More than one-fourth of beverages consumed in the U.S. are carbonated soft drinks, better known as sodas. While these yummy beverages are extremely tasty, refreshing and satisfying, here are seven ways drinking soda is actually bad for your health.
1. The Sugar
One can of soda is equivalent to consuming 10 teaspoons of sugar. The amount of sugar found in soda can increase blood sugar levels enormously leading to diabetes, insulin resistance, weight gain and plenty of other health problems.
2. Poor Dental Health
Soda causes plaque to build up on the teeth which cannot only lead to cavities but also all sorts of gum disease. In addition, soda contains phosphoric acid and carbonic acid known to make teeth vulnerable to decay and damage.
3. Kidney Stone
Drinking soda puts people at an increased risk of painful kidney stones. Studies show that people who consume mostly sugar-sweetened beverages have an increased risk of developing kidney stones by 23 percent.
4. Diabetes
Drinking soda leads to insulin resistance, which is why numerous studies have linked soda consumptions with type 2 diabetes. A recent study has shown that one can of soda a day forced an increased link to type 2 diabetes by 1.1 percent.
5. Obesity
A Harvard study found that kids who drank one can of soda a day were more likely to be obese later on in life by 1.6 times. Several studies have also shown that people who drink sodas consistently gain more weight than people who do not drink sugar-sweetened beverages. Sodas make people feel full which means people tend to eat the same amount of food as before which adds to all the extra calories on the side.
6. Risk Of Cancer
Drinking two sugary sodas a week can increase the amount of insulin in the pancreas that can eventually lead to doubling the risk of pancreatic cancer. A study of over 600,000 people who drank two or more sodas a week were more likely to develop pancreatic cancer by 87 percent.
7. No Nutrients
Sodas contain absolutely no nutritional value to the body at all. Not only is soda bad for the health, but they also contain zero positive benefits to outweigh them.
