The many names of soda
There are over 450 different types of soda sold in the United States. In the past 20 years, consumption of sugar by Americans has risen nearly 30% - with 1/3 of that sugar attributed to carbonated soft drinks. Soft drinks are essentially a cold drink without any alcohol content and are known by many different names: soda, pop, tonic, soda pop, cool drink, fizzy, fizzy water, fizzy drink, and the list goes on! For this article I will refer to it as soda.
Sugar versus high-fructose corn syrup
Historically speaking, soda is a very sugary drink. In most parts of the world it still contains sugar as the sweetener. However, these days the sweetener used in most sodas is high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS). In a 12oz can of soda, there are around 13 teaspoons of HFCS. In a nutshell, HFCS is made from (almost certainly) genetically modified corn, processed with genetically modified enzymes (that are reused until ineffective) and the corn starch is processed and processed until it becomes corn syrup that is higher in fructose than glucose. One teaspoon of sucrose (sugar) tastes exactly the same and sweetens exactly the same as HFCS. Interestingly, sucrose is much easier and quicker to manufacture, but HFCS is cheaper. So HFCS is used in soft drinks today in America!
Does it make me gain weight?
Put it this way - if you want to be a statistic and join the 64%+ of Americans over 20 that are overweight - drink a can or tow of soda every day. If you want to join the 30%+ that are obese, drink a 36 pack a week. Or two. Heck yes does soda make you gain weight. Not only is it full of sugar/HFCS, this high sugar content means its incredibly high in calories. Also, the more soda a body consumes, the more food a body craves. So the more you drink, the more you’ll want to eat. Catalyst for disaster! Time to ditch the soda my friends and turn to a healthier option!
Cancer-causing Cola
Not only does soda cause you to pack on the pounds, it can also cause cancer. The fancy name for these chemicals is ‘carcinogens’. There are two main carcinogens present in soda: benzene and quinine. In recent years the amount of benzene has been reduced but it is still present in soda! Benzene is dangerous because it can damage bone marrow and cause anemia - to name just a few of the dangers! Just think on this: benzene levels in soda is only informally regulated. Quinine is a bittering agent added to soda to give a clean bitter taste, not a lingering one. However if it is subjected to sunlight, it can degrade into a carcinogen. This is dangerous because quinine can be an abortifacient and can cause birth defects, and heart defects to name just two bad side effects. So if you really have to drink soda, take care to store it out of sunlight and avoid drinking it if pregnant!
Should I switch to diet?
There are many schools of thought about ‘diet’ drinks. Yes, diet soda contains a lot less HFCS, but it contains artificial sweeteners which are even worse for the body. More information on artificial sweeteners is coming soon!
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
weelittleme 04.30.08 at 6:29 am
I generally agree with you here completely. I don’t think soda should be consumed and HFCS is definitely unhealthy.
One note, however, neither benzene, nor quinine are enzymes. All enzymes are proteins. Neither of these chemical compounds is a protein.
Mckenna 04.30.08 at 10:25 pm
Thanks for reading an pointing that out
I’ve edited the article now. Keep you on as a content/spell checker?
Cheers.