I cannot help but notice that an alarming number of young people are drinking sodas excessively. Many students especially at universities are addicted to different types of sodas. Unfortunately, some are even are substituting water for their favorite sodas. This can have lasting consequences on their health, as we shall see.
Here are all the facts about soft drinks:
They are one of the main reasons for obesity, because your weight gain is directly related to the amount of calories you intake. So with every single can, you add extra calories to your body weight, especially from sugar, and the extra sugar is directly converted to body fat.
Can lead to diabetes: With every can of soft drink, people introduce large amounts of sugar into their body that overtaxes the body’s insulin-producing machinery, which is responsible for regulating blood glucose levels. Consequently, people either stop responding to insulin as easily, or the pancreas stop producing insulin altogether, which can result in diabetes.
Increase the risk of tooth decay: The acidic content of soft drinks can dissolve the tooth enamel and weaken them. Avoid taking soft drinks before sleeping to prevent tooth decay.
Contains sodium that may lead to bloating and water retention: Water retention can cause bloating and puffiness, and the water levels can cause a person’s weight to fluctuate. In order to treat water retention, you need to reduce your caffeine and sodium intake , and be sure to drink plenty of hydrating fluids.
Are high in caffeine content: Caffeine increases your heart rate, causing irritability, tension, and other side effects. Soft drinks also increase blood pressure due to their content of sodium bicarbonate and sodium benzoate.
Caffeine is addictive, and causes people to overindulge on them. This can lead to osteoporosis (bone loss). This is because the phosphoric acid in the soda causes calcium in your bloodstream to be excreted through urine. Your bones will lose calcium which leads to osteoporosis.
What about diet ones?
Although diet soft drinks do not contain calories, they do increase your appetite and enlarge your stomach and are also a cause of weight gain.
The sweetener used in diet versions of soft drinks is Aspartame, and studies are found that this is linked to an increased chance of brain tumors, cancer, premature birth, liver damage and allergies. Moreover, diet drinks have no effect on the risk of developing obesity-related conditions, and some experts warn they may even encourage weight gain by causing drinkers to eat more by stimulating their sweet tooth. My advice is to replace diet sodas with healthier drinks such as juices, smoothies and lemonade as a better decision towards improving your health.
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