The curse of the soft drink
By Trace86
@Trace86 (5030)
United States
January 18, 2009 1:43pm CST
I was sent this article in my email from a friend. It definitely makes me want to rethink my pop addiction!
It is kind of long because it goes into the science of what the different ingredients do to your body.
I highly recommend reading it and then switching to good old water!
http://smartlifeforum.org/toolateschmart/curse_of_the_soft_drink.htm
[i]
Most soft drinks taste good and are a pleasant way of quenching thirst. They seem innocent enough, but if all the facts were told, we would soon learn of their dangers and the remarkable deception taking place. Let's take a close look at the ingredients and the effects they have on the body. The soft drink usually contains the following components: phosphoric acid, caffeine, sugar or aspartame or saccharin, caramel coloring, carbon dioxide, and aluminum.
Ingesting a soft drink does not cause any immediate warning such as stomach cramps, vomiting or diarrhea that would normally occur when a poison enters the body. Instead, there is the energizing feeling of caffeine, the sweet taste of sugar combined with the sour taste of phosphoric acid, and the playful feeling of carbon dioxide bubbles. Not bad for something that's not good! The hook is in…
Those ingredients cause imbalances in body systems that result in debilitating diseases that show up after many, many years of abuse. Those diseases have now become commonly thought of as "normal aging" with no directly attributable causes. However, we shall soon discover that soft drinks have subversive and destructive physiological consequences that contribute to early aging.[/i]
If you followed the link and read the rest, what did you think?
http://smartlifeforum.org/toolateschmart/curse_of_the_soft_drink.htm
[i]
Most soft drinks taste good and are a pleasant way of quenching thirst. They seem innocent enough, but if all the facts were told, we would soon learn of their dangers and the remarkable deception taking place. Let's take a close look at the ingredients and the effects they have on the body. The soft drink usually contains the following components: phosphoric acid, caffeine, sugar or aspartame or saccharin, caramel coloring, carbon dioxide, and aluminum.
Ingesting a soft drink does not cause any immediate warning such as stomach cramps, vomiting or diarrhea that would normally occur when a poison enters the body. Instead, there is the energizing feeling of caffeine, the sweet taste of sugar combined with the sour taste of phosphoric acid, and the playful feeling of carbon dioxide bubbles. Not bad for something that's not good! The hook is in…
Those ingredients cause imbalances in body systems that result in debilitating diseases that show up after many, many years of abuse. Those diseases have now become commonly thought of as "normal aging" with no directly attributable causes. However, we shall soon discover that soft drinks have subversive and destructive physiological consequences that contribute to early aging.[/i]
If you followed the link and read the rest, what did you think?4 people like this
17 responses
@peavey (16936)
• United States
19 Jan 09
I think the article may be overstating the dangers of soft drinks, but that doesn't mean they're harmless. I believe those dangers really are there, but the fear factor should be taken with a grain of salt.
Also, like so many modern "foods" and drinks, soft drinks provide empty calories at best.
1 person likes this
@cynddvs (2948)
• United States
19 Jan 09
I swore off sodas several months ago and have felt so healthy since then. I have lost
5 lbs just from dropping sodas alone. On the rare ocassions I have had a soda in the
past several months I can tell a huge difference in myself. My face will break out, I
feel slugish and I get a horrible headaches.
I swore off soda because I've been reading about the horrible ingredients and now that
my daughter is at the age to want what I want I need to be setting a good example for
her. Soda in my opinion is a very bad example for her. So it's water and juice for me
now.
1 person likes this
@James72 (26790)
• Australia
18 Jan 09
Aspartame has long been criticized, yet it is still in abundance and freely available. 
I once became really surprise when I bought an imported can of Diet Dr Pepper at a supermarket in Manila and it actually had a warning on the can that said that the ingredients within may cause cancer! 
I had never seen a warning like this on a can of soda and I have never seen one since. The ridiculous thing though is that I still bought it and still drank it! Then again, I am also a smoker, so what do you expect really. 
In the longer term, the true impact of artifical ingredients will become known. We are all still quite ignorant today about it all unfortunately.
I once became really surprise when I bought an imported can of Diet Dr Pepper at a supermarket in Manila and it actually had a warning on the can that said that the ingredients within may cause cancer! I had never seen a warning like this on a can of soda and I have never seen one since. The ridiculous thing though is that I still bought it and still drank it! Then again, I am also a smoker, so what do you expect really. In the longer term, the true impact of artifical ingredients will become known. We are all still quite ignorant today about it all unfortunately.1 person likes this
@SusanShayAvon (1003)
• United States
19 Jan 09
I do not drink cokes much at all. I usually only drink them if I do not have anything else to drink. I would rather drink tea. Drinks really bother my stomach and give me heartburn so bad. So I would prefer not to drink them at all. Now I really do not like to drink them because of what this says. Thanks for the information.
1 person likes this
@uicbear (1900)
• United States
18 Jan 09
I was almost afraid to read the article. I guess what drinking soda comes down to as one of my vices that I'm just not ready to give up on. I don't drink or smoke, I don't even drink coffee. Just give me my diet soda and I'm happy. I have however tried to start drinking more water, so there's my compromise.
1 person likes this
@rsa101 (40976)
• Philippines
19 Jan 09
Yes I guess that article is really true. I have lessened my intake of it for sometime already. I am a pre-diabetic stage and anytime soon I might become a full blown diabetic if I don't slow down my intake of too much sweets. I also have these experience about my mother who was a constant drinker of softdrinks before and now she is suffering from cancer. I have no proof that these has some connection but I do believe that there is some connection or link to what she is today.
@drannhh (15219)
• United States
18 Jan 09
Thank you for posting this useful information. I learned some of these fasts when I was a teenager, and finally did grow beyond a Pepsi/Coke/etc addiction. Seriously, although I have never formed the coffee habit, I used to have a bottle of Pepsi for breakfast, usually instead of breakfast. Then one day, I told myself I didn't want any kind of addiction, and stopped drinking the stuff. It took me a whole year to get over the feeling of wanting to drink those caffeinated sodas! But I refused to be a slave to them. Even two years later, there was an occasional urge to want to have "just one sip" but I resisted. Now if I taste a little bit, it tastes awful. What I do enjoy, though is plain seltzer water, if it is icy cold, especially when the weather is extremely hot. But that is a treat. Plain water is my usual cool-me-down drink.
1 person likes this
@bbsr13 (4196)
• India
19 Jan 09
Hello! I never drink any soft drinks as I know its bad effects on our health.Instead in my family we always drink sugar cane juice or any other fruit juice whenever we desire.So also we drink tender coconut water which quenches the thirst as well as provide some vitamins and minerals that help the body.thanx.
@angelia286 (2029)
• Singapore
19 Jan 09
Hmm.. It's pretty common knowledge.
Well for me, I will not be scared off from my favourite foods just becauses of these scares. For one thing, many food are unhealthy for us and if we were to be scared of every single health news that come our way, my guess is that all of us would just be surviving on air alone.
Lol, think of the bird flu, mad cow disease, the mecury poisoning of seafood, the pesticide levels in vegetables and the health problems that vitamin deficiency or over enrichment of nutrition would have had caused us, and you will get what I meant about that.
THe thing about life is that it's unpredictable and well, I would just say heck it, and enjoy life to the fullest as that is when we will look back on our lives with no regrets.
Thanks for posting this article though to warn those who are health conscious! Take care and happy mylotting!
1 person likes this
@cheryltippett (231)
• United States
19 Jan 09
I have recently tried to quit drinking Cokes . I actually lasted 2 weeks but I kept a headache for those 2 weeks. I couldn't figure out why I couldn't Get rid of it . I bet I went thru a half bottle of Ibuprophen. Then out of the blue, I grabbed a Coke and the headache went away. So now I am back to 2 Cokes a day. I guess my body was going thru caffeine and sugar withdrawals.
Cheryl
@skylovergirl79 (148)
• Philippines
19 Jan 09
I am grateful that im not addicted to love this soda.. but i do drink this but I just dont drink it from time to time because too much is very dangerous.. I think this will just kill you moderately from being constipated, hyper ( palpitations), diabetic, acidic and many more...
1 person likes this
@pixelgroups (52)
• India
19 Jan 09
hi
this is very true that they are pleasing but very harmful foe our health. i also got a mail saying the compositions used to make it are so harsh that even our tooth can get dissolve in it within hours. it is used as a toilet cleaner in other countries
as it works good as an acid and the same thing we drink. i have even heard that the cold drinks with color are more harmful than the transparent one.
so better don't drink it. save your body from harmful chemicals.
thanks
http://www.creativeporta.com
1 person likes this
@callarse1 (4783)
• United States
18 Jan 09
Of course they can be bad. Anything is bad if you drink too much of it. Uh, and some drinks don't have the things listed. I believe they are called "joe" or something like that---they're in glass bottles some don't contain sugar (only have Splenda), and some don't have the phosphoric acid. You have to look out for the stuff if you want to avoid it. Or like you advise to just not drink it--or to avoid it. Cheers!
Pablo
1 person likes this
@Keola12 (824)
• United States
18 Jan 09
I do know that soft drinks are no good for the stomach. This woman that worked with my mom was drinking more soft drinks than she should have. She'd drink a twenty-four case of pop every day, until one day she ended up in the hospital, because the ingredients in the soft drink ate part of her stomach. It was the carbonation that contributed quite a bit to the damage, due to the large amount of acidity.
1 person likes this
