Soft Drinks Kill!

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http://www.mindconnection.com/library/health/softdrinks.htm

 

Soft drinks: Unsafe beverages

 

Amazingly, Americans (and people in other countries) actually drink a

product that can rightfully be called Osteoporosis In a Can. And, it

gets worse from there. Read on.

 

This poison goes by many brand names, such as Coca Cola and Pepsi.

 

Generically, this poison is on the market in formulations known as

soda, pop, and soft drinks. It includes all carbonated beverages—even

carbonated plain water. The various substances in sodas compound the

problem, especially the typical formulations with their carbonic acid

or phosphoric acid.

 

Reading the rest of this article may be the best use you've ever made

of 5 minutes. Yeah, we know Pepsi will never sponsor an ad on this

site.

 

But your health is more important to us.

 

It's tragic that the " beverage " industry shoves this toxic brew at

human beings. Let's take a closer look at what it does.

 

The carbonation in all soft drinks causes calcium loss in the bones

through a three-stage process:

 

1. The carbonation irritates the stomach.

 

2. The stomach " cures " the irritation the only way it knows how. It

adds the only antacid at its disposal: calcium. It gets this from the

blood.

 

3. The blood, now low on calcium, replenishes its supply from the

bones. If it did not do this, muscular and brain function would be

severely impaired.

 

But, the story doesn't end there. Another problem with most soft

drinks is they also contain phosphoric acid (not the same as the

carbonation, which is carbon dioxide mixed with the water). This

substance also causes a drawdown on the store of calcium.

 

So, soft drinks soften your bones (actually, they make them weak and

brittle) in three ways:

 

1. Carbonation reduces the calcium in the bones.

 

2. Phosphoric acid reduces the calcium in the bones.

 

3. The beverage replaces a calcium-containing alternative, such as

milk or water. Milk and water are not excellent calcium sources, but

they are sources.

 

Diabetes in a can

 

The picture gets worse when you add sugar to the soft drink. The

sugar, dissolved in liquid, is quickly carried to the bloodstream,

where its presence in overload quantities signals the pancreas to go

into overdrive. The pancreas has no way of knowing if this sugar

inrush is a single dose or the front-end of a sustained dose. The

assumption in the body's chemical controls is the worst-case

scenario. To prevent nerve damage from oxidation, the pancreas pumps

out as much insulin as it can.

 

Even so, it may not prevent nerve damage.

 

But, this heroic effort of the pancreas has a hefty downside. The

jolt of insulin causes the body to reduce the testosterone in the

bloodstream, and to depress further production of it. In both men and

women, testosterone is the hormone that controls the depositing of

calcium in the bones. You can raise testosterone through weight-

bearing exercise, but if you are chemically depressing it via massive

sugar intake (it takes very small quantities of sugar to constitute a

massive intake, because refined sugar is not something the human body

is equipped to handle), then your body won't add calcium to the

bones.

 

Add this to what we discussed above, and you can see that drinking

sweetened colas is a suicidal endeavor. And now you know why bone

damage formerly apparent only in the very old is now showing up in

teenagers.

 

Cancer in a can

 

In the spring of 2005, research showed a strong correlation between

esophageal cancer and the drinking of carbonated beverages. We aren't

providing extensive detail here yet, because the subject is still

rolling through the medical community. Basically, it works like this:

 

1. You drink soda.

 

2. It makes you burp (acid reflux, actually).

 

3. The burping carries acid into the esophagus, causing lesions.

 

4. The lesions become cancerous.

 

So, maybe it's not so bad if you sip sodas instead of guzzle them. By

the time this issue settles out through double blind studies (rather

than statistical analysis only), that is probably what researchers

will conclude. It's common sense.

 

Of course, the softdrink companies have conducted their own flawed

studies using flawed methods to obtain the flawed results they want.

 

This way, they can deny that their toxic products also cause

esophageal cancer in addition to other diseases their beverages

cause. I wonder if these folks have flawed sleep at night, or if they

are just psychopathic?

 

Do a or Google search on softdrinks + esophageal cancer, and

you'll get several thousand pages of results. Most of the articles

say softdrinks " may " cause esophageal cancer. And that's true--in the

sense that lying down on a railroad track " may " get you run over by a

train or holding a revolver with one bullet in it and pulling the

trigger " may " blow your brains out. It's a game of chance. How many

chances do you want to take?

 

You can search online for data on the number of esophageal cancer

cases per year and the startling increase in this cancer occurring

with the huge ramp-up in soft drink consumption. This disease was

unheard of two generations ago--now, it's common. You can also search

for the source reports and articles. But, that's not really necessary

because basic science is at work here:

 

1. Mechanical damage to cells is a huge risk factor for cancer. It's

why asbestos particles, for example, cause lung cancer.

 

2. Soft drinks cause acid reflux (stomach acid rising up past the

esophageal valve). This is more pronounced when the body is

horizontal (as in sleeping), but the sheer volume of soft drinks

consumed in the USA means the acid reflux is well past the danger

point. Any time you ingest a gassy drink, you are going to get

belching--and acid into the esophagus. How much is too much? The

research doesn't say where the limit is--it only shows that most

Americans are far, far, far past it.

 

3. Stomach acid dissolves tissue--that's its purpose. The stomach

lining does not extend into the esophagus, so the lower esophagus

gets damaged by acid far more frequently in soft drink users than in

non soft drink users. This results in a radical increase in cell

mutations, along with a far higher level of free radicals.

 

This isn't an attack on the Coca-Cola or Pepsi corporations. It's a

revealing of the truth about all carbonated beverages. This has been

widely reported in many authoritative sources.

 

Remember, soft drinks Kill.

 

Let's compare soft drinks to water:

 

Soft drinks

 

1. The salt in these " beverages " may reduce the amount of water in

your cells. Salt increases dehydration, which is why sailors don't

drink seawater.

 

2. The sugar in these " beverages " (other than the diet kind)

increases hunger. 3. All sodas promote the symptoms of daytime

fatigue, mid-day munchies, leg and toe cramps, and inability to

mentally focus. The insulin response from the sugary versions

compounds them.

 

4. The obesity and nutritional deficiencies typically suffered by

heavy soda drinkers bring on back and joint pain.

 

5. Sodas cause the body to lose water, thereby promoting the symptoms

of dehydration.

 

6. The various colorings and other substances in sodas aren't noted

for cancer prevention.

 

Water

 

1. The National Institute of Health reports that 75% of Americans are

chronically dehydrated. However, this figure is likely understated.

 

In 37% of Americans, the thirst mechanism is so weak that it is often

mistaken for hunger.

 

Even mild dehydration will slow down your metabolism, speed up aging,

reduce resistance to disease, and reduce muscle recovery after

exercise.

 

2. One glass of water shut down midnight hunger pangs for almost 100%

of the dieters studied in a University of Washington study.

 

3. Lack of water is a major trigger.

 

4. Research indicates drinking half a gallon of water a day would

significantly ease back and joint pain for 80% of sufferers.

 

5. A 2% drop in the amount of water retained in the body (other than

as subcutaneous or intercellular water due to excess sodium) can

trigger fuzzy short-term memory, trouble with basic math, and

difficulty focusing on printed or video text.

 

6. The NIH says drinking a quart of water daily reduces the risk of

colon cancer by 45%, reduces the risk of breast cancer by 79%,

reduces the risk of bladder cancer by 50%.