15 Reasons NOT to drink Soda

 1. Soda Contains No Nutrition

2.  Weight Gain & Obesity - Excess sugar and high fructose corn syrup has been linked to weight gain and obesity.

3. Diabetes - Drinking soda also stresses the body's ability to process sugar. Rapidly absorbed carbohydrates like high fructose corn syrup put more strain on insulin-producing cells than other foods. When sugar enters the bloodstream quickly, the pancreas has to secrete large amounts of insulin for the body to process it.

4. Weakened Bones And Risk Of Osteoporosis - Some scientists believe that the acidity of colas may be weakening bones by promoting the loss of calcium.

5. Dental Caries And Erosion - The acidity can dissolve the mineral content of the enamel, making the teeth weaker, more sensitive, and more susceptible to decay.

6. Kidney Damage - Your body must buffer the acidity of soft drinks with calcium from your own bones. As this calcium is eliminated through your urine, it slowly forms kidney stones.

7. Increased Blood Pressure - Over consumption of fructose, particularly in the form of soft drinks, leads to an increase in blood pressure.

8. Likely To Cause Heartburn

9. Metabolic Syndrome Risk Factor - Metabolic syndrome is a combination of the symptoms such as high blood pressure, obesity, high cholesterol, and insulin resistance.

10. Harmful Effects On Liver - Soda consumption leads to increased risk for liver cirrhosis similar to what chronic alcoholics have.

11. Impaired Digestive System - Soda is the most acidic beverage you can buy, with a pH of about 2.5, about the same as vinegar. Consider that battery acid has a pH of 1 and pure water has a pH level of 7.

Throughout the entire digestive system only the stomach can resist an acidic environment up to pH 2.0. However, the soda passes through all the other organs involved in the digestive system thus causing an abnormal acidic environment.

12. Dehydration - Both caffeine and sugar cause dehydration.

13. High Caffeine Content - High doses of caffeine can cause irritability, restlessness, tension, insomnia, high blood pressure, gastrointestinal disturbance, excessive urination, irregular heartbeat and other side effects.

14. Toxins - Aspartame - If you think diet soda is better think again. The poison in diet soda is an artificial sweetener aspartame. Aspartame is made up of three chemicals: aspartic acid, phenylalanine, and methanol.

Despite FDA approval as a "safe" food additive, aspartame is one of the most dangerous substances added to foods. After you drink an aspartame-sweetened product, aspartame breaks down into its starting components: phenylalanine, aspartic acid, and methanol (that further converts to formaldehyde and formic acid, which are known carcinogens.). There are over 92 different health side effects associated with aspartame consumption.

15. Possible Cell Damage Ability - A new health scare erupted over soft drinks recently amid evidence that they may cause serious cell damage. Research suggests a common preservative, sodium benzoate, has the ability to switch off vital parts of DNA.