Soda is full of high-fructose corn syrup and not much else, which means it’s a source of empty calories that you’re better off without.
But you know this already, right?
Here’s what you may not know: soda dangers involve much more than simply weight gain or consuming too much extra sugar. Sodas, including both sugar-sweetened and diet, are actually linked to serious, chronic disease, many of which you would probably never associate with soda … until now, that is …
10 Soda Dangers You Probably Haven’t Heard …
10. Depression
If you drink more than four cans of soda a day, you’re 30 percent more likely to develop depression than those who drink none, new research shows.[i] And in this case, diet soda drinkers appeared to be especially at risk.
9. Heart Attack and Stroke
A soft drink a day may raise your risk of stroke, heart attack or other vascular event by 43 percent compared to someone who drinks none. The strong link persisted even after controlling for other risk factors, like heart disease, diabetes or high blood pressure, and was again linked to diet sodas.
8. Tooth Erosion
The citric acid and phosphoric acid in soda can lead to significant enamel loss on your teeth after prolonged exposure.[ii] Soda has actually been called nearly as corrosive to teeth as battery acid!
7. Diabetes
If you drink just one or two sodas a day you’re 26 percent more likely to develop type 2 diabetes than someone who drinks one a month, or less.[iii]
6. Metabolic Syndrome
One soda a day also increases your risk of metabolic syndrome, a collection of symptoms associated with heart disease and type 2 diabetes, by 20 percent.[iv]
5. Gout
People who drink one soda a day are 74 percent more likely to develop gout than those who drink less than one a month.[v] Gout, a type of arthritis, is a painful inflammatory disease caused by elevated levels of uric acid in your blood.
4. Osteoarthritis
Drinking sugary sodas has been found to worsen the progression of knee osteoarthritis in men, a finding that was not due to soda’s influence on weight gain but rather was due to another currently unknown factor.[vi]
3. Kidney Disease
Drinking two or more sodas in a day may increase your risk of kidney disease.[vii] A 1992 study also suggested that sodas containing phosphoric acid (typically dark-colored colas) may increase your risk of kidney stones, although this finding has been questioned.
2. Prostate Cancer
Just one soda a day may increase a man’s risk of prostate cancer by 40 percent,[viii] particularly more serious forms of the disease that require treatment.
1. Heart Disease
Just one soda a day raises your risk of heart disease by 20 percent … a risk the researchers called “quite substantial.”[ix] They suggested the sugar-sweetened soda may be increasing heart disease risk via an inflammatory pathway, as the soda also was linked with several markers of inflammation as well as increased triglycerides and decreased HDL (good) cholesterol.
Sick of Soda?
Are you ready to give up soda for good … or at least cut down on it significantly?
Water is always a great choice, and if you miss the fizz and flavor try some sparkling water with a squeeze of lemon or lime. When water simply won’t do, here are four more beverage options to try that can actually give your health a pain-relieving boost — much unlike that can of soda.