What are soft drinks?
Soft drinks are any beverages with added sugar or any other sweetener and include fruit juices from concentrate, diet drinks, soda, sports drinks, energy drinks, lemonade to name a few.
Let’s look at some of the health effects of drinking even as little as one can or glass of a sugar sweetened beverage on daily basis.
If you drink as little as one can or glass of sugary soft drinks every day you are at :
26% greater risk of type II diabetes compared to people who rarely have such drinks.
20% higher risk of heart attack or dying from heart attack
40% of high risk of heart attack or death from heart disease (with 2 or more sugary drinks)
50% higher risk of developing metabolic syndrome -a syndrome characterized by abdominal obesity, high BP, high risk of diabetes, high triglycerides.
Significantly higher risk of osteoporosis
( weak bones ) as high amount of phosphorus in many soft drinks leaches out calcium from bones.
High risk for memory loss. High sugar content and many other artificial sweeteners in soft drinks have been shown to cause memory loss
75% high risk of gout- a disease characterized by severely painful joints
Dental Carries. Sugar and acid in soft drinks can dissolve tooth protective covering- enamel
For each 12-ounce soda children consumed each day, the odds of becoming obese increases by 60%
Very high risk of weight gain
A typical 20-ounce soda contains 15 to 18 teaspoons of sugar and upwards of 240 calories.
A 64-ounce fountain cola drink could have up to 700 calories.
Please click on the center image above to watch the videos about effects of soda on our health.
For more information on medical studies and references on the health impact of soda please check:
https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/healthy-drinks/soft-drinks-and-disease/