Similar to drugs, alcohol, or tobacco, soda too is an addiction. Have you ever wondered why it feels so good to you when you drink it? While it may feel good when you are consuming it, it is also going to wreak pure havoc once it’s in your system for the long-term. In fact, with more and more conclusive evidence all coming to the conclusion that drinking any type of soda is extremely unhealthy for you and your body, it may be time to consider giving soda up for good, or at least reducing the amount that you are drinking on a weekly or even daily basis.
You can’t fight facts, and when it comes to soda being bad for your health, all of the evidence is going to speak for itself. Matter of fact, studies have shown that when you replace your daily cola intake with that of water, you are going to drastically improve your health. How will your health improve from not drinking soda, you ask? Essentially every single organ in your body is going to benefit in some way when you stop drinking soda.
Here is exactly how your body will improve itself after you stop drinking soda:
- Your Heart
When it comes to your heart, the second that you stop drinking soda you will have started taking better care of it. In 2012, a study that was done at Harvard University, found that consuming sugary drinks on a regular basis led to an increase in that person’s risk for chronic heart disease, also referred to as CHD. Those in the study that were allowed to drink the most soda out of all the test subjects had a 20 percent higher risk for experiencing a heart attack. Now keep in mind that 20 percent is equivalent to 1 of 5 people. So why would you purposely continue to drink sodas knowing that you are more likely to be that 1 person out of 5 that is going to suffer from some form of heart disease?
Another study that was published a year prior in 2011, revealed that the consumption of sugary drinks such as soda can potentially raise your blood pressure, increasing even higher the more of it you drink. With that being said, even reducing your soda intake by just one per day is able to decrease your blood pressure levels, as well as help improve your heart’s health.
- Your Brain
For many people who do consume soda, one of the most popular times to drink it is right after lunch when they have the mid-day drowses, hoping that a quick diet cola or other soda is going to give them a nice little sugar and caffeine boost to get them through the rest of their day. While soda is able to potentially help you get focused temporarily, in the long-run when you are drinking soda on a consistent basis, it can potentially have a very negative effect on both your thinking process and your brain function. In fact, one study that was done discovered that the long-term consumption of excess sugar can actually lead to an impaired ability to remember, learn, and even behave correctly.
Those who did the study would go on to say that, “We have investigated a potential mechanism by which a diet, similar in composition to the typical diet of most industrialized western societies rich in saturated fat and refined sugar (HFS), can influence brain structure and function via regulation of neurotrophins.” They would discover that when animals were placed on this same type of high-sugar diet, would have a reduced amount of brain-derived neurotrophic factor, which is also referred to as DBNF, which directly impacted their individual abilities to learn new things, as well as remember things that they have already learned.
While there have also been many other studies that have been done on the effects of soda on the brain, they have found that there is actually a link between consuming a lots of soda and having an increased risk factor for getting Alzheimer’s disease or even some other type of dementia. When a study was done on lab mice, this link showed itself by increasing the number of plaque deposits on the mouse’s brains in those who had been given soda. These excess plaque deposits on the brain are a direct signal of Alzheimer’s disease, as well as several other disorders.
- Your Teeth
Studies have shown that soda will straight destroy your teeth, meaning that when you do decide to put down the soda can for good, you will be giving yourself better oral health, as well as a much whiter smile. Just to paint the picture of what soda can do to your teeth a little better, in some of the more extreme cases, drinking lots of soda can cause you to have a mouth that is just as corroded as someone that abuses meth, according to a study that was done in 2013. In this same study, researchers discovered a woman who was drinking about 2 liters of diet soda every single day for three to five years. This lady had the same exact amount of severe tooth erosion as a person who was a methamphetamine addict, as well as someone who was addicted to crack cocaine. This tooth erosion happens because the citric acid that is packed into every soda helps erode your tooth enamel, making the enamel much softer than it should be. This weakened state of your teeth’s enamel leaves it much more vulnerable to becoming yellow and turning into cavities. When you take a step away from drinking soda and start to replace it with water, you will start protecting and cleaning your teeth with every sip.
- Your Bladder
Soda is considered to be a diuretic, which essentially means that it is going to make you have the feeling of needing to go pee frequently and urgently. On top of that, it has been known to also irritate your bladder, as well as exacerbate the amount of bladder infections you have, and even increase how often you have urinary tract infections (UTI’s) as well. By swapping out the soda you drink for that of clear fluids, such as water, seltzer waters, or even unsweetened juice, you can actually help keep your bladder and your body clean.
- Your Bones
When you stop drinking sodas, you will begin to see an improvement in your bone health, as well as decrease the likelihood of developing osteoporosis. On top of that, when you start to drink less soda, you may actually turn to a drink that is fortified with calcium, such as milk, which will help your bones in ways that soda would never be able too.
- Your Kidneys
As soon as you decide to dump the soda intake, your kidneys are also going to be in much better shape. Studies show that when you drink a high amount of soda you can actually increase your risk of getting kidney disease, eventually leading to complete kidney failure. If you think that you will simply switch to diet soda instead, you are going to be in for a rude awakening. Other studies that have been done on women who often drink diet soda on a daily basis, revealed that these women had a decrease in their liver’s ability to properly function when compared to women who simply did not drink any kind of soda at all. What this means, is that when you stay away from drinking soda, your kidneys are essentially going to be cheering for joy.
- Your Reproductive Organs
Depending upon the type of soda that you are drinking, it may have bisphenol-A or BPA in the ingredients list. This is bad, as BPA has been directly linked to having a higher risk of cancer, as well as impairing your endocrine function. Other studies have shown that the consumption of BPA is also linked to experiencing puberty prematurely, as well as infertility. This essentially means that you are going to be messing with your reproductive organs every time you take a drink of soda.
BPA is one of the most commonly found chemicals that is found in our drink and food containers, as well as dental fillings, according to a study done by the Breast Cancer Fund. BPA is essentially a synthetic type of estrogen that works by impairing your hormonal system, which will then increase your risk of getting breast and prostate cancer, developing some type of metabolic disorder, and even getting type 2 diabetes. This means that if you decide to stop drinking sodas, you won’t be touching soda cans or bottles anymore. This means that you will no longer be exposing yourself to these harmful BPAs, hence lowering your risk in general for any of these negative side effects.
When it comes to soda consumption, there have been no studies to prove that it is in anyway, shape or form, good for you or your body. While yes, it may taste great and make you feel good while you are drinking it, the long-term problems that it causes simply make it something that you should stay away from. If you are unable to completely quit drinking it, even lowering the amount you consume on daily or weekly basis is going to help lower your risks.
