More Dangerous Than Smoking? Death by Soda

Catherine · **Posted:** Fri Dec 29, 2006 3:50 pm

More Dangerous Than Smoking? Death by Soda

By Joshua Frank, AlterNet. Posted December 27, 2006.

Drinking one soda a day could cause you to gain 15 pounds a year. Other related health risks include type 2 diabetes, heart disease, bowel cancer and nerve damage.

We are a country of overweight people. Americans are tipping the scales in record numbers, with approximately 130 million who are presently considered overweight or obese. Perhaps most alarmingly of all, half of all women aged 20 to 39 in the United States are included in these figures. Many factors contribute to the growing problem, from our sedentary lifestyles to our overindulgence in high-energy, low nutritional foods. Dealing with the crisis is not easy. The marketing of energy dense foods is a multi-billion dollar industry, and manufacturers of such products go to great lengths to ensure their shareholders continue to profit from the sales of nutrition-less foods.

Despite the barrage of marketing to the contrary, sales pitches, and misinformation, consumption of soda has been directly linked to both obesity as well as type 2 diabetes. Soft drinks are packed full of sugar and refined carbohydrates, both of which are undeniably correlated to these factors.

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TheStripey1 · **Posted:** Fri Jan 05, 2007 7:23 pm

maybe... but soda breath is not nearly as bad as smoker's breath...

french kissing a smoker is like licking an ashtray...

is this another of thoase studies that make claims about this that or the other but when you read the fine print, you'd have to consume tons of it to wreak the undesired affect?

Catherine · **Posted:** Fri Jan 05, 2007 11:00 pm

You're right, Stripey, about the smoker's breath...I feel sorry for dentists when they have to work on a smoker. :pukeleft:

Regarding the article:

Quote:

To put this dangerous pattern into perspective, one regular 12-ounce can of sugar-sweetened soda contains approximately 150 calories with close to 50 grams of sugar. If this is added to the typical American diet, one can of soda per day could lead to a weight gain of 15 pounds in one year.

Currently the consumption of soda accounts for about 8%-9% of total energy among children and adults, and studies suggest that it is most certainly having a negative effect on the people who consume it in such vast quantities. So what's so wrong with being overweight then, you ask? So what if soda has been linked to causing obesity? What's wrong with that? Well, plenty say scores of medical, health and public nutrition experts.

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More Dangerous Than Smoking? Death by Soda

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