[(JD)]

http://www.nubella.com/content/view/5639/67/

1. It makes you gain weight. According to a 2005 study conducted by the University of Texas Health Science Center, drinking one to two cans of soda a day increases a person’s risk of being overweight or obese by 32.8 percent. And if you think diet soda is a better option, think again: The researchers found that those who drank one to two cans of diet soda per day were at an even higher risk (54.5 percent) of being overweight or obese.

2. It increases your disease risk. A 2007 study published in the American Heart Association’s journal Circulation found that people who drink soda every day, whether regular or diet, were 44 percent more likely to develop metabolic syndrome—a condition that greatly increases your risk for heart disease and diabetes.

3. It has no nutritional value. A 20-ounce bottle of cola contains nearly 250 calories, but take a look at the label, and you’ll see that it has virtually no vitamins or minerals. In fact, the only things soda is packed with are sugar and caffeine—two ingredients for which FDA has no recommended daily allowance.

4. It doesn’t satisfy your thirst. When it comes to quenching your thirst, water is the gold standard, but herbal tea and fruit juice are also good options. Soda, on the other hand, is likely to make you thirstier because caffeine is a diuretic and sugar interferes with the body’s absorption of fluids.

5. It’s bad for digestion. Soda’s effects on digestion are a source of ongoing debate, but some experts believe the phosphoric acid these beverages contain may disturb the acid-alkaline balance of the stomach. As a result, they believe, soda drinkers may develop digestional distress, acid reflux, stomach inflammation, and intestinal erosion.

6. It can be addictive. A 2000 study published in the Archives of Family Medicine revealed that soft-drink manufacturers add caffeine to soda for one reason only: to get consumers hooked. Although this type of addiction may seem benign, experts are quick to point out that caffeine is a stimulant, and once you’re addicted, going cold turkey can create withdrawal symptoms, including fatigue, depression, irritability, tremors, sleep deprivation, and headaches.

7. It’s not eco-friendly. Believe it or not, many people still don’t recycle their bottles and cans. In fact, it’s estimated that some 50 billion aluminum cans and plastic bottles from soft drinks get thrown into landfills every year. Even if you recycle, the containers are still energy-intensive to mine, produce, and recycle.

8. It’s bad for your bones and teeth. According to a recent Tufts University study, women who drank three 12-ounce colas a day had 5 percent less bone density than women who drink less than a serving a day. As the researchers explained, the phosphoric acid in cola prevents calcium from being absorbed by the body. Not surprisingly, soda is also damaging for teeth: A 2006 study, published in General Dentistry, reported that the citric and/or phosphoric acid in soft drinks can be harmful and corrosive to a healthy smile.

9. It may cause cancer. Although still controversial, some scientists believe that soda can increase your cancer risk. A 2006 study from Sweden’s Karolinska Institutet supports the theory: Study subjects who drank high quantities of fizzy or syrup-based soft drinks twice a day or more ran a 90 percent higher risk of developing pancreatic cancer than those who never drank them.

10. It costs a lot of money. Compared to fruit juice or milk, soft drinks may seem inexpensive, but when you consider the lack of nutritional value, soda seems like a rip-off. And keep in mind that the costs of soda can quickly add up. The average 12-ounce can of soda costs about $1 from the vending machine, so if you drank two a day for a year, you’d spend a whopping $730 on pop every year.

This is JUST what I needed. Thank you!

I have been trying so hard to give up soda and juice, but find it so difficult. I go one day and crave it so badly the next.

It is so poisonous to the body..... I am hanging this on my refrigerator!!!!

[lenjan]

Fruit juice isn't particularly good for you either, especially compared with just eating the fruit in question.

[Perna]

8 glasses of water a day are much healthier

[MyBestKids2]

I'll stick with my 1 good reason to drink soda

Cause I like it !!

<font color="purple">Yeah, drinking soda makes me more anxious and fidgity but...I'm still drinking it when available for some unkown reason. as for healthier dribks, I like my 100% fruit juice, chocolate milk, tea, and SOME brands of flavored water. Drinking plain milk makes me feel ill and I don't like drinking plain water most of the time because it tastes funny. </font>

[Rhapsody]

While I know I will probably NEVER give up my soda drinking - as I like the taste of Pepsi - I will say that I have started to buy the mini cans instead of the regular size soda cans...... this way I am drinking less soda than I use to, as I only drink one mini can each day.

[Perna]

When I can, I get the Knudsen "Spritzers" from my health food store. http://www.knudsenjuices.com/product...&categoryID=58 I love their tangerine one but they were out this week so I'm trying the "Mango Fandango" which is pretty good. I didn't like the Jamaican Lemonade I tried last time.

[Brian37]

yes i know its bad...................and I drink the worst.........Mt. Dew, Ski,
regular Coke..........im addicted...........and I drink Kool-Aid with lots of sugar!
no wonder i vibrate all day long!

[RozG]

</font><blockquote><div id="quote"><font class="small">Quote:</font>
mybestkids2 said:
I'll stick with my 1 good reason to drink soda

Cause I like it !!

</div></font></blockquote><font class="post">

LMAO

[nothemama8]

drinking pop has caused me to become dehydrated, yes it tastes good , but when used to SI, this is a bad idea

[katheryn]

</font><blockquote><div id="quote"><font class="small">Quote:</font>
mybestkids2 said:
I'll stick with my 1 good reason to drink soda

Cause I like it !!

</div></font></blockquote><font class="post">

im with you there i only drink diet coke as i dont like regular coke
so my one reason is i will carry on drinking it coz i like it
i dont drink as much as i used to

those are 10 very good reasons.

But everyone has to make thier own choice
it does cause tooth decay. LOLOLO

But one the other hand. One of my children was very ill one time.
They had us rush them to the hospital. They felt it was faster us driving then waiting for a ambulance., As we lived in the country at that time. Drs office was in the country. Ambulance ppl are volunteer. which meant we had to wait for a crew. My child had a high fever and was very very out of it. Needed fluids badly.
I had a can of soda in the car as we were racing to hospital. I filled the bottle with it. he drank it. I had not been able to get anything in him up to that point. It was prolly the sugar. Yes i had tryed pedalight . nothing had worked.
IMO that day the soda saved him. not that i am promoting drinking soda . Just another postum note in the sheeps life
Thank god for that one.....................
muffy

[Razzleberry]

Um...just one thing to point out, because I hate false statistics.

The fact that the people who drink diet soda are more likely to be obese does NOT MEAN THAT DIET SODA MAKES YOU OBESE!!

It means that the PEOPLE WHO ARE MORE LIKELY TO DRINK 'DIET' SODA WERE ALREADY OBESE TO BEGIN WITH!!!!

Ugh...I just hate stupid conclusions like that.

It's like this thing from my high school statistics class. 99% of people who have cancer, ate carrots. 90% of people with heart disease, ate carrots. 89% of people with depression, eat carrots on a regular basis.

So...therefore....CARROTS CAUSE CANCER, HEART DISEASE, AND DEPRESSION - right???!!!

Uh...no.

[Perna]

Razelberry, I think it's referring to the eight year study that concluded in 2005; non-fat people who drink diet soda are more likely to become fat. Doesn't say the soda makes them fat, just says there's a greater chance of those people gaining weight.

http://www.webmd.com/diet/news/20050...in-more-weight

[(JD)]

Actually, those who drink diet soda (only) are more at risk of becoming obese. This is directly linked to the soda.

http://www.webmd.com/diet/news/20050...in-more-weight

I know that Drs Oz and Mehmet have explained how the chemicals in the carbonated diet drinks mess up the system and cause weight gain, also.

To each his own, you know?

The fact that the guys who put the carbonation into soft drinks have to wear HAZMAT suits is rather a deterrent to me.

"The fact that the guys who put the carbonation into soft drinks have to wear HAZMAT suits is rather a deterrent to me"

I was wondering do they wear the suits due to the plastic containers the bottles are made out of?
do they contain pvc like shower curtains?

Either way I know ppl who drink soda and are very thin and ppl who do not and are heavy

I drink pepsi now and then , there is no issue
but thats just me.................

[TaintedGoth1]

I have severe issues about this!!!!

I drink three 24 oz bottles of Mountain Dew a day!!!! I love it so much! No wonder I can't sleep, eh? But at least it tastes yummy! I don't like anything lemon-lime so I refuse to drink anything else! And water? YUCK! YUCK! YUCK!

I just gotta find a good substitute...any ideas??? I do love OJ...maybe I could switch to that??? It's the flavor I crave the most. Or maybe switching to something like and orange soda and weaning myself down??? My problem is the sugar too...if I go cold turkey off the sugar I get really bad stomach pains until I get more sugar in my system...

And yes...I have horrible teeth!

[(JD)]

Oh nothing is 100% on an issue or side.

I know it's addictive...and very difficult to find replacements. I don't think loading up on anything (except water) is a good alternative, personally. I wonder how the flavored water fares for health? Too new to know yet?

It's just that if you think you've tried everything else to lose weight, but still drink soda... you may never have thought to stop the soda.

I can't taste; carbonation gives me a sensation that nothing else does. I will have a ZERO coke with my plain popcorn at the movies... otherwise I lose some of the ambience and therapy of going to movies.

The study was of people not formerly obese... from the webmd link:

"There was a 41% increase in risk of being overweight for every can or bottle of diet soft drink a person consumes each day," Fowler says.

More Diet Drinks, More Weight Gain
Fowler's team looked at seven to eight years of data on 1,550 Mexican-American and non-Hispanic white Americans aged 25 to 64. Of the 622 study participants who were of normal weight at the beginning of the study, about a third became overweight or obese.

For regular soft-drink drinkers, the risk of becoming overweight or obese was:

26% for up to 1/2 can each day
30.4% for 1/2 to one can each day
32.8% for 1 to 2 cans each day
47.2% for more than 2 cans each day.
For diet soft-drink drinkers, the risk of becoming overweight or obese was:

36.5% for up to 1/2 can each day
37.5% for 1/2 to one can each day
54.5% for 1 to 2 cans each day
57.1% for more than 2 cans each day.
For each can of diet soft drink consumed each day, a person's risk of obesity went up 41%.

[Brian37]

[RozG]

ewwwww Brian no wonder you're always belching and complaining of an icky tummy...lol

[Blue93]

yeah, but lots of these reasons also go for
fries
red meat
hamburgers
pizza
pasta
candy
juicedrinks with or without sugar
fruit (as they've got sugar in them as well)
beer
chips
etc etc etc

I mean... its like duhhhh that soda's aint good for you. Everybody knows this already right?

So like saying stop drinking soda cus they aint good for you means you should stop eating all of those other things as well, otherwise it doesnt make much sense.

I say just eat and drink what you like but with moderation...

To much is never good for anything.

Blue

[Blue93]

and LOL Brian :P

</font><blockquote><div id="quote"><font class="small">Quote:</font>
Blue93 said:
yeah, but lots of these reasons also go for
fries
red meat
hamburgers
pizza
pasta
candy
juicedrinks with or without sugar
fruit (as they've got sugar in them as well)
beer
chips
etc etc etc

I mean... its like duhhhh that soda's aint good for you. Everybody knows this already right?

So like saying stop drinking soda cus they aint good for you means you should stop eating all of those other things as well, otherwise it doesnt make much sense.

I say just eat and drink what you like but with moderation...

To much is never good for anything.

Blue

</div></font></blockquote><font class="post">



(((blue)))))) I agree lololololol

[(JD)]

Folks, I posted a real caution for those who hadn't realized how much even "diet" soda can affect them negatively.

Most of you have made very good comments, and have shared your opinions...but it is a very serious issue, imo. TC