Some Fun Facts About Soft Drinks

Here are a few statistics on soft drinks that you might find interesting.

Worldwide the consumption of soft drinks is 89.8 billion liters per year. The United States alone consumes 49.78 billion liters in a year. To break that down even more....that equates to 216 liters per person or 57 gallons of pop per person per year.......That amounts to a staggering amount of sugar ingested.

21% of all sugar consumed in the average American diet is from soft drinks.

If you drink 2 soft drinks per week, it will increase your risk of pancreatic cancer by 87%

If you drink one soft drink per day, it increases your risk of getting metabolic syndrome by 44%
(Metabolic Syndrome is a 21st century medical condition that includes a cluster of symptoms...such as type II diabetes, high blood pressure, increased risk of stroke and heart disease).....much of this syndrome has been linked to the diet that we consume.

If children are allowed to drink pop on a daily basis, it increases their risk of becoming overweight or obese by 60%. For adults, it can increase their risk of becoming overweight or obese by 65%


Studies have also found that too much pop causes scarring of the liver. The liver is an organ responsible for helping the body rid itself of toxins. Needless, to say, it is very important to do all that you can to keep your liver functioning at its best.

Anyway, back to soda pop. Most soft drinks today are sweetened with HFCS (high fructose corn syrup) and it has become the number one source of calories in the United States. Many people, think they are making a wise choice when they buy artificially sweetened soft drinks so as to avoid the sugar but studies are finding that those pose many health risks as well which would be another blog entirely about the dangers of artificial sweeteners.

One can of Coke contains 10 teaspoons of sugar!!!! That is 100% of your daily recommended intake. Within 20 minutes of drinking the pop, your blood sugar spikes, and your liver responds to the resulting insulin burst by turning massive amounts of sugar into fat. Within 40 minutes, your blood pressure rises.....and then your liver dumps even MORE sugar into your bloodstream. At 60 minutes, your blood sugar will crash which could lead to a vicious cycle of having to consume more sugar to bring your blood sugar up. Sugar increases your insulin levels, which can lead to weight gain, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, heart disease, diabetes, premature aging and significantly increases your risk of developing cancer. Did you know that a cancer cell has insulin receptor sites and so, therefore, the cell feeds off of sugar. Cut out the sugar and the cancer cell starves and the reverse is also true....sugar feeds cancer.

Soda has also been shown to cause DNA damage because of a common preservative found in many soft drinks which is sodium benzoate. It can also lead to diseases such as cirrhosis of the liver and Parkinson's and Alzheimer's disease.

The best choice would be to avoid soda pop altogether and instead drink water. One-half ounce for every pound of body weight is your best gauge. Drinks containing caffeine or soda pop do NOT count towards your daily fluid intake because they actually deplete your body of necessary minerals and vitamins and end up dehydrating you. You can find better alternatives in the health food stores. We are fortunate enough to have Sprouts and Vitamin Cottage plus where I work. :) Read labels carefully because not everything that is sold in a 'health food'store is actually good for you. Here is something that I like to do occasionally when I find myself craving a soft drink. I will buy mineral water and add a few drops of flavoring such as orange, lemon, or cherry.