The U.S. Department of Agriculture reports that the average 14 to 30 year old American consumes more than 20 ounces of soda every day. This overindulgence in sugary-sweet beverages is taking a tremendous toll on the health of Americans.
While Americans guzzle these sugar-loaded beverages, scientists and doctors continue to add to the wealth of research that soda — even diet soda — spoils your health.
Although soda can’t solely be blamed for the obesity epidemic in America, strong evidence connects soda consumption to weight gain and obesity. Sugar-sweetened soda provides empty calories, largely from high fructose corn syrup (HFCS), preferred by the beverage industry because it is cheaper and sweeter than regular sugar.
HFCS disrupts the action of leptin — a hormone involved in appetite control and metabolism — inhibiting its ability to turn off hunger signals. Ultimately, this disruption prompts us to consume excess calories, which are then stored as fat.
Most people drink diet soda because it lacks the calories that sugar-sweetened soda contains. However, research suggests diet soda is not immune to causing weight gain either, and in fact may be worse than full sugar beverages.
A study from the August 2008 edition of Obesity reported that people who swap regular soda for diet soda were 65 percent more likely to be overweight and 41 percent more likely to become obese in the long-term. Diet soda drinkers also have larger waistlines than their regular soda-drinking counterparts — 70 percent greater waistlines according to a 2011 University of Texas study.
“Many Americans seem to drink soda mindlessly, guzzling upwards of three cans of soda a day,” asserts Tammy Lakatos Shames, a registered dietician and co-author of The Secret to Skinny. “They don’t realize that’s adding 450 extra calories a day.”
A number of studies have linked drinking soda to increased blood pressure, higher triglycerides and elevated LDL cholesterol levels — all risk factors for heart disease. Women who consumed as few as two sodas per day were four times more likely to develop high triglycerides when compared to those who drank one or less sodas per day, according to research presented at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions 2011. University of Miami researchers reported that daily consumption of diet soda increases your risk of heart attack and stroke by 48 percent.
The main function of your kidneys is to remove waste products from your blood and maintain water balance. When you drink soda, they must filter caffeine, sodium and phosphorous from your blood. If excess amounts exist, your kidneys may become overwhelmed, stressed and even damaged. Researchers from Loyola University Health System found that women who drink 24 ounces or more of soda per day doubled their risk of kidney disease. Two or more diet sodas a day reduced kidney function by 30 percent among women according to a study from the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology. Scientists attributed this loss of function to the chemicals in diet soda.
Soda is often consumed quickly and in large quantities, which provides ample sugar quantities that can quickly overwhelm the body’s ability to respond by producing insulin. A 2010 study released in the journal Diabetes Care determined that even one can of soda per day can increase your risk of diabetes by 25 percent. Being overweight or obese increases your risk of developing type 2 diabetes, consequently, diet soda can increase your risk of type 2 diabetes because of its profound link to weight gain.
The next time you are tempted to drop $1.25 into the vending machine for a soda, you may want to consider an healthier option instead, like water, herbal teas or 100 percent fruit and vegetable juices. Spoil the soda manufacturer’s profits rather than your health.
Source: ED Treatment India
