Soft Drinks - Body Effects

Posted by Krypton in Soft Drinks

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If Idon't get a soft drink with this spicy meal, it will ruin my enjoyment. That's what our common perception towards Soft Drinks is. We consider them a basic necessity like Water. A burp after the coke is one hell of a good thing to do, don't you think so folks ;-)

But seriously people, these soft drinks are pretty much dangerous for our bodies. They are composition of different chemicals and flavors etc which are bad for our health. About Coca-Cola composition, here is what wikipedia said,

Published competitors say it contains sugar, caramel color, caffeine, phosphoric acid, coca leaf, kola nutlime extract, flavoring mixture, vanilla and glycerin. Alleged syrup recipes vary greatly. The basic “cola” taste from Coca-Cola and competing cola drinks comes mainly from vanilla and cinnamon; distinctive tastes among various brands are the result of trace flavorings such as orange, lime and lemon and spices such as nutmeg.

 Dr. Mao did some research on soft drinks and he answered some basic queries like this.

Why No Excess Sugar Intake?

Well, to start, let's talk about what happens to you as sugar enters your body. When you drink sodas that are packed with simple sugars, the pancreas is called upon to produce and release insulin, a hormone that empties the sugar in your blood stream into all the tissues and cells for usage. The result of overindulging in simple sugar is raised insulin levels. Raised blood insulin levels beyond the norm can lead to depression of the immune system, which in turn weakens your ability to fight disease. 

Something else to consider is that most of the excess sugar ends up being stored as fat in your body, which results in weight gain and elevates risk forheart disease and cancer. 

 Should I use Diet Soda instead?

You may come to the conclusion that diet or sugar-free soda is a better choice. However, one study discovered that drinking one or more soft drinks a day — and it didn’t matter whether it was diet or regular — led to a 30% greater chance of weight gain around the belly. 

Diet soda is filled with artificial sweeteners such as aspartame, sucralose, or saccharin. These artificial sweeteners pose a threat to your health. Saccharin, for instance, has been found to be carcinogenic, and studies have found that it produced bladder cancer in rats. 

Aspartame, commonly known as nutrasweet, is a chemical that stimulates the brain to think the food is sweet. It breaks down into acpartic acid, phenylalanine, and methanol at a temperature of 86 degrees. (Remember, your stomach is somewhere around 98 degrees.) An article put out by the University of Texas found that aspartame has been linked to obesity. The process of stimulating the brain causes more cravings for sweets and leads to carbohydrate loading.

In the end Dr. Mao emphasized on using Fresh Water and Fresh Juices. Its time to say 'No to Soft Drinks'. Waiter!! Bring Me Water!! :-)

Dr. Mao full report here

Wikipedia reference of Coca-Cola composition here