If you are fond of sipping your favourite soft drink along with snacks, then you need to read this article till the end. Soft drinks, sodas or cold drinks are often referred to as empty calories as they provide no benefit to the body and instead harm it in several ways. From making you gain weight to exposing you to the risk of diabetes, there are several side effects of drinking soft drinks regularly.
It is a no brainer that cold drinks lead to weight gain. Sodas and soft drinks are laden with sugar which makes you gain weight the fastest. According to nutrition experts, one regular can of coca-cola contains a whopping 8 tablespoons of sugar. Cold drinks might satiate your cravings but they do not fill your stomach. They might suppress hunger pangs for a while but can ultimately make you eat more. Refined sugar contains two main compounds- glucose and fructose.
"Glucose can be easily metabolized by the cells of your body, while fructose can only be metabolized by the liver. An excess of fructose provided by soft drinks can cause an overload. Due to this overload, the liver converts the fructose into fat which gets deposited on the liver. This can turn into fatty liver disease in no time which can be quite dangerous," says Rohini Saikia, a doctor who specialises in medicine and adds, "The main function of the insulin hormone is to drive glucose from your bloodstream into your cells. Due to regular sugar intake in the form of soft drinks, your cells may become resistant to the effects of insulin and because of this; your pancreas tend to make more insulin, which in turn causes an insulin spike in the blood. Since sodas are loaded with sugar, it is a known fact that excessive fructose intake can lead to insulin resistance. Thus, excessive intake of soft drinks might cause Type 2 diabetes."
Several studies also link soda consumption to Type 2 diabetes. Cold drinks are just empty calories without any minerals or nutrients. "One bottle of your usual soft drinks contains around 150-200 calories which provide you just sugar and calories. As the sugar rush releases dopamine in your body and satiates your cravings, it can become quite addictive with time. Soft drinks are also terrible for your teeth and can leave them prone to decay. Sodas contain phosphoric acid and carbonic acid which can erode the tooth enamel in the long run. Acid combined with sugar prepares the perfect environment for bacteria to thrive in your mouth, which can cause cavities," cautions Dr Saikia.
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