A can of cold soda is definitely “a pick-me-up,” especially during summers.
While you can have one every other day, recent scientific evidence indicates that “having a couple of cans of soda every day to quench your thirst should NOT be an option.”

The acidity of cola drinks… is about the same as that of vinegar. The sugar content masks the acidity, and most of us don’t realize we’re drinking this strange mix of phosphoric acid, sugar, caffeine, colorings, and flavorings.

I’m sure you already know that soft drinks are loaded with empty calories and really aren’t the best drinks to quench your thirst. However, I am listing a few tips that highlight the facts about soda, which will hopefully help you beat the lure of cola.

Here is a list of 10 reasons to avoid excessive consumption of soft drinks.

1) Carbonated soft drinks are diuretics. Drinking a soda will take more water out of your system than you put back into your body. The process of digesting the high levels of sugar will remove a lot of water from your system. To replenish the water lost from drinking a carbonated soft drink, you will need to drink many glasses of water to make up for your soda intake.

2) Too Much Sugar (and a Crash) in Your Body Can Lead to Diabetes
The high amounts of sugar in soda can cause the pancreas to produce too much insulin. The constant raising and lowering of insulin and sugars in your system can lead to fluctuations in blood glucose levels and insulin resistance.

3) Excessive consumption of soft drinks can interfere with the metabolism of iron in your body and decrease nerve impulse transmission.

4) Cola drinks can negatively interact with antacid intake, possibly leading to constipation, calcium loss, high blood pressure, nausea, vomiting, headaches, and kidney damage.

5) Caffeine has been linked to decreased calcium absorption.
It has long been suspected that soft drinks lead to lower calcium levels and higher phosphate levels in the blood. When phosphate levels are high and calcium levels are low, calcium is drawn from the bones. The phosphate content of soft drinks is very high and they contain practically no calcium. Additionally, the kidneys are programmed by caffeine to produce excess urine, leading to dehydration. There is enough evidence that colas and other carbonated beverages are linked to low bone mass, both in adults and children, that people should be concerned about how much of these beverages they drink.

6) Eight times the amount of benzene allowed in drinking water can be found in carbonated soft drinks. The chemical “benzene” found in abundance is linked to leukemia

7) Another advantage of avoiding soft drinks is that you will avoid the caffeine found in many of them. Caffeine consumption above safe limits has been associated with irritability, anxiety, nervousness, deep sleep deprivation, and vascular headaches.

8) In fact, soft drinks are far from bland. Since colas are high in phosphorous and phosphoric acid, they tend to seep into body fluids and corrode the linings of the stomach. They can also upset the alkaline-acid balance of the kidneys and negatively affect liver functions. Research has clearly indicated that acids with a low pH of around 2.5 are 10,000 times more acidic than the desired neutral pH level of 7.0.

9) Soft drinks also contain refined sugar and artificial substances such as colors and flavors, sweeteners, all of which will contribute to the production of free radicals in the body.

10) Since soft drinks are quite acidic in nature, with a pH of about 2.5, drinking too much can cause problems related to teeth and gums.

So the next time you reach for soda, keep in mind that it’s not just your teeth and weight that could be at risk, but your entire body system and overall health as well! Switch to green tea, lime water, fruit juices and buttermilk to quench your thirst and trust me, every single cell in your body will thank you for the change!