Sugar In Soda
Leading Cause of Obesity and Diabetes
What Happens To Your Body Within An Hour Of Drinking A Coke
By: Source: http://www.mercola.com - January 12, 2008
Do
you want to be healthy? Drinking soda is bad for your health in so many
ways; science can’t even state all the consequences. Here’s
what happens in your body when you assault it with a Coke:
Within
the first 10 minutes, 10 teaspoons of sugar hit your system. This is
100 percent of your recommended daily intake, and the only reason you
don’t vomit as a result of the overwhelming sweetness is because
phosphoric acid cuts the flavor.
Within 20 minutes, your blood
sugar spikes, and your liver responds to the resulting insulin burst by
turning massive amounts of sugar into fat.
Within 40 minutes,
caffeine absorption is complete; your pupils dilate, your blood
pressure rises, and your livers dumps more sugar into your bloodstream.
Around
45 minutes, your body increases dopamine production, which stimulates
the pleasure centers of your brain – a physically identical
response to that of heroin, by the way.
After 60 minutes, you’ll start to have a sugar crash.
Sources:
* Nutrition Research Center October 24, 2007
How
many sodas have you had today? How about your kids? As of 2005, white
bread was dethroned as the number one source of calories in the
American diet, being replaced by soft drinks.
The average
American drinks more than 60 gallons of soft drinks each year, but
before you grab that next can of soda, consider this: one can of soda
has about 10 teaspoons of sugar, 150 calories, 30 to 55 mg of caffeine,
and is loaded with artificial food colors and sulphites. Not to mention
the fact that it’s also your largest source of dangerous
high-fructose modified corn syrup.
Some of the other major components of a can of soda:
*
Phosphoric Acid: Which can interfere with the body's ability to use
calcium, leading to osteoporosis or softening of the teeth and bones.
It also neutralizes the hydrochloric acid in your stomach, which can
interfere with digestion, making it difficult to utilize nutrients.
*
Sugar: It is a proven fact that sugar increases insulin levels, which
can lead to high blood pressure, high cholesterol, heart disease,
diabetes, weight gain, premature aging and many more negative side
effects. Most sodas include over 100 percent of the RDA of sugar. Sugar
is so bad for your health in so many ways, I even created an entire
list outlining 100-Plus Ways in Which Sugar Can Damage Your Health
*
Aspartame: This chemical is used as a sugar substitute in diet soda.
There are over 92 different health side effects associated with
aspartame consumption including brain tumors, birth defects, diabetes,
emotional disorders and epilispsy/seizures.
* Caffeine:
Caffeinated drinks cause jitters, insomnia, high blood pressure,
irregular heartbeat, elevated blood cholesterol levels, vitamin and
mineral depletion, breast lumps, birth defects, and perhaps some forms
of cancer.
* Tap Water: I recommend that everyone avoid
drinking tap water because it can carry any number of chemicals
including chlorine, trihalomethanes, lead, cadmium, and various organic
pollutants. Tap water is the main ingredient in bottled soft drinks.
Clearly, the over-consumption of sodas and sweet drinks is one of the leading causes fueling the world-wide obesity epidemic.
One
independent, peer-reviewed study published in the British medical
journal The Lancet demonstrated a strong link between soda consumption
and childhood obesity. They found that 12-year-olds who drank soft
drinks regularly were more likely to be overweight than those who
didn't. In fact, for each additional daily serving of sugar-sweetened
soft drink consumed during the nearly two-year study, the risk of
obesity jumped by 60 percent.
Here’s another sobering
fact if you’re struggling with weight issues: Just one extra can
of soda per day can add as much as 15 pounds to your weight over the
course of a single year!
Other statistics on the health dangers of soft drinks include:
* One soda per day increases your risk of diabetes by 85 percent
*
Soda drinkers have higher cancer risk. While the federal limit for
benzene in drinking water is 5 parts per billion (ppb), researchers
have found benzene levels as high as 79 ppb in some soft drinks, and of
the 100 brands tested, most had at least some detectable level of
benzene present
* Soda has been shown to cause DNA damage
– courtesy of sodium benzoate, a common preservative found in
many soft drinks, which has the ability to switch off vital parts of
your DNA. This could eventually lead to diseases such as cirrhosis of
the liver and Parkinson's
If you are still drinking
soda, stopping the habit is an easy way to improve your health. Pure
water is a much better choice, or if you must drink a carbonated
beverage, try sparkling mineral water with a squirt of lime or lemon
juice.
There is absolutely NO REASON your kids should ever
drink soda. None, nada, zip, zero. No excuses. The elimination of soft
drinks is one of the most crucial factors to deal with many of the
health problems you or your children suffer.
If you struggle with an addiction to soda, remember, sugar is actually more addictive than cocaine!