8 Ways Soda Fizzles Your Health

ProTFitness
ProTFitness Posts: 1,379 Member
edited September 27 in Food and Nutrition
8 Ways Soda Fizzles Your Health

2009-10-23-Water for Life.com

We would wager money that many of you are “doing the dew” or “doing what tastes right” this very moment. Before you take another gulp from your soft drink can, here are 8 facts about soda to consider that may drastically affect the quality of your health.

pH of Soda = pH of Vinegar
For one, soda, no matter who makes 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 quickly.

Drink Soda, Leach Calcium
If you drink soda, which also contains high levels of phosphorous, you will leach calcium from your bones. Dr. Michael Murray from the Encyclopedia of Natural Medicine concluded, “It appears that increased soft drink consumption is a major factor that contributes to osteoporosis.” Furthermore, Dr. Elson Haas, author of The Detox Diet states, “Tooth loss, periodontal disease, and gingivitis can be problems, especially with a high phosphorus intake, particularly from soft drinks.”

Soda Will Dissolve your Tooth Enamel
Weak bones is just the beginning. According to Dr. James Howenstein. author of A Physician’s Guide to Natural Health Products That Work, the high sugar content of soda is awful. He states, “”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 seven hours.” Dr. Marion Nestle from his book Food Politics states, “Sugar and acid in soft drinks so easily dissolve tooth enamel.”

Each Additional Soda Increases Risk for Obesity by 1.6 times
So now we’ve got weak bones, weakened immune system, and dissolving teeth. What’s next? Weight gain! Dr. Nestle also concluded, “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.”

Children Who Drink Soda Break Bones More Easily
Our children aren’t safe, either. Dr. Nestle states, “Adolescents who consume soft drinks display a risk of bone fractures three to four-fold higher than those who do not.” Dr. William Duffy from the Naval Research Institute states, “The high sugar hides the acid. Children little realize they are drinking this strange mixture of phosphoric acid, sugar, caffeine, coloring, and flavoring matter.” Greg Critser from his book Fat Land: How Americans Became the Fattest People in the World states: “A joint study by Harvard University and Boston Children’s Hospital researchers in February 2001 concluded that such excess liquid calories inhibited the ability of older children to compensate at mealtime, leading to caloric imbalance and, in time, obesity.”




Diet Soda Isn’t Any Better
For those of you with a diet soda in your hands, the news isn’t any better, in fact it’s worse! Carol Simontacchi from her book The Crazy Makers: How the Food Industry Is Destroying Our Brains and Harming Our Children states, “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 no caloric 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 pop 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.

Could Caffeine Jeopardize the Human Race?
Then there’s the caffeine. Jean Carper from her book Food: Your Miracle Medicine : How Food Can Prevent and Cure over 100 Symptoms and Problems states, “tests at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine by Roland R. Griffiths, MD, show caffeine withdrawal can strike people who drink a single cup of strongly brewed coffee or drink caffeinated soft drinks everyday. Further, Dr. Griffiths discovered that 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.”
Caffeine causes withdrawal with symptoms mimicking a flu and for women it makes PMS even worse. But could caffeine really jeopardize the future of the human race? Yes! “A study on the relationship between caffeine and fertility found that… just one caffeinated soft drink per day was associated with a reduced monthly chance of conception of 50 percent.”

If All That Wasn’t Enough Watch Out for a Asthma and a Rash
And finally there’s the preservative used in soda. Dr. Marcia Zimmerman, author of The A.D.D. Nutrition Solution : A Drug-Free 30 Day Plan states, “Sodium benzoate 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.”

Still Drinking that Soda…..?
Hard to believe that so much mayhem can come from a little can or bottle, but there is absolutely nothing good or redeemable about soda. The sooner you can remove it from your diet, the better. If the FDA were doing its job, it wouldn’t be allowed on the market. If you care about your health and the quality of your life, put the Mountain Dew down!

Replies

  • julia23
    julia23 Posts: 87
    I never let things like this scare me, if everyone is really leading a healthy lifestyle a fizzy drink is more than acceptable now and again. Everything in proportion.
  • craftylatvian
    craftylatvian Posts: 599 Member
    Thanks for posting this. I used to drink diet soda all day long, and my two front teeth have had to be replaced because of the acid wear. I switched to drinking water about a month ago, and don't miss soda at all. I do allow myself a regular soda on the weekends, mainly from habit because I always had a soda with me in the car while out running errands.
  • gameovergt
    gameovergt Posts: 502
    good info!
  • summerkissed
    summerkissed Posts: 730 Member
    I never let things like this scare me, if everyone is really leading a healthy lifestyle a fizzy drink is more than acceptable now and again. Everything in proportion.

    Agree, if we believe everything is as dark and as bad for us as they say, we would be dead 10 times over!
  • sillymesillyyou
    sillymesillyyou Posts: 18 Member
    I think that the odd one or two a week is fine. Everything in moderation. It keeps us sane. If I completely stopping consuming everything that anyone has ever found reasons why it's bad for you, I'd go mad, or at very least fall off the healthy eating wagon all together.

    One tip though, when you do have these types of drinks (fizzy, cordial, full sugar, no sugar (worse if anything due to added citric acid and other chemicals), whatever), use a straw. It means the drink doesn't coat your teeth as much. My dentist recommended that. Also, don't have these drinks within 1 hour of brushing your teeth (before or after) as brushing temporarily reduces your natural protection.
  • RichB77
    RichB77 Posts: 88
    Like it

    :drinker:
  • Atlantique
    Atlantique Posts: 2,484 Member
    The comments about the effects of the acid, sugar and phosphorous actually are true.

    The over-the-top fear-mongering about sweeteners? Not so much.
  • MrsWibbly
    MrsWibbly Posts: 415 Member
    Following up on the first three points, acid, leaching calcium and destroying enamel...

    I saw a demonstration by a dentist to a group of school children. He put three glasses on a table, in the first he put water, the second milk and the third a well known brand of cola (but explained that this represented all fizzy drinks - with or without the sugar).

    He took three milk teeth and put one in each glass. He then did a 15 minute talk about dental health.

    He came back to the glasses and took the tooth out of the water and showed that while still ok the enamel was getting soft. He took the second tooth out of the milk and showed that the enamel on this tooth was still hard. Then he picked up the third glass, and poured it through a fine strainer and there was nothing, no trace of the tooth at all. He then explained that this was what fizzy drinks did to our teeth, and the only reason anyone who drinks fizzy drinks still has any teeth is that the drink doesn't stay in the mouth very long and that saliva helps to dilute the effect of the acid.

    I am glad to say that his demostration had not just a profund effect on the children but also on all the adults in the room!
  • A health and nutrition journalist on BrightHub investigated this -

    "Although this chemical had a difficult time getting passed by the FDA, it was finally approved in 1983 for use in carbonated beverages. Since then, many studies have been done about its safety. While some data are contradictory, and controversy still remains about the link between aspartame and brain cancer, leukemia and lymphoma, a 2006 study by the National Cancer Institute did not find a significant association between aspartame consumption and increased risk of these cancers in men or women.

    However, a study done in 2007 at the Cesare Maltoni Cancer Research Center in Bologna, Italy, suggested that even low doses of aspartame (typical of human daily intake), taken over a lifetime, increase the risk of developing breast cancer in women and lymphomas and leukemias in both sexes. The researchers, having performed the same experiment twice with equivalent results, believe their conclusions are valid, and urge further study, particularly on the effects of aspartame on children and developing fetuses. However, other reviewing organizations, including the FDA and National Cancer Institute, have ignored the Italian study."


    Read more: http://www.brighthub.com/health/diet-nutrition/articles/106840.aspx#ixzz1M2LfStcZ
  • If you do some broad research, you'll evidence for and against. There are studies that say yes, studies that say no.

    The chemicals that are most probably confirmed as carcinogenic are not used anymore in first world countries.

    My feeling?

    I don't particularly care. There's evidence that mobiles/cell phones are carcinogenic. I'm happy to take that risk.
This discussion has been closed.