What Happens After You Drink Soda Every Day for a Long time and other Tales from the Coca Cola Front

So What happens if you drink Coca Cola or Pepsi Cola every day?

Sugar rushes and caffeine highs followed by a depressing energy crash are what happens if you drink a soda right now, but plenty of you actually seem to be okay with that. Some of you think it’s alarmist to compare a caffeine and sugar rush to doing drugs, and some just don’t really care about the slump they’ll find themselves in after drinking 39 grams of sugar, but what also makes me really worried about a soda-slurping habit is what happens over the long term.

Here’s a quick snapshot of you, in a few years, after drinking soda on a regular basis:

You’ll Be Fatter: According to research in the Nurses Health Journal which monitored the health of 90,000 women for eight years, drinking a single soda every day of the week added 10 pounds over a four-year period.

You’ll Probably Have Diabetes: In the Nurses’ Health Study, women who said they drank one or more servings a day of a sugar-sweetened soft drink or fruit punch were twice as likely to develop adult onset diabetes during the study than those who rarely consumed these beverages.

You’re Much More Likely to Develop Heart Disease: According to a study in the New England Journal of Medicine and the  the journal of the American Heart Association, subjects who drank a soda every day over a four-year period had a 25% chance of developing high blood sugar levels and a 32% greater chance of developing lower “good” cholesterol levels. The Nurses’ Health Study found that women who drank more than two sugary beverages per day had a 40% higher risk of heart attacks or death from heart disease than women who rarely drank sugary beverages.

You’re Probably Also Less Healthy In Other Ways: Several studies, including the 2007 study published in Circulation, suggest that diet sodas have some of the same effects on health as regular sodas, despite having none or very little of the sugar. Why? Drinking soda is typically part of an overall lifestyle that’s not very healthy: We know you don’t like us to compare drinking caffeine and sugar to substance abuse, but when it comes to your lifestyle, some think that soda is just like a gateway drug.

So You’ve decided to Stop Drinking coke and Pepsi but still have it lying around the house. Here are some things you can do with it:

1) To clean a toilet:

Pour a can of Coca-Cola into the toilet bowl.
Let the “real thing” sit for one hour, then flush clean.
The citric acid in Coke removes stains from vitreous china.
No scrubbing, no sweat – guaranteed.

2) To remove rust spots from chrome car bumpers:

Rub the bumper with a crumpled-up piece of aluminum foils dipped in Coca-Cola. Much economical than the stuff from Target.

3) To clean corrosion from car battery terminals;

Pour a can of Coca-Cola over the terminals to bubble away the corrosion.

4) To loosen a rusted bolt;

Applying a cloth soaked in Coca-Cola to the rusted bolt for several minutes.

5) To remove grease from clothes;

Empty a can of Coke into a load of greasy clothes, add detergent, and run through a regular cycle.

6) The Coca-Cola will help loosen grease stains. It will also clean road haze from your windshield.

Hey, what do we have here?

The world’s first soft drink disguise as a multi-purpose cleaner? Or should it be a multi-purpose cleaner disguised as a soft drink!!!

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AND WE DRINK THIS STUFF! Coke & Pepsi ALARMING FACTS!!!

The average pH of soft drinks, e.g. Coke, Pepsi is pH 3.4. This acidity is strong enough to dissolve teeth and bones! Our human body stops building bones at around the age of 30. After that it’ll be dissolving about 8-18% of the bones each year through the urine, depending on the acidity of the food intake (acidity does not depend on the taste of the food, but on the ratio of potassium / calcium / magnesium / etc. to phosphorus).

All the dissolved calcium compounds accumulate in the arteries, veins, skin tissue, and organs. This affects the functioning of the kidney (kidney stones). Soft drinks do not have any nutritional value (in terms of vitamins and minerals). They have higher sugar content, higher acidity, and more additives such as preservatives and colorings.

Some people like to drink  cold soft drinks with or after each meal, guess what’s the impact? Our body has an optimum temperature of 98.6F degrees for the functioning of digestive enzymes. The temperature of cold soft drinks is much less than 98.6, sometimes quite close to 32 degrees. This will lower the effectiveness of the enzymes and put stress on the digestive system, digesting less food. In fact the food gets fermented. The fermented food produce bad smelling gases, decays and forms toxins, which are absorbed in the intestines, get circulated in the blood and is delivered to the whole body. This spread of toxins can lead to the development of various diseases. Think before you drink Coke or Pepsi or any another soft drinks.

Have you ever thought what you drink when you drink an aerated drink? You gulp down carbon dioxide, something that no sane person in the world would advise you to do. Few months ago, there was a competition in Delhi University “Who can drink the most Coke?”. The winner drank 8 bottles and died on the spot because of too much carbon dioxide in the blood and not enough oxygen. From then on, the principal banned all soft drinks from the university canteen.

Someone put a broken tooth in a bottle of Pepsi and in 10 days it was dissolved! Teeth and bones are the only human organs that stay intact for years after death. Imagine what the drink must be doing to your delicate soft intestines and stomach lining! To all COKE / PEPSI LOVERS, think again the next time before you say: ” I’ll have a Coke/Pepsi!”

The dangers of downing too much Coke or Pepsi may be even more dire. Guzzling gallons of soda can cause potassium levels in the blood to plummet. This can increase the risk of muscle problems and heart rhythm abnormalities, which could prove fatal in some cases.

In the International Journal of Clinical Science,  researchers cited two cases where soda caused a surprising health crisis. The first was an Australian ostrich farmer who drank several liters of cola every day for years. Not only did this add empty nutrition to his caloric intake, it also virtually paralyzed his lungs! Fortunately, emergency treatment and abstaining from his beloved cola have helped him recover.

The other case involved a woman who drank one to three liters of soda a day. She suddenly began to experience episodes of vomiting, lack of appetite, and exhaustion – frightening symptoms that could have signaled a serious illness. But once her doctors pulled her off of the pop, these symptoms disappeared.

One of the study’s authors says that these two cases were likely due to drains of their potassium levels caused by too much cola consumption. Past studies have shown how the excessive intake of caffeine can cause potassium drainage – and when potassium levels drop severely, the body’s musculature can go haywire. The reason? Potassium is critical to regulating muscle function. He cautions that the high amounts of high-fructose corn syrup in colas can cause potassium levels to drop as well.

Diet Dangers

Diet soda also pose a risk to your potassium levels and is not a safe bet for your health or your weight. According to a study by researchers at the University of Texas Health Science Center, San Antonio, people who drink diet soft drinks don’t lose weight. In fact, they gain weight!

After reviewing eight years of data on more than 1,500 people, the researchers found that for each can of diet soft drink consumed each day, a person’s risk of obesity went up by a whopping 41 percent! In fact, when the researchers took a closer look at their data, they found that nearly all the obesity risk from soft drinks came from diet sodas.

What it comes down to is this:  Soda, whether it’s diet or regular, diminishes the body’s ability to perform at its peak.  Not only does it diminish muscle power, but it also eats away at other things, like teeth enamel and bone composition. And it just might make you fat!

One Last Thing …

So, what should you drink? Good old-fashioned water. Water keeps you hydrated, contains no calories, and helps transport nutrients around the body. Water is perhaps one of the most overlooked, yet essential, nutrients we can ingest. Without enough water, we are at risk of developing numerous diseases including cancer, arthritis, ulcers, migraines, colitis, and high blood pressure. Dehydration is also linked to low back pain, poor circulation, obesity, and poor health in the elderly.

Every day we lose water through sweat, urine, feces, tears, and nasal discharges. We even lose water when we exhale. Some liquids such as coffee, soft drinks, and alcohol are also dehydrating. It has been estimated that we lose about 12 cups of water, even on a cool day without exercising.

Surveys indicate that about one-third of Americans drink three or fewer servings of water every day. To calculate your water needs, take the number of pounds you weigh and divide that number in half.  That number is the fluid ounces you should drink each day. For instance, a 200-pound person should drink 100 ounces of water, which is at least twelve 8-ounce cups.

So the next time you think about reaching for a soda, diet or not, think about a glass of water instead.

But There is more!

Four Dangers of Soft Drinks

The Health Risks of Colas and Other Carbonated Beverages

A soft drink may taste sweet, but the health effects aren’t so tasty. Here are four dangers of drinking soft drinks.

It can be satisfying to pop off the metal tab and taste the sweet carbonated liquid, but soft drinks also have a decidedly sour side when it comes to health. These carbonated beverages owe their popularity to clever marketing by such beverage giants as Coca-Cola and Pepsi who reinforce the message that drinking their product is “cool”. Children and teens are picking up on this message and developing a life long love of all things “cola”. What are the dangers of soft drinks and why are they best kept away from children and teens?

Dangers of Soft drinks: High Fructose Corn Syrup (sometimes now called Corn Sugar)

Unless it’s sugar-free, most soft drinks contain high fructose corn syrup, a sweetener that’s recently come under considerable scrutiny. High fructose corn syrup has been associated with an increased risk of metabolic syndrome, a condition associated with an elevated risk of both diabetes and heart disease. HFCS, as it’s called, is also believed to be a major contributor to the obesity epidemic among children and teens. Although similar in calorie content to table sugar, the danger of high fructose corn syrup arises from the way it’s is metabolized by the liver. By being broken down more rapidly than other sugars, it can lead to alterations in triglyceride and lipid metabolism, thereby increasing the risk of heart disease and fatty liver, not to mention diabetes. Although the soft drink industry has tried to underplay the risks, evidence supporting the dangers of high fructose corn syrup is mounting and very clear.

The Problem of Phosphoric Acid!

Many people are aware of the dangers of high fructose corn syrup, but fewer realize the impact soft drinks have on bone health. Soft drinks contain phosphoric acid and a high phosphate diet has been associated with bone breakdown and an increased risk of osteoporosis. When phosphorus is excreted in the urine, it takes calcium with it, depriving the bones and the rest of the body of this important mineral.

Who Needs Caffeine?

How many kids and teenagers really need more caffeine? Although soft drinks contain less caffeine than coffee or energy drinks, they still contribute to caffeine dependence and increase the risk of behavioral problems and hyperactivity, not to mention poor sleep habits and insomnia.

BPA: Another Little known danger of soft drinks.

Soft drink cans are coated with a resin that contains BPA (bisphenyl-A). This is the same cancer causing chemical found in plastic baby bottles, water bottles, and plastic containers that wrecks havoc on the endocrine system, potentially causing premature puberty and reproductive abnormalities. Soft drinks could be a particular problem when it comes to BPA leaching. They’re often stored in hot warehouses where heat can accelerate the contamination process. Plus, the drink itself is acidic which could further facilitate leaching of BPA into the drink.

The bottom line? Consider the dangers of soft drinks before stocking up on beverages and consider healthier alternatives such as herbal tea or water sweetened with lemon. You’ll be setting a good example for your kids as well as doing good things for yourself.