Health Hazards of Drinking Soft Drinks

Uluwaru · 2014-07-13T07:45:03+00:00

The life style of many Tanzanian is totally different from the way it used to be in the seventies, the eights or even early nineties this may be due to number of reasons but on the major one is what we eat, what we dress and what we do for leaving. Eating behaviors has changed from the natural organic food we used to eat to new type of food that is industrial prepared food. As every change in life, this change has its advantages where one of it could be it save time and the convenience of availability. But the risk that we put our health through outweighs the benefits we get. Coca-Cola and other carbonated drinks have got a rapid popularity in the 90s and people have been consuming these products that I would group them in the Junk food group without considering the side effects, that it has reaches a point that people in urban settings have replace the water with soft drinks and food but lets see what are the risk of using soft drinks especially to our health. The chemical composition of Coca-Cola and other cola beverages is much the same; they all contain mainly phosphoric acid and a lot of sugar. Frankly, the fluid is so terribly acid that it would be intolerable without lots of sugar to mask the acidity; other ingredients include caffeine, CO2 and water. The flavor is from cola nuts. An active ingredient of COKE is phosphoric acid, its pH is 2.8. With this amount of acidity coke will dissolve a nail in about four days, it will dissolve a tooth in few hours however a tooth is made mainly of dentin and covered in a thin layer of enamel. Although dentin is like bone only harder and enamel is the hardest material on the teeth that covers that crown of the teeth. In the teeth, its a powerful acid, it melts part of the teeth and cause erosion, the phosphorous chemically locks with the melted calcium and quickly carries it off. Sugar does its part to ruin the teeth also; bacteria convert it to dextran forming dental plaque which melts the teeth also. In an experiment, a Coca-Cola drink was added in a glass, and then a tooth was added. Results showed that after several hours, the tooth was completely dissolved in Coca-Cola drink. If the same experiment was conducted in a buccal cavity by controlling saliva secretion, you could imagine the look that subject would have after a few hours. Severe complications, dental plaques and erosions. The two most important aspects to look at with soft drinks is the sugar and acid content. There are two methods to measure the acid content in a beverage. The initial acidity (pH) and the titratable acidity (TA). Beverages with a lower pH typically have greater erosive effects on the teeth, but the TA level is the more accurate way to determine the erosion potential in a certain beverage. pH measures acid strength, and TA measures the amount of acid present. The greater the TA, the longer time it will take for the saliva to restore the mouth to a neutral pH value. A neutral pH is where acid cant attack and damage tooth structure. Carbonated cola beverages, sports and high-energy drinks have been reported to have a low pH and a high TA. Soft drinks like Coca-Cola and Pepsi increase sugar level, phosphate level and caffeine in blood stream. Studies shows that drinking one five hundred millimeter bottle of coca cola is equivalent to taking one and a half shots of sugar that is equivalent to 65 grams of sugar Soft drinks contain caffeine, which are secretagogues thus stimulate more gastric secretion hence medically predicts future stomach mucosal ulcer. This effect is much more to occur to people who replace meals with soft drinks mostly likely due to the working condition they have that they dont get time to eat food when they are in the offices. The phosphate content of soft drinks like Coca -Cola and Pepsi is very high, and they contain virtually no calcium. Soft drinks have long been suspected of leading to lower calcium levels and higher phosphate levels in the blood. When phosphate levels are high and calcium levels are low, calcium is pulled out of the bones. This is done hormonally under the effect of parathyroid hormone (PTH). Soft drink consumption in children poses a significant risk factor for impaired calcification of growing bones. Risk is also seen in pregnant women and old people especially women in menopause .Adolescents who consume soft drinks display a risk of bone fractures three to four-fold higher than those who do not. The United States ranks 1st among countries for soft drink consumption with a per capita consumption of approximately 15 ounces (426 mills) a day.10 million cases in the USA (National Osteoporosis Foundation, 2004) 34 million at risk cases in the USA (National Osteoporosis Foundation, 2004). 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. And its also a fact that each extra calorie taken per day predicts obesity in the future where one 350ml bottle of Coke contains around 160 calories. Obesity is linked with high blood pressure (hypertension), diabetes mellitus and other life-threatening diseases. Body Mass Index (BMI) is used to estimate healthy weight of average people, BMI of 20 to 24 is desirable for most adults. If person has a BMI of 25 to 29.9 is considered overweight, and a person with a BMI of 30 or above is considered obese. Soft drinks are the single greatest source of caffeine in children's diets; a 350mls bottle of cola contains about 45 milligrams but the amounts are more potent. 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 every day. 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. Soft drinks are rich in caffeine which are diuretic in nature therefore speeds up the rate of urine production hence dehydration. The half-life of caffeine in our bodies is 6 hours; caffeine prevents drowsiness by blocking the effects of hormones serotonin and melatonin and blocking adenosine receptors (sleep-inducers) from being bound.

Thread starter Uluwaru
Start date Jul 13, 2014

Uluwaru

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Health Hazards of Drinking Soft Drinks

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