Are Sodas the Scourge of Our Society?




I have to start this article off by stating that I was guilty of drinking Dr. Pepper almost every day for more than thirty five years. Ten years ago my wife cut me off. Thank God she only cut me off of sodas. Her cutting me off and refusing to put sodas on the shopping list has been one of the contributing factors that has led to my good health today. I can happily say that I am clean and free from soda and will remain a starch advocate for S.A. (Sodas Anonymous). Not sure if there is really such an organization but there should be.



In today's society we have established organizations dedicated to the rehabilitation from Alcoholism, Overeating, Drug Addiction, and even Sex addiction yet we have not dealt with one of the worst addictions facing our country today. Soda addiction! Now some of you may be laughing at that comment (while downing another Pepsi) and saying "Sodas are not addictive. If I wanted to stop drinking sodas I could give em up in a minute." OK, then I double dare Ya. By tomorrow you will be Jonesing and dying for that dose of caffeine your soda gives ya. Been there, done that!



I know I am making light of the matter but there is some seriousness here as well. Let's take a look at what's in sodas and what you're doing to your body by drinking them.



Today the FDA requires that food products carry a label on the back stating what the nutritional values and the ingredients are. Products that carry a health hazard are also required to carry a warning such as Alcohol, Tobacco. But why not sodas? This multi-billion dollar industry and its Washington lobby continue to promote it everywhere you turn. We hear about the cola wars and big stars promote it via huge add productions. Large restaurant franchises make their profits sole from their soda sales. Its big business.



The health industry constantly attacks and blames the cola companies for many of society's problems such as diabetes, obesity, tooth decay and hyperactivity. Yet so many people have to have it as they down bottle after bottle. Now, if you are like me, then you probably would like to know the reason behind the objection before you're truly convinced to give it up. Maybe your wife needs to cut you off! I wouldn't expect you to stop drinking soda without enough supporting information. Therefore, I will analyze every aspect of soda that makes it bad and pass the message on. If you can still drink soda after I'm through, then you are a hard-headed, narrow-minded, self-indulging brain washed idiot and you should think about joining Sodas Anonymous!



To get to the bottom of the truth, we need to first examine the common ingredients of all sodas. The average soda contains caffeine, carbonated water, phosphoric acid, and high fructose corn syrup. We could also include additives like aspartame and saccharin which you find in Diet Sodas. (We will discuss the harmful effects of these additives in a moment)



Caffeine is the only ingredient that has some potentially health beneficial substance to it, but it also has some negative downsides as well. Caffeine is a highly addictive chemical that gives you extra energy. If you want to fuel your workout, take caffeine prior. Caffeine has been shown to improve brain function to a small degree. Caffeine has even been cited to lower the risk of acquiring diseases such as Type 2 Diabetes and Parkinson's disease. Jury is still out on those studies and most of those studies found that it was low doses of caffeine that seemed to be beneficial.



What about the risks and dangers of caffeine? Since it is highly addictive, it is hard to give it up. Caffeine decreases the quality of your sleep and even triggers sleeping disorders such as restless leg syndrome. Caffeine also increases blood pressure if you have hypertension. Beyond that, caffeine can also cause your bones to lose calcium and even increase your risk of miscarriage. Also, excessive amounts of caffeine daily (more than 400mg, or 4 cups of coffee) greatly increase the risk for heart problems.



Tests at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine show caffeine withdrawal can strike people who drink a single cup of strongly brewed coffee or drink caffeinated soft drinks every day. Further, caffeine-withdrawal symptoms include not only headache, but also fatigue, mild depression, muscle pain and stiffness, flu-like feelings, nausea and vomiting. And for women: Those consuming at least one cup of a caffeine-containing beverage per day, such as coffee, tea or soft drinks, were more prone to PMS. And the more caffeine they consumed, the more severe their PMS symptoms.



Most of the problems with Caffeine do occur in excess, but I rarely see moderate drinking of sodas. In fact, the average American drinks about 3-5 cans of soda a day which is already up to 200mg of caffeine. Add in your energy drink and coffee and you are over the line! However, Caffeine may be the least of the worries once we discover the downsides to the remaining ingredients.



Unlike caffeine, carbonated water doesn't have any health benefits. Carbonated water is created by putting carbon dioxide into water (fancy that. I bet you thought it was some fancy formula). When we breathe, carbon dioxide is our bodies waste product. If our bodies wanted it, why would our bodies keep expelling it? Aside from that logic, they also hurt our bodies by weakening our stomach acid, thereby interfering with digestion. Do you like your pearly white teeth? Then stop drinking carbonated drinks because carbonation speeds up tooth decay by thinning your tooth enamel until it wears it down completely. Do you like weakening your calcium-fortified bodily structures? Good, then you're going to love Phosphoric Acid.



Phosphoric acid causes your soda to bubble and fizz. Because it is an acid, it burns your insides (we have all heard the high school science lab story about putting a nail in a glass of Cola and watching it dissolve). It also upsets your body's phosphorus-calcium balance. Calcium is released from the bones to help restore pH balance in the blood. Add phosphoric acid in the equation, and you are well on your way to weakening your skeletal structure. The result. Osteoporosis a real problem for aging women in particular. Tooth loss, periodontal disease, and gingivitis can be real problems, especially with a high phosphorus intake, particularly from soft drinks.



The pH of Soda is the same as the pH of Vinegar. For one, soda, no matter who makes it, it is the most acidic beverage you can buy, with a pH of about 2.5, about the same as vinegar. Why does that matter? Acid oxidizes whatever it comes in contact with. If you put soda or vinegar on metal, it will rust it almost immediately.



Finally we arrive at the source of our obesity problem - High Fructose Corn Syrup. With 150 or more calories per drink containing pure sugar, this is a no-brainer that these dead calories contribute to our weight gain. Fructose converts to fat more than any other sugar. It also supplies at least 25% of the total calories of an American diet. Do you want to lose weight? Take out the fructose and you will. High sugar content can also have an effect on your bodies ability to fight off certain bacteria and viruses. In an interesting experiment the sugar from one soft drink was able to damage the white blood cells' ability to ingest and kill bacteria for nearly seven hours. You can imagine the effect if your drinking sodas all day long.



But what about the fructose found in fruits? It is true that fruits contain fructose, but they also contain it in a lot less concentration in fruits than in high fructose corn syrup. In fruits, it is usually a 50/50 ratio between sucrose and fructose. High fructose corn syrup can contain proportions as high as 80/20 fructose/sucrose levels. Another reason why fruit sources aren't harmful is that fruits contain fiber which slows down the metabolism of these sugars. In our sodas, fructose is absorbed quickly, thus speeding up the metabolism, and the time that it takes to be turned into fat.



It's not enough that we now have weak bones, weakened immune system, and dissolving teeth. What's next? 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 by no less than 1.6 times."



Adolescents who consume soft drinks display a risk of bone fractures three to four times higher than those who do not. A joint study by Harvard University and Boston Children's Hospital researchers in February 2001 concluded that excess liquid calories similar to those found in soft drinks inhibited the ability of older children to compensate at mealtime, leading to caloric imbalance and, in time, obesity.



For those of you with a diet soda in your hands, the news isn't any better, in fact it's worse! One liter of an aspartame-sweetened beverage can produce about fifty-six milligrams of methanol. When several of these beverages are consumed in a short period of time (one day, perhaps), as much as two hundred fifty milligrams of methanol are dumped into the bloodstream, or thirty-two times the EPA limit." So, you're poisoning your body, too.



And when it comes to saccharin, which is a noncaloric petroleum derivative estimated to be three hundred to five hundred times sweeter than sugar: More than a dozen animal tests over the last thirty years have demonstrated the carcinogenic effects of saccharin in the bladder and other sites, particularly female reproductive organs, and in some instances at doses as low as the equivalent of one to two bottles of diet soda daily. With diet soda, you've gone from high calories to poisonous levels of methanol and an increased chance of developing cancer. Not a very good trade.



And finally there's the preservative used in soda. Sodium benzoate is used as a preservative (microbial control) in foods, including soft drinks, fruit juices, margarine, confections, pickles, and jams. Sodium preservatives add sodium to the diet and reduce the availability of potassium. Some reported reactions to sodium benzoate include recurring urticaria (rash), asthma, and eczema.



I hope that I have given you reason enough to put down that Pepsi you were drinking while reading this article. It's hard to believe that so much controversy can come from a little soda can, but there is absolutely nothing good or redeemable about sodas. The sooner you can remove them from your diet, the better. If the FDA were doing its job, it wouldn't be allowed on the market or at least have health warnings on the back of each can. If you care about your health and the quality of your life, put the Dew down and fire your Dr. Pepper! Wives..... cut your husband's off.