Health Risks of Drinking Soft Drinks

Obesity and weight-related diseases – It was proven in several studies that people who have dietary problems have much higher chance to become obese if they are drinking a lot of diet soda. This is happening because of the presence of artificial sweeteners that can disturb the way our metabolism process food. This changes calorie intake and can cause people to over eat more and more, with their body craving more and more sugar.

Sugar content – Many countries in the world have proposed the limits on the amount of sugar content that one average person needs to intake. However, this limit can very easily be surpassed with just few cans of sugary soft drinks. In USA most popular sugary ingredient is high-fructose corn syrup, while European manufacturers prefer sucrose.

Dental Decay – Increased presence of sugar (glucose, fructose, sucrose), sweeteners and some additives that are present in soft drinks can cause buildup bacteria that feed on them. Result of their presence in our mouths is appearance of plaques, which can lead to the appearance of gum disease and cavities. Also, large amount of soft drinks are acidic, making them excellent material for eroding tooth enamel that is a crucial line of defense against many kind of dental decay.

Bone density and bone loss – Phosphoric acid in soft drinks can destabilize our body’s ability to absorb calcium, making our bones softer, causing appearance of cavities and even osteoporosis.

Stomach problems – Phosphoric acid also interferes with our digestion system, preventing regular processes of stomach acids, slowing digestion and blocking nutrient absorption.

Kidney problems – Large studies have shown that regular intake of two cans of diet cola per day can cause two-fold increase of kidney decline risk.

Changes in metabolism – Some studies have shown that regular drinkers of soda drinks (even one diet soda can per day) can increase their risk of metabolic disorders by 34%. Some of the symptoms are belly fat, higher cholesterol, heart disease and more.

Caffeine –Caffeine in soft drinks can is a proven source of large mood changes that can be caused in individuals.

Hangovers – Cocktails that contain both alcohol and diet soft drinks can make you much faster than other beverages because sugar-free mixture allows liquor to enter your bloodstream faster than drinks that contain sugar. This will make you not only drunker faster, but you will absorb much more alcohol.

Hypokalemia – In some rare extreme cases, users who drank between 4 and 10 liters of soft drinks per day managed to severely destabilize their metabolism by dangerously reducing their potassium levels.

Note: This article does not provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.