5 Rotten Reasons Why Soft Drinks are Bad for You

Here is an unsurprising finding… a new study suggests that high consumption of free sugars might worsen lupus. Both activity and complications.

Come on… my mom could have told you this years ago! Mine has been telling me since day one that soft drinks are bad for me.

When you were a kid, did your mother not warn, “that fizzy pop will rot your teeth if you keep drinking them!”

Back then, soft drinks were a tasty refreshing drink. Perfect for a hot summer’s day.

But to our parents, it was a treat that you were meant to have now and again. They bought them because you liked them, even though they didn’t want you to drink them.

Times have changed since. It seems nowadays, soft drinks are a source of hydration for many.

Today, the soft drinks industry is reportedly worth around $392.6 billion worldwide. No shock that Coca-Cola and Pepsi take the majority of the market share.

There is no sign of it slowing down either, as it’s projected to reach $695.6 Billion by 2025!

Science continues to study how soft drinks affect us. Researchers have highlighted some concerns. Yet, soft drink sales carry on growing each year.

It seems that now as parents, we should spread the scare fact-ics to our offspring.

Soft drinks are not as refreshing as first thought. Here are 5 scare-fact-ics to share with your children.

My mom was right! Fizzy pop does rot our teeth after all.

How? Well, we ingest sugar, the plaque (which is alive) on our teeth gets very happy. Plaque is bacteria and it LOVES sugar. It eats the sugar and then gives off acid as a by-product of its metabolism.

So, in layman terms, plaque eats sugar and poops acid onto our teeth. The acid then starts to “de-mineralize” the outer shell of the tooth (the enamel)[1]. Our saliva comes to our rescue then. It buffers the acid or ‘neutralises’ it, bringing the level of acid on your tooth back to normal. Then, because saliva contains calcium, the tooth will ‘re-mineralise’ during the period of time when the acid levels are low enough [2].

This goes on all day long in everyone’s mouth. As long as the amount of re-mineralisation is not outpaced by the de-mineralisation, the enamel stays intact and no cavity begins. It is when you don’t give the tooth a chance to re-mineralise that the problems occur. Sipping all day long on a sugary drink never allows the saliva to neutralise the acid. Meaning, the tooth never re-mineralises. Sooner or later the enamel will break through, giving the acid access to the inner part of the tooth, which is poor at defending itself.

This erosion process happens when the surface pH goes below 5.5 [3]. Coca-Cola’s pH, for example, is around 2.30. It comes with low calcium and fluoride ion levels of around 0.58 and 0.066. Three reasons why Coco-Cola is bad for our teeth [4].

There are ways around this issue:

• Use a straw. Position it to the back of the mouth so that the fizzy pop avoids the teeth
• Rinse the mouth with water after drinking soft drinks
• Limit or Cut the intake of fizzy pop, sports drinks, and energy drinks

Still, this is only one way in which soft drinks are bad for us and our kids.

By letting your kids live off fizzy pop, it’s not only their teeth that it ‘rots’ in the head. It seems that soft drinks can ‘rot’ the mind, causing issues as both a child and an adult.

In children as young as 5 years old, drinking soft drinks every day causes: [5]

• Aggression
• Withdrawal
• Attention problems

Those who drink a few servings of fizzy pop a day are also twice as likely to: [5]

• Destroy things belonging to others
• Get into fights
• Physically attack people

This trend continues into teenage years, with soft drinks triggering [6][7][8][9][10][11]:

• Aggression towards others
• Depression
• Self-harm
• Suicidal Thoughts
• Withdrawal behaviour

Carrying on all the way into adulthood where it can set off [12][13][14][15]:

• Depression
• Psychological Distress
• Stress-related Problems
• Suicidal Thoughts

The solution to all this: Drop the soft drinks and increase your intake of ‘healthy foods’ (e.g. fresh fruits, salads, leafy green vegetables) [11] [14].

So, drinking soft drinks cause tooth decay… and tooth decay may somehow spark asthma in some [15].

In fact, if you drink more than half a litre of fizzy pop daily, you have a higher chance of asthma and/or COPD. The more soft drinks you consume, the higher your chance [16][17]. Also, if you throw smoking in the mix, you have a 6.6-fold greater risk of COPD [16].

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is one of the main causes of death in the world. At best it ruins a person’s quality of life [18][19]. Asthma affects both adults and children on a daily basis. The most troublesome issues being [20]:

• Shortness of breath
• Chest tightness
• Wheeze
• Cough

This creates problems for many. In particular, during physical activities, such as sports, hurrying, going upstairs, and shopping. Plus, people with asthma seem to have more allergies.

What’s more, not only do soft drinks increase your chance of developing asthma. In females, it can increase the odds of your offspring having asthma also, as well as allergies [17][21]. Highlighting, that for women, fizzy pop not only harms you but your unborn children too.

The kidneys are another organ that soft drinks damage in both us and our children. The more fizzy pop a person drinks, the higher their odds of getting chronic kidney disease [28][29][30].

It was this worry that stopped me from drinking a single soft drink for a couple of years. Now I drink fizzy pop on the odd occasion… only opting for light-coloured soft drinks though.

The reason being that I have Lupus Nephritis. Meaning that my immune system attacks my kidneys, damaging them in the process.

But why avoid dark sodas like coke? Because they contain an ingredient called, Phosphoric Acid. Extra phosphorus causes the body to pull calcium out of your bones, making them weak and more likely to break [31][32].

Click Here to find a list of all soft drinks that contain Phosphoric Acid

As a kid, I would drink a cold bottle of pop after running around playing football, for example. But this isn’t the best thing to do, as drinking soft drinks on a hot day, after working hard don’t rehydrate you. In fact, doing this increases creatinine in the blood and lowers the glomerular filtration rate – markers for kidney injury. It also can raise blood pressure and keep you dehydrated [33][34].

Simply put: The consumption of soft drinks during and following exercise in the heat does not rehydrate. Rather, it will damage your kidneys and make you even more dehydrated.

Solution: Drinking small amounts of baking powder (sodium bicarbonate) may slow the decline of kidney function in some with chronic kidney disease [35]. But, speak to your health consultant first, or take the easier and wiser option: kick the can on soft drinks!

These 5 points stress how damaging soft drinks can be to us and our kids. It seems that rotting our teeth was the least of our worries when it comes to fizzy pop. The effect they can have on our mind, lungs, heart, and kidneys is disturbing.

Some may point the blame away from soft drinks. For example, those who drink the most soda have poor diets [36]. Among other things, they eat more foods containing saturated fats and trans fats [37][38]. Meaning this could be the main contributor to heart disease, let’s say.

But we cannot ignore that “Regular” soft drinks include a lot of sugar or corn syrup. Both of which contribute to many illnesses [39][40][41][42]. Then there is also the fact that “Diet” soft drinks are sweetened with chemicals. Chemicals that have been approved and come with recommended intake limits, yes. But some hide a shady past [43][44].

For Example, Click Here to read, ‘Aspartame, who thought poison could be so sweet’.

Remember, a healthy diet is not all about what we eat. It is as much of what we do not eat. 

If you enjoyed this post, let us make the world a healthier place. I’d be grateful if you’d help spread this message by emailing it to friends or sharing it on Twitter or Facebook. Pass it on to anyone with young children. Or those who you think drink far too much fizzy pop. Thank you!