10 reasons to avoid soft drinks

A simple rule is that whatever is natural, is healthy too. However, on a daily basis we tend to ignore this simple rule, occasionaly despite the intense debates about the danger of consuming for example …soft drinks. Are they killing us softly? There are more than a few hints that they do. Let’s see how they do it.

The pattern of consumption varies a lot among different people. Sodas continue to be a constant feature of our meals; however, their effect can be damning on our health, as they are implicated in many health problems;

1. Diabetes

When consumed, the drinks cause the blood sugar to show a remarkable rise within 20 minutes. When this load of sugar is presented several times a day, the pancreas that produces insulin gets exhausted; over time there is reduction in insulin production and this leads to Diabetes.

2. They speed up ageing

People who drink the equivalent of two cans of full-sugar cola daily may age more quickly than people who never drink it, say U.S. researchers. Last year, scientists at the University of California found these people had DNA changes that made their cells 4.6 years older – their telomeres, the tiny ‘caps’ that protect the ends of our chains of DNA, were shorter. ‘Telomere length has an impact on cell repair and regeneration and that is linked to the ageing process.

3. They increase sugar cravings

Drinking just two cans of sugary fizzy drinks a day dulls people’s perceptions of sweet tastes and makes them crave sugar even more. Because sweetness is strongly connected to the reward system in the brain, people may increase the frequency of their use of sugar as a result.

The bubbles too, could make you want more sugar.Carbon dioxide acts as an acid which enhances our responses to other tastes, such as sugar. Though the sugar may create the craving responses, the acidity or fizz of the drink makes the pleasantness of the taste even stronger. This could explain why people prefer carbonated water over still.

4. Increase cancer risks

Women who have more than three sugary drinks – fizzy or otherwise – a week may have an increased risk of developing breast cancer. Last year, researchers from Laval University in Quebec found that the more sugary and fizzy drinks consumed by women, the greater the density of their breasts – a known risk factor for cancer.

‘Women with dense breasts have a higher risk of developing cancer because there are more cells that can become cancerous.

‘It can increase the risk factor four-fold. It may be linked to higher levels of oestrogen, which is associated with breast cancer.’

5. Cause Osteoporosis

Drinking large quantities of cola could affect your bones. This is because they often contain high levels of phosphoric acid – added to cola-type drinks to give them a tangy taste, and tingle when swallowed. Women who drank cola daily had lower bone mineral density in their hips than those who drank it once a week. The body naturally strives to maintain balanced levels of calcium and phosphorus – so when there is excess phosphorus, calcium is released from the bones to correct the balance.

6. They cause bloating

When we have a fizzy drink, the gas – namely carbonic acid – fills the stomach with air, creating pressure which pushes the air back up the gullet (or oesophagus) causing a belch. And if you suffer from bloating, the extra gas will make it worse, as the air will simply sit in the stomach. These bubbles eventually burst and get reabsorbed into the blood. Fizzy drinks can also aggravate irritable bowel syndrome, a disorder linked to digestive system problems.

7. Damage your teeth

Sugar reacts with the bacteria in plaque (the sticky coating on your teeth) and produces harmful acids that can cause decay, making sugary fruit juices a threat to oral health. But fizzy drinks may cause even greater damage. Full-sugar cola is ten times as corrosive as fruit juices in the first three minutes of drinking, even though they contain similar amounts of sugar.

It’s thought that citric acid, added to give drinks their tangy taste might be to blame. Even diet colas, though low in sugar, can be bad for teeth, because of the citric acid in diet and sweetened fizzy drinks. Fizzy water can also damage teeth because it contains carbonic acid, formed when carbon dioxide is dissolved in water, which erodes tooth enamel.

8. Can cause fatty liver

Fizzy drinks with high levels of fruit juice have been linked to fatty liver disease. People who have two cans of fizzy fruit drinks a day were five times more likely to develop the condition, a precursor to cirrhosis (scarring of the liver) and liver cancer. The drinks have high levels of fruit sugar, readily absorbed by the liver and converted into fat.

9. They can cause infertility

For men, they cause low sperm count, as the drinks lead to an increase in body weight, causing insulin resistance and a 35% reduction in sperm count, while in women the insulin resistance and obesity is now a leading cause of polycystic ovarian syndrome with consequent infertility.

10. Trigger early puberty

Drinking more than one sugary drink a day could bring on a girl’s periods early. In a study of 6,000 adolescent girls, researchers from Harvard found that those drinking more than 1.5 sugar-sweetened beverages daily had their first period 2.7 months earlier than those who had two a week or fewer. This also put girls at higher risk of breast cancer, as early oestrogen exposure may increase the risk of certain types of the disease.