8 Ways Soda Fizzles Your Health

8 Ways Soda Fizzles Your Health
We would wager money that many of you are "doing the dew" or "doing what
tastes right" this very moment. Before you take another gulp from your soft
drink can, here are 8 facts about soda to consider that may drastically
affect the quality of your health.
pH of Soda = pH of Vinegar
For one, soda, no matter who makes it, is the most acidic beverage you can
buy, with a pH of about 2.5, about the same as vinegar. Why does that
matter? Acid oxidizes whatever it comes in contact with. If you put soda or
vinegar on metal, it will rust it quickly. Check out this table of acid
levels of your favorite sodas.

Drink Soda, Leach Calcium
If you drink soda, which also contains high levels of phosphorous, you will
leach calcium from your bones. Dr. Michael Murray from the Encyclopedia of
Natural Medicine concluded, "It appears that increased soft drink
consumption is a major factor that contributes to osteoporosis."
Furthermore, Dr. Elson Haas, author of The Detox Diet states, "Tooth loss,
periodontal disease, and gingivitis can be problems, especially with a high
phosphorus intake, particularly from soft drinks."

Soda Will Dissolve your Tooth Enamel
Weak bones is just the beginning. According to Dr. James Howenstein. author
of A Physician's Guide to Natural Health Products That Work, the high sugar
content of soda is awful. He states, ""In an interesting experiment the
sugar from one soft drink was able to damage the white blood cells' ability
to ingest and kill bacteria for seven hours." Dr. Marion Nestle from his
book Food Politics states, "Sugar and acid in soft drinks so easily dissolve
tooth enamel."

Each Additional Soda Increases Risk for Obesity by 1.6 times
So now we've got weak bones, weakened immune system, and dissolving teeth.
What's next? Weight gain! Dr. Nestle also concluded, "The relationship
between soft drink consumption and body weight is so strong that researchers
calculate that for each additional soda consumed, the risk of obesity
increases 1.6 times."

Children Who Drink Soda Break Bones More Easily
Our children aren't safe, either. Dr. Nestle states, "Adolescents who
consume soft drinks display a risk of bone fractures three to four-fold
higher than those who do not." Dr. William Duffy from the Naval Research
Institute states, "The high sugar hides the acid. Children little realize
they are drinking this strange mixture of phosphoric acid, sugar, caffeine,
coloring, and flavoring matter." Greg Critser from his book Fat Land: How
Americans Became the Fattest People in the World states: "A joint study by
Harvard University and Boston Children's Hospital researchers in February
2001 concluded that such excess liquid calories inhibited the ability of
older children to compensate at mealtime, leading to caloric imbalance and,
in time, obesity."

Diet Soda Isn't Any Better
For those of you with a diet soda in your hands, the news isn't any better,
in fact it's worse! Carol Simontacchi from her book The Crazy Makers: How
the Food Industry Is Destroying Our Brains and Harming Our Children states,
"One liter of an aspartame-sweetened beverage can produce about fifty-six
milligrams of methanol. When several of these beverages are consumed in a
short period of time (one day, perhaps), as much as two hundred fifty
milligrams of methanol are dumped into the bloodstream, or thirty-two times
the EPA limit." So, you're poisoning your body, too.

And when it comes to saccharin, which is a noncaloric petroleum derivative
estimated to be three hundred to five hundred times sweeter than sugar:
"More than a dozen animal tests over the last thirty years have demonstrated
the carcinogenic effects of saccharin in the bladder and other sites,
particularly female reproductive organs, and in some instances at doses as
low as the equivalent of one to two bottles of diet pop daily."

With diet soda, you've gone from high calories to poisonous levels of
methanal and an increased chance of developing cancer. Not a very good
trade.

Could Caffeine Jeopardize the Human Race?
Then there's the caffeine. Jean Carper from her book Food: Your Miracle
Medicine : How Food Can Prevent and Cure over 100 Symptoms and Problems
states, "tests at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine by Roland R.
Griffiths, MD, show caffeine withdrawal can strike people who drink a single
cup of strongly brewed coffee or drink caffeinated soft drinks everyday.
Further, Dr. Griffiths discovered that caffeine-withdrawal symptoms include
not only headache, but also fatigue, mild depression, muscle pain and
stiffness, flu-like feelings, nausea and vomiting. And for women: "Those
consuming at least one cup of a caffeine-containing beverage per day, such
as coffee, tea or soft drinks, were more prone to PMS. And the more caffeine
they consumed, the more severe their PMS symptoms."

Caffeine causes withdrawal with symptoms mimicking a flu and for women it
makes PMS even worse. But could caffeine really jeopardize the future of the
human race? Yes! "A study on the relationship between caffeine and fertility
found that. just one caffeinated soft drink per day was associated with a
reduced monthly chance of conception of 50 percent."

If All That Wasn't Enough Watch Out for a Asthma and a Rash
And finally there's the preservative used in soda. Dr. Marcia Zimmerman,
author of The A.D.D. Nutrition Solution : A Drug-Free 30 Day Plan states,
"Sodium benzoate Sodium benzoate is used as a preservative (microbial
control) in foods, including soft drinks, fruit juices, margarine,
confections, pickles, and jams. Sodium preservatives add sodium to the diet
and reduce the availability of potassium. Some reported reactions to sodium
benzoate include recurring urticaria (rash), asthma, and eczema."

Still Drinking that Soda...?
Hard to believe that so much mayhem can come from a little can or bottle,
but there is absolutely nothing good or redeemable about soda. The sooner
you can remove it from your diet, the better. If the FDA were doing its job,
it wouldn't be allowed on the market. If you care about your health and the
quality of your life, put the Mountain Dew down!