What Makes Soda So Bad?

While most of us have heard that soda is not healthy, it is not often that we stop to think about WHY we should avoid soft drinks. While there are a large variety of drinks on the market today, let’s look at one of the most well-known: Coke.

The average Americans drinks eight hundred forty-eight (848) 8-ounce cans of soda per year. This is an astonishing quantity of soda, meaning that Americans are consuming upwards of 75 lbs. of sugar from soda alone! (The average total consumption of sugar per year is 180 lbs.) Even with all of the efforts to educate, millions of Americans still suffer from sugar addiction and its consequences on weight and health. So how have we fallen so far off track?  For one thing, most people do not even realize how much sugar is in the products they are eating. As we talked about in Read the Label, Then Put it Back, a big step toward eating healthier is to get in the habit of reading nutrition labels. Let’s take a look at our can of Coke and see what we find.

The Breakdown

One 8-ounce can of coke contains 27g of sugar (the label below is from a 20oz bottle, which would contain 65g of sugar). Compare this with the USDA recommended 25-50g of sugar PER DAY and you will find that with just one 8-ounce can you have possibly reached your limit! Take into account all of the other products that have sugar (even “natural” sugar, e.g. fruit) and it can really add up.

 If sugar should be avoided, shouldn't we just switch to diet soda? Unfortunately, it is not that simple. Diet Coke (along with many other soda) contains Aspartame, a widely used artificial sweetener. Aspartame has been linked to headaches, cramps, memory loss, and fatigue, while artificial sweeteners in general can lead to increased hunger signals and cravings for sweet foods. Some artificial sweeteners have even been shown to damage gut flora and increase insulin release. While more research should be conducted, man-made chemicals just never seem to be the best dietary choices.

If we look at the other ingredients in Coke and Diet Coke, the story does not get much better when it comes to our health. Phosphoric acid, more traditionally used for rust removal, can also be used in foods to give it a sour taste. Research has linked the consumption of phosphoric acid with lower bone density (as is common when eating acidic items) and issues with kidney disease and kidney stones (also common with an acidic diet).

Our next item, potassium benzoate, is added to inhibit the growth of bacteria and yeast (good for shelf life, potentially harmful for gut flora). The scary thing about potassium benzoate is its potential to combine with other substances to form benzene, a known carcinogen that has been linked to leukemia. Heat, light, and time increase the rate at which benzene is formed, so it is hard to know what you are getting when you pop open a can.

We have already gone over natural flavors and citric acid, so we can move on to the final ingredient, caffeine. While caffeine is not always a bad thing, I would argue that most people would do better to avoid it. We live in a stressful world with poor sleep, poor nutrition, long hours at work, and not nearly enough sun. When we are stressed out all the time, caffeine only adds fuel to the fire by stimulating the release of adrenalin. Adrenalin intensifies your reaction to daily stressors leading to chronically elevated levels of cortisol, a bad sign for overall health. Sleep, weight, illness, and mood can all be negatively affected if cortisol is not kept under control, so anything we can do to prevent unwarranted cortisol release is a good thing.

What’s The Point?

When it comes right down to it, why do we drink any of this stuff? If you had a bottle of rat poison, but you knew that it tasted delicious, would you drink it? Most people would not (I hope), but when it comes to soda, which is full of chemicals that are poisonous to our bodies, we don’t think twice. I like to think of food and liquid as opportunities. Every time you eat or drink something, you have an opportunity to either help yourself to feel better, or cause yourself to feel worse. You can extend your life by a day or you can cut it short by one. How we look and feel will reflect EXACTLY what we eat and drink. You cannot expect to look and feel great when the food and drinks you consume are not great—it is impossible. So take this new (or maybe refreshed) knowledge of soda and start asking yourself if this is what you want your body and brain to use as fuel. If not, maybe it’s time to start looking elsewhere for your energy…I would start with lots of water and sleep.