Reasons to stop drinking sugary sodas
What happens when you stop drinking Soda? Definitely, many positive things will happen when you stop taking Soda – an overview of them.
On a hot day, many of us love to have a sweet soda. Of course, a cold and sweet carbonated drink sometimes saves you from the heat, but a portion of sugar in it has a bad effect on your health.
You can gain 7 kg of fat
Soda can lead to excess weight due to the influx of calories and sugar (this also applies to sugary diet sodas). A can of soda contains about 150 calories and up to 40 grams of sugar. Drinking it once a day means consuming over 130,000 extra calories annually (or gaining about 7 kg of fat).
A study published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that drinks containing high fructose corn syrup (which can be found in many sodas) are associated with obesity.
According to research, fructose is absorbed differently from other sugars, affecting insulin levels and metabolism, leading to weight gain.
Increased risk of type 2 diabetes
Drinking soda causes a spike in blood sugar and causes the pancreas to release insulin to metabolize all that sugar.
Therefore, it should come as no surprise that a study published in the American Heart Association’s Circulation found that drinking sugar-sweetened beverages such as soda was associated with the development of type 2 diabetes.
Your body is ageing prematurely
Drinking sugary soda affects your body at the cellular level. Researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, found that people who drank more sugar-sweetened drinks had shorter telomeres (the ends of chromosomes).
When telomeres are shorter, cells cannot regenerate quickly, which means the body ages more quickly. This can lead to heart disease, diabetes and some types of cancer, and shortened life expectancy.
Your skin is covered with acne
According to researchers at the University of Wisconsin, eating foods high in sugar can lead to acne. Thus, drinking high-calorie soda water can cause rashes.
Sperm activity drops
A study of 188 young people in Rochester found that participants who drank more sugar-sweetened beverages, including sodas, had lower sperm motility.
Less chance of getting pregnant
According to a 2018 study published in the journal Epidemiology, drinking one (or more) sugar-sweetened beverages per day reduces the chances of getting pregnant.
In particular, women who consumed at least one carbonated drink a day had a 25% lower ability to get pregnant.
It can interfere with normal kidney function
According to a study by the Graduate School of Medicine at Osaka University in Japan, drinking soda is linked to poor kidney function.
The researchers analyzed 8,000 participants who had normal kidney function at the start of the study. Then, they divided them into two groups: in one group, some participants did not drink soda; in the other – they drank two bottles of sweet soda a day.
Unsurprisingly, the group of people who drank two sodas a day had a much higher chance of developing proteinuria, a condition in which the kidneys don’t filter protein properly, which in turn can lead to chronic kidney disease.
Heart attack
Drinking one can of soda a day increases your risk of heart attack by 20%, according to a study published in the American Heart Association’s Circulation.
Researchers believe that sugary drinks are also associated with higher triglyceride levels and lower HDL (High-Density Lipoprotein) or good cholesterol levels, leading to impaired heart function.
Your teeth rot
The sugar in soda is dangerous for your pearly white teeth. Add to that the acidity of carbonated drinks that destroy tooth enamel.
According to a study published in the International Journal of Dentistry, Soda damages dental calcium and leads to dental erosion. In addition to severe tooth decay, darker sodas can also stain the surface of your teeth.
Your bones become more fragile
Although your bones become more fragile as you age, drinking soda can make this problem worse.
A study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition) showed that women who daily drink one type of sweet drink and dietary its variant had a lower bone density in the hips.
The study noted lower calcium to phosphorus ratio. Therefore, avoiding soda is important to stay strong in old age.
You risk brain damage after drinking soda
A study from the University of California Los Angeles found that consuming large amounts of fructose in soda changes hundreds of brain cells. Worst of all, it can lead to serious illnesses such as Alzheimer’s and ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder).
Although a diet rich in omega-3s reverses the damaging effects of fructose, it is best to avoid sugar-sweetened beverages.
Your memory is deteriorating
Researchers at Boston University found that excess sugar (especially fructose from sodas) is associated with poor memory. Also, the size of the hippocampus – the region of the brain responsible for learning and memory – is smaller than that of those who don’t drink sugary soda.
However, experts have yet to determine whether sugar-sweetened beverages are the cause of these changes or are mainly related to vascular disease or diabetes.
