What makes soda bad for you

Sugar-sweetened drinks can trigger rapid spikes in blood sugar, so it makes sense that they would also increase the risk of dementia. Would you trade your precious memories for sugar? Research on diet soda is conflicting, largely because most of the studies are observational.

This means the findings are based on trends rather than concrete findings about whether diet soda intake is a cause or an association with the real cause. Diet soda may be a solid option for weaning off of its sugary brethren, but think of it as a stepping stone to hydrating with water.

Basically, any alternative to sugary soda is going to be better for you. For example, if you have a friend with diabetes and their blood sugar levels are too low, you can quickly raise their blood sugar with regular soda not diet. Pick your poison antidote:. Not only does it fast-track you to extra pounds, but it puts you at risk for heart disease, diabetes, and many other undesirable health risks.

If it helps get you off the hard stuff, switch over to diet soda. Your body will thank you. Finding a sugar-free drink at Starbucks can be tricky. But with some menu ingenuity and ingredient hacks, you can enjoy sugar-free Starbucks drinks…. Sugar alcohol is a popular sugar substitute that can be safe for people with diabetes. A breakdown of the research surrounding lemons and diabetes, including type 1 and type 2 diabetes, as well as tips to add more lemons to your diet. Keto breath is a common side effect among people following a low carb or ketogenic diet.

Fortunately, there are a few…. Dextrose is what's dubbed a 'simple sugar' and is used as a sweetener, commonly in baked goods. But it's also used as a treatment by doctors. What are the best breakfast foods for your blood sugar?

And what are some non-boring ways to enjoy them? Though it's not the most glamorous format, urine tests can tell you quite a bit about your health. Beverage companies spend billions of dollars marketing sugary drinks, yet generally rebuffs suggestions that its products and marketing tactics play any role in the obesity epidemic.

Adding to the confusion, studies funded by the beverage industry are four to eight times more likely to show a finding favorable to industry than independently-funded studies. There is a range of healthier beverages that can be consumed in their place, with water being the top option. If the taste is too bland, try a naturally flavored sparkling water.

You can do this with home-brewed tea as well, like this sparkling iced tea with lemon, cucumber, and mint. Reducing our preference for sweet beverages will require concerted action on several levels—from creative food scientists and marketers in the beverage industry, as well as from individual consumers and families, schools and worksites, and state and federal government.

We must work together toward this worthy and urgent cause: alleviating the cost and the burden of chronic diseases associated with the obesity and diabetes epidemics in the U. Fortunately, sugary drinks are a growing topic in policy discussions both nationally and internationally. Learn more about how different stakeholders can take action against sugary drinks.

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The Nutrition Source Menu. Search for:. How sweet is it? There are 4. Now, imagine scooping up 7 to 10 teaspoons full of sugar and dumping it into your ounce glass of water.

Does that sound too sweet? This can be a useful tip to visualize just how much sugar is in your drink. Body weight and obesity The more ounces of sugary beverages a person has each day, the more calories he or she takes in later in the day. This may prompt a person to keep eating even after intake of a high-calorie drink.

It is possible that sweet-tasting soft drinks—regardless of whether they are sweetened with sugar or a calorie-free sugar substitute —might stimulate the appetite for other sweet, high-carbohydrate foods. Even though soda may contain more sugar than a cookie, because people think of soda as a drink and a cookie as a dessert they are more likely to limit food than beverages.

One meta-analysis of 88 studies showed that the effect appeared to be stronger in women. On the other hand, genetic obesity risk seems to be amplified by consuming sugary drinks. The nurses who said they had one or more servings a day of a sugar-sweetened soft drink or fruit punch were twice as likely to have developed type 2 diabetes during the study than those who rarely had these beverages. In the Framingham Heart Study, men and women who had one or more soft drinks a day were 25 percent more likely to have developed trouble managing blood sugar and nearly 50 percent more likely to have developed metabolic syndrome.

The study also found that drinking more artificially sweetened beverages in place of sugary beverages did not appear to lessen diabetes risk. But researchers accounted for differences in diet quality, energy intake, and weight among the study volunteers. They found that having an otherwise healthy diet, or being at a healthy weight, only slightly diminished the risk associated with drinking sugary beverages.

This suggests that weighing too much, or simply eating too many calories, may only partly explain the relationship between sugary drinks and heart disease. Some risk may also be attributed to the metabolic effects of fructose from the sugar or HFCS used to sweeten these beverages.

The adverse effects of the high glycemic load from these beverages on blood glucose, cholesterol fractions, and inflammatory factors probably also contribute to the higher risk of heart disease. Read more about blood sugar and glycemic load. Bone health Soda may pose a unique challenge to healthy bones: Soda contains high levels of phosphate. Consuming more phosphate than calcium can have a deleterious effect on bone health.

Soft drinks are generally devoid of calcium and other healthful nutrients, yet they are actively marketed to young age groups. Advertising Policy. You have successfully subscribed to our newsletter. Related Articles. Is Sugar Bad for Your Heart?

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