48% of Americans drink 2.6 glasses of sodas on a daily basis. A 12-ounce soda has about 31.8 grams (equal to 10 teaspoons) of sugar. Sugary drinks like sodas and energy drinks are not good for health for many reasons.
According to
many published research reports, the caramel coloring used in Pepsi and Coke
has dangerous levels of artificial caramel coloring carcinogen.
In February
2011, Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) petitioned FDA to ban
the use of 4-methylimidazole, or 4-Mel which is formed as a byproduct of caramel
coloring due to reaction between sugar, ammonia and ammonia sulfite. However,
according to NPR the FDA issued a statement saying that consumers should drink
more than 1,000 cans of soda a day to reach the doses that have been shown to
lead to cancer in rodents.
The National
Toxicity Program found “clear evidence” of 4-Mel toxicity in sodas and linked
4-Mel to infertility, thyroid dysfunction and liver and lung cancer. After the
report by National Toxicity Program about 4-Mel toxicity, the State of
California added 4-Mel to the list of chemicals linked to cancer. Top 17 toxic foods, preservatives and additives that are causing cancer
For more than 16
years, Prop 65 consumer protection laws have challenged thousands of products
that are a threat to consumers’ health. According to Prop 65 consumer
protection laws, the state of California has successfully banned the use of the
carcinogen and all coke products sold in California are required by law to have
a cancer warning label.
Although
Coca-Cola has recently decided to remove carcinogenic 4-MEI from their drinks,
Pepsi still continues using high levels of 4-MEI in their drinks:
According to
NPR, nine out of ten samples of Coke products purchased outside California had
little or no trace of 4-Mel, whereas, 10 of 10 samples of Pepsi products
purchased nationwide contained levels of 4-MEI that were about four to eight
times higher than the safety levels set by California. The testing was
conducted by Eurofins Analytical laboratory in Metairie, La.
Most sodas and
soft drinks including Coca-Cola, Sprite, PepsiCo, Dr. Pepper and Mountain Dew
have common GMO ingredients like high fructose corn syrup in them. According to
a report by Nutrition Research Center, here is what happens after drinking
soda:
The first 10
minutes: within
10 minutes after drinking sodas, 10 teaspoons of sugar hit your system (100%
more than the recommended daily sugar intake) and phosphoric acid cuts the
overwhelming sweetness and that’s the only reason that you won’t throw up.
Within 20
minutes: Your body will experience an insulin burst as your
blood sugar spikes while your liver turn massive amount of sugar into fat.
Within 40
minutes: Your body has absorbed caffeine so your
blood pressure goes up and your liver dumps more sugar into your bloodstream.
Within 45
minutes: your
body releases more dopamine (dopamine stimulates the pleasure centers of the
brain)—the same reaction with drug addicts and their response to heroin.
After 60
minutes: Phosphoric acid binds magnesium, zinc and calcium in
your lower intestine and high levels of artificial sweeteners (like aspartame)
or sugar increases excretion of calcium via urine. The caffeine will also come
to play by dehydrating your body and you will lose a lot of water by going to
bathroom. Phosphoric acid and caffeine also deplete your body from the bonded
magnesium, zinc and calcium as well as sodium, electrolyte and water that were
headed to your bones. After losing the valuable nutrients in your body that
could have been used for hydrating or building stronger bones and teeth, you
get sugar rush and your system will crash.
Let’s take a
look at the lovely ingredients in sodas:
1.
Sugar:
The soda
industry doesn’t use organic cane sugar; they use the cheapest white processed
bleached sugar in their drinks. White sugar increases insulin level , it can
also causehigh blood pressure, high cholesterol, heart disease, diabetes, obesity, premature aging and many other side effects.
Diet sodas are
even worse than non-diet sodas, since they contain artificial sweeteners likeaspartame made of methyl alcohol (wood alcohol), aspartic
acid and phenylalanine. Aspartame has been linked to 92 different health
problems and some of them are craving for sugar, emotional disorders,
seizures, weight gain, obesity, cancer, diabetes, leukemia and morehttp://www.seattleorganicrestaurants.com/vegan-whole-food/aspartame-sweeteners-health-risks.php
2.
Phosphoric Acid:
Phosphoric acids
affect the body’s ability to absorb calcium and can soften bones and teeth and
cause osteoporosis.
3.
Caffeine:
Caffeinated
drinks have diuretic quality and are related to high blood pressure, high cholesterol levels, malnutrition, birth
defects, breast lumps, irregular heartbeat and cancer.
4.
High Fructose Corn syrup:
High fructose
corn syrup (HFCS) is made from Monsanto’s toxic producing GMO corn (90% of corn
and soy in US are GMOs). HFCS is a result of farmers’ exploitation of farms
subsidy back in 1980s when there was a shortage of corn. More than 3 decades
later, millions of your tax dollars have gone to the pocket of giant
Agribusinesses by becoming Twinkies and other processed or cheap foods toxic to
your health. Beside the health risks of GMOs, toxic HFCS considered GRAS (Generally regarded As Safe) by
FDA has been linked toobesity, high blood pressure, heart disease, cancer, diabetes and many other
health problems. http://www.seattleorganicrestaurants.com/vegan-whole-foods/high-fructose-corn-syrup/
5.
Addictive ingredients like Cocaine in Coke:
The only US
Corporation that has the right to import coca leaves to US is Coca-Cola.
Coca-Cola imports coca leaves legally to US via a coca processing lab known as
the Stepan Company. Stepan (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stepan_Company) Company imports
100 metric tons of coca every year to the United States under "special
permission".
However while
African Americans make up only for 13.6% of the US population, 40% of the total
prison population is filled with blacks, most of them whom are jailed as a
result of the current “War On Drug”. It’s the same interesting concept
with the President of the United States, who ships more weapons (to so
called friendly nations) in a day than what an arm dealer does in a year!
Although the US
government claims that 333,000 grams of cocaine is used for medical purposes in
US, some have questioned that if most doctors, pharmacists and member are
Congress are addicted to drugs like cocaine themselves? However, we know that
up to this day, Coca-Cola has been using small traces of cocaine in their
drinks. No wonder why many people are hooked on these drinks like heroin and
have a hard time quitting these drinks.
6.
Tap water:
Some people
believe that when they drink sodas, they are drinking water since86% of
a soft drink is tap water. What they don’t know is that caffeine in soft drinks
is diuretic and depletes the body from water and essential nutrients. Tap water
has also toxins and heavy metals such as lead, trihalomethanes, cadmium, fluoride and MTBE (http://www.seattleorganicrestaurants.com/vegan-whole-foods/drinking-water-mtbe/):http://seattleorganicrestaurants.com/vegan-whole-foods/fluoride-health-risks/
7.
Aborted fetuses used as a flavor enhancer in many sodas:
The HEK 293 is
the code for aborted human kidney cells used to generate taste receptors that
can stimulate a type of protein known as G protein familiar to human’s taste in
sodas. According to sources Senomyx and PepsiCo have been using aborted human fetal cells as a flavor enhances in their drinks. Aborted
human fetal cells are also used in makeup products and vaccines. http://www.seattleorganicrestaurants.com/vegan-whole-food/aborted-fetus-cells-artificial-flavors.php
I don’t know if
these are enough reasons for people to stop drinking sodas and boycott the
products of giant Agribusinesses that have been bringing death and misery all
these years to the US population. Instead of sodas you can hydrate your body
with organic watermelon or coconut water. Coconut water was used in WW2 to heal wounded soldiers with
its electrolytes and anti-inflammatory qualities. http://www.seattleorganicrestaurants.com/vegan-whole-foods/coconut-coconut-oil/
