed carbohydrates like high fructose corn syrup put more strain on insulin-producing cells than other foods. When sugar enters the bloodstream quickly, the pancreas has to secrete large amounts of insulin for the body to process it. Some scientists believe that the unceasing demands that a soda habit places on the pancreas may ultimately leave it unable to keep up with the body's need for insulin. Also, insulin itself becomes less effective at processing sugar; both conditions contribute to the risk of developing diabetes.
Researchers from Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston and Harvard Medical School analyzed data from the Nurses' Health Study II, a trial tracking the health of more than 51,000 women. None of the participants had diabetes at the onset of the study in 1991. Over the following 8 years, 741 women were diagnosed with the disease. Researchers found that women who drank one or more sugary drinks a day gained more weight and were 83% more likely to develop type 2 diabetes than those who imbibed less than once a month.
4. Weakened Bones and Risk of Osteoporosis
Frequent consumption of soft drinks may also increase the risk of osteoporosis, especially in people who drink soft drinks instead of calcium-rich milk. High soda consumption (particularly cola) in children poses a significant risk factor for impaired calcification of growing bones.
In the 1950s, children drank 3 cups of milk for every 1 cup of sugary drinks. Today that ratio is reversed: 3 cups of sugary drinks for every cup of milk. Tellingly, osteoporosis is a major health threat for 44 million Americans. Most experts now say that the real culprit is soda's displacement of milk in the diet, though some scientists believe that the acidity of colas may be weakening bones by promoting the loss of calcium.
5. Dental Caries and Erosion
Soda eats up and dissolves the tooth enamel. Researches say that soft drinks are responsible for doubling or tripling the incidence of tooth decay.
The acidity can dissolve the mineral content of the enamel, making the teeth weaker, more sensitive, and more susceptible to decay. Soda's acidity makes it even worse for teeth than the solid sugar found in candy.
Dental experts continue to urge that people drink less soda pop, especially between meals, to prevent tooth decay and dental erosion.
6. Kidney Damage
There is good evidence that cola beverages can increase the risk of kidney problems, more so than non-cola sodas.
Researches clearly demonstrated that large quantities of cola result in enhanced kidney stone formation. If you're wondering exactly how soft drinks cause kidney stones, it's because of their acidity and radical mineral imbalances. Your body must buffer the acidity of soft drinks with calcium from your own bones. As this calcium is eliminated through your urine, it slowly forms kidney stones.
In a study published in the journal Epidemiology, the team compared the dietary habits of 465 people with chronic kidney disease and 467 healthy people. After controlling for various factors, the team found that drinking two or more colas a day (whether artificially sweetened or regular) was linked to a twofold risk of chronic kidney disease.
7. Increased Blood Pressure
Experts have reasons to believe that over consumption of fructose, particularly in the form of soft drinks, leads to an increase in blood pressure.
8. Heartburn
Soft drink consumption is a strong predictor of heartburn
9. Metabolic Syndrome Risk Factor
Soft drink consumption is a significant risk factor for developing of metabolic syndrome, a combination of the symptoms such as high blood pressure, obesity, high cholesterol, and insulin resistance.
10. Harmful Effects On Liver
There is evidence that consumption of too many soft drinks puts you under increased risk for liver cirrhosis similar to what chronic alcoholics have
11. Impaired Digestive System
Soda, no matter who makes it, is extremely acidic beverage, with a pH of about 2.5, about the same as vinegar, but the sugar content disguises the acidity. To put that into perspective, consider that battery acid has a pH of 1 and pure water has a pH level of 7.
Interesting fact: A pH below 4 or above 10 will kill most fish and very few animals can tolerate waters with a pH below 3 or above 11.
The phosphoric acid present in soft drink competes with the hydrochloric acid of the stomach and affects its functions. When the stomach becomes ineffective, food remains undigested causing indigestion, gassiness or bloating (swelling of stomach).
12. Dehydration
Another problem with sodas is that they act as dehydrating diuretics. Both caffeine and sugar cause dehydration.
Caffeine is a diuretic and causes an increase in urine volume. High concentration of sugar is drawing off water because your kidneys try to expel the excess sugar out of the blood. When you drink a caffeinated soda to quench your thirst, you will actually become thirstier.
13. High Caffeine Content
Another advantage of avoiding sodas is that you will avoid the unnecessary caffeine. Soda drinks are a major source of caffeine in the American diet.
High doses of caffeine can cause irritability, restlessness, tension, insomnia, high blood pressure, gastrointestinal disturbance, excessive urination, irregular heartbeat and other side effects.
14. Toxins - Aspartame
If you think diet soda is better think again. The poison in diet soda is an artificial sweetener aspartame. Aspartame is made up of three chemicals: aspartic acid, phenylalanine, and methanol. It is used because it's about 200 times sweeter than table sugar.
Despite US FDA approval as a "safe" food additive, aspartame is one of the most dangerous substances added to foods. After you drink an aspartame-sweetened product, aspartame breaks down into its starting components: phenylalanine, aspartic acid, and methanol (that further converts to formaldehyde and formic acid, which are known carcinogens.). There are over 92 different health side effects associated with aspartame consumption.
15. Cell Damage
A new health scare erupted over soft drinks recently amid evidence that they may cause serious cell damage and accelerate cell aging. Research from a British university suggests a common preservative E211, known as Sodium benzoate, found in drinks such as Fanta and Pepsi Max has the ability to switch off vital parts of DNA. Sodium benzoate occurs in small amounts naturally in berries, but is used in large quantities to prevent mould in soft drinks.
16. Other Harmful Effects
Studies published in a couple of recent years show the following health risks associated with soda drinking:
- Increased risk of asthma and lung disease
- Caffeinated and artificially sweetened soft drinks may increase the risk of early menarche, a risk factor of several diseases
- Elevation of uric acid levels
- Risk of developing hypertension
- Mental health problems
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