fizzy drinks are evil

Having seen the evidence, I don't touch fizzy drinks any more. Frankly they're evil, says leading biologist

• Consumption of soft drinks has more than doubled since 1985 - from ten gallons per person a year to more than 25 gallons
  
• Sugary drinks lead to alterations in muscles similar to those in people with obesity problems and type 2 diabetes
  

Biological scientist Dr
Hans-Peter Kubis, who's just led a
study into what soft drinks do to our bodies, has reached some shocking
conclusions. When you read what he discovered, you may well choose
never to touch the fizzy stuff again.



Fizzy drinks appear to increase the risk of heart disease, liver failure and hypertension

Once upon a time, fizzy drinks were an occasional luxury treat.

Now,
many of us think nothing of having at least one every day — maybe a
lunchtime can of cola or a ‘natural’ lemonade from Pret.

We use them as instant pick-me-ups, and even as ‘healthy’ sports aids bought from vending machines at the gym.

No trip to the cinema is complete without a supersize soft drink, either.

It’s
no surprise to learn, then, that our consumption of soft drinks has
more than doubled since 1985 — from ten gallons per person a year to
more than 25 gallons.

We know this is not entirely good for us — but could sugary soft drinks be so dangerous that they should carry health warnings?

This may sound alarmist, but new medical studies have produced worrying results.
Even moderate consumption — a can a day, or just two a week — may alter our metabolism so that we pile on weight.
The drinks also appear to increase the risk of heart disease, liver failure and hypertension.

In
children, soft drinks have been linked to addict-like cravings, as well
as twisting kids’ appetites so they hunger for junk food.

Already, countries such as Denmark and France are introducing soft-drink taxes to cut consumption.

In
the U.S., around 100 medical and consumer organisations are now calling
on the Surgeon-General to investigate the health effects of soda and
other sugary drinks.

Should we in Britain follow suit?

Sugary
soft drinks come in numerous guises — from ‘innocuous’ fizzy
elderflower to ‘health’ drinks such as Lucozade and ‘sports’ beverages
like Gatorade.

Last year, we swallowed an
astounding 14,585 million litres of soft drinks, an increase of more
than 4 per cent in 12 months, according to the British Soft Drinks
Association.

Our spending rose by nearly 6 per cent to £13,880 million in 2010 — the fastest growth in the past seven years.
We clearly like our soft drinks. But the medical evidence is stacking up against them.
Last week, a study suggested they
can cause weight gain and long-term health problems if drunk every day
for as little as a month.






The
research, by Bangor University and published in the European Journal Of
Nutrition, reported that soft drinks actually alter metabolism, so that
our muscles use sugar for energy instead of burning fat.

It seems that exposure to liquid sugar causes genes in our muscles to change their behaviour, perhaps permanently.

Not
only do we pile on weight, but our metabolism becomes less efficient
and less able to cope with rises in blood sugar, say the researchers.

This, in turn, increases the risk of type 2 diabetes.

‘Having
seen all the medical evidence, I don’t touch soft drinks now,’ says Dr
Hans-Peter Kubis, a biological scientist and expert in exercise
nutrition who led the research.

'I think drinks with added sugar are, frankly, evil.’

In
fact, the Bangor study is only the latest in a long line of reports
warning of the link between soft drinks and serious health problems.
A study in March, for example, warned
that men who drink a standard 12oz can of sugar-sweetened beverage
every day have a 20 per cent higher risk of heart disease compared to
men who don’t drink any sugar-sweetened drinks.

The research published in the American Heart Association’s journal, Circulation, followed more than 42,000 men for 22 years.

Blood
tests found soft-drink fans had higher levels of harmful inflammation
in their blood vessels, and lower levels of ‘good’ HDL cholesterol.




Energy drinks such as Red Bull have boomed in
popularity in the past ten years. The regular version contains seven
teaspoons of sugar per 250ml

The study suggested this may be a result of the sugar rush these soft drinks cause.
This
increased sudden sugar load on the body may also explain research which
found just two carbonated drinks (330ml each) every week appears to
double the risk of pancreatic cancer, reported the journal Cancer
Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention.
Meanwhile, soft drinks with high levels of fruit juice may cause severe long-term liver damage, according to an Israeli study.

People
who drank two cans of these drinks a day were five times more likely to
develop fatty liver disease — a precursor to cirrhosis and liver
cancer.



Dr Hans-Peter Kubis says he no longer touches soft drinks after his research

In the Journal of Hepatology,
the lead investigator, Dr Nimer Assy, warned high levels of fructose
fruit sugar in the drinks can overwhelm the liver, leading it to
accumulate fat.

Perhaps
most disturbing is the picture emerging from various studies that
suggest sugary drinks expose children to a perfect storm of obesity
threats.
Four years ago,
researchers at University College London’s Health Behaviour Research
Centre discovered a powerful — and lucrative — effect sugary soft
drinks have on youngsters.

The
study of 346 children aged around 11 found drinking soft drinks makes
them want to drink more often, even when they’re not actually thirsty —
and that their preference is for more sugary drinks.

Children who drank water or fruit juice in the tests didn’t show this unnecessary need to drink.

The
researchers expressed concern that this may set the children’s habits
for life — in particular, giving them an ‘increased preference for sweet
things in the mouth’, without compensating for the extra calories by
eating less food.

More recent research suggests fizzy drinks may sway children’s tastes towards high-calorie, high-salt food.

Part of this worrying phenomenon was revealed earlier this year by Oregon University investigators.

Their
study of 75 children aged between three and five found those given
sugary soft drinks avoided eating raw vegetables such as carrots or red
peppers, but went for foods high in calories, such as chips.

This did not happen when the children were given water to drink.

The
researchers said this wasn’t about simple fussiness. Instead, our
tastes for food and drink seem to be shaped in a like-with-like manner.

This
discovery comes on top of an earlier finding, by heart experts at St
George’s, University of London, that children and teenagers who consume
sugary soft drinks are far more likely to prefer foods high in salt.

Dr Kubis believes that liquid sugars not only alter our bodies, but also foster addict-like responses.


‘The body absorbs liquid sugars so
much faster because they are more easily taken into the stomach lining,
and this rapid intake fires up the body’s pleasure responses,’ he says.




Coca-Cola in the U.S. has reduced levels of one of its ingredients following fears that it could cause cancer

‘At the same time, your brain
reduces its desire for the taste of nutrients such as vitamins or
minerals,’ says Dr Kubis. This is what makes these sugary drinks so
habit-forming.
‘There is a huge overlap between what is addictive behaviour with drugs and the use of sweet food,’ he adds.

‘In lab experiments, even rats who have been made addicted to cocaine will prefer to have a sugary drink instead of cocaine.’

He
says sugary drink habits aren’t necessarily an addiction ‘because not
all of us suffer withdrawal symptoms when we cut out sugary drinks’.

The
story may be different with children, however. ‘With children, there is
more evidence of addictive behaviour,’ Dr Kubis says.

‘You get tantrums, restlessness and distress if you stop their soft-drink consumption.’

This
may be because children’s developing brains are more prone to
developing sugar cravings, or because children’s desires are simply more
transparent.

Sadly,
there’s little point shifting from sugary soft drinks to ‘healthy
alternatives’ such as fizzy real-fruit lemonades or fruit-juice drinks,
says Dr Kubis, because the liquid sugar problem still remains.

‘Posh
soft drinks with real fruit might be marketed as healthy, but this may
be rather cynical, as such drinks can be just as dangerous,’ he
explains, adding that some fruit drinks contain more sugar than a can of
fizz.

SUGAR: THE BIGGEST DANGER HIDDEN IN A CAN OF COKE





Doctors are in no doubt - the
biggest danger from cola doesn’t come from the hidden additives,
flavourings or colourings, but from sugar.
Too much sugar leads to obesity, the major cause of cancer in the western world.
It also increases the risk of type 2 diabetes, causes heart disease and increases the risk of stroke.
The
over-consumption of sugar has been linked to depression, poor memory
formation and learning disorders in animal experiments. And it rots
teeth.
Each regular can of
cola contains eight teaspoons of sugar. When you drink that much sugar
so quickly, the body experiences an intense sugar rush.
The
cane and beet sugar used in Coca-Cola is used up quickly by the body,
which soon experiences a rapid drop in energy, leading to cravings
for more sugar.


Even when it comes to ‘healthy’
sports drinks, the evidence is that they’re not only a waste of money,
because you don’t need them, but they could also be harmful.

An
investigation by the universities of Oxford and Harvard warned that
popular brands such as Lucozade and Powerade contain large amounts of
sugar and calories which encourage weight gain, the British Medical
Journal reported earlier this month.

On
top of all this is the damage fizzy drinks can wreak on teeth. A study
in the journal General Dentistry in June found that cola is ten times as
corrosive as fruit juice in the first three minutes of drinking.

One of the chief culprits is citric acid, which gives tangy drinks their kick.



Diet Coke has no sugar - but still contains chemicals that can rot the teeth

A study in the British Dental Journal found four cans of fizzy drink a day increased the risk of tooth erosion by 252 per cent.

The
drinks industry, of course, has spent countless millions of pounds
bombarding us with sophisticated and expensive marketing in order to
weld their products in our minds to images of healthiness and fun.

Few who lined the streets of Britain for the Olympic torch procession could have failed to notice the role of Coca-Cola.
The company paid more than £100 million for the exclusive rights to be the official provider of soft drinks at the Games.

The
late Coca-Cola chief executive, Roberto Guizueta, said: ‘Eventually,
the number-one beverage on Earth will not be tea or coffee or wine or
beer. It will be soft drinks — our soft drinks.’

Today, however, there is a growing backlash against soft drinks.

Earlier
this month, a group of leading health organisations, including the
American Cancer Association, the American Diabetes Association, Yale
University’s Rudd Centre for Food Policy and Obesity, and the American
Heart Association, called on the U.S. Surgeon-General to investigate the
health effects of soda and other sugary drinks.

Soft
drinks play a major role in the U.S.’s obesity crisis, the campaigners
say, and they want a study into them similar in scale and impact to the
Surgeon-General’s landmark report on the dangers of smoking in 1964.

Kathleen
Sebelius, the former Governor of Kansas, who campaigns on behalf of the
American Cancer Society, declared: ‘An unbiased and comprehensive
report on the impact of sugar-sweetened beverages could . . . perhaps
begin to change the direction of public behaviour in their choices of
food and drinks.’
Legislators are already starting to
act. In May, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, announced a ban on
serving cartons bigger than 16oz (a pint).

Last year, the Hungarian government imposed a tax on unhealthy drinks and foods.

CITRIC ACID: HELPING FIZZY DRINKS ROT YOUR TEETH






Citric acid gives lemons, oranges and
grapefruit their kick and cola its bite, helping to make the drink
nearly as corrosive as battery acid when it comes to teeth.
Prolonged
exposure to cola and other fizzy drinks strips tooth enamel causing
pain, ugly smiles and — in extreme cases — turning teeth to stumps.
A
study in the journal General Dentistry found that cola is ten times as
corrosive as fruit juices in the first three minutes of drinking.
The
researchers took slices of freshly extracted teeth and immersed them in
20 soft drinks. Teeth dunked for 48 hours in cola and lemonade lost
more than five per cent of their weight.
A
study in the British Dental Journal found that just one can of fizzy
drink a day increased the risk of tooth erosion. While four cans
increased the erosion risk by 252 per cent.

And,
earlier this year, France imposed a tax on sugary soft drinks after a
study found that more than 20 million of its citizens are overweight.

Health
campaigners here are pressing for a similar tax. Researchers at Oxford
University calculate that a 20 per cent tax on soft drinks would reduce
obesity and overweight in Britain by 1 per cent — roughly 400,000 cases
across Britain.

‘We
don’t get anything like that level of success from trying to educate
people about healthy eating,’ says researcher Dr Mike Rayner.

‘I
am not suggesting that people should never have soft drinks,’ he
stresses. ‘I myself like drinking them. But they really should be
restricted to weekends and holiday treats.’

Understandably, the idea of a tax has met stiff opposition from the British Soft Drinks Association.

Its spokesman, Richard Laming, argues that ‘soft drinks, like any other
food or drink, can be consumed in moderation as part of a balanced
diet, and there is no reason to tax them’.

On top of that, he says, UK soft drink manufacturers are producing more low-sugar products.

‘About half of the soft drinks market in the UK is made up of reduced or zero calorie drinks nowadays.’

Nor is Mr Laming impressed by last week’s Bangor University findings.

‘The
study lasted only four weeks and had only a tiny sample size of just 11
people. That is no basis on which to make claims about effects that
last a lifetime.’

Dr
Kubis acknowledges the study’s limitations and says that he is working
to produce a much larger trial to see if the findings are confirmed in
people who start consuming large amounts of sugary soda.

In this, he faces one significant problem.
‘It is difficult to find young people who have not previously been exposed to a lot of soft drinks,’ he laments.




Source:-
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2181290/Having-seen-evidence-I-dont-touch-fizzy-drinks-Frankly-theyre-evil.html