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 275 litres 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, 600 kilojules, 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 corn syrup.
Let’s take a look at 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.
- 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.
The First Hour After Drinking Coca Cola
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.
Other statistics on the health dangers of soft drinks include:
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One soda per day increases your risk of obesity by 85%.
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Soda drinkers have a 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 100 tested brands, most had at least some detectable level of benzene present.
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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 disease.
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