How Soda Affects Your Health

I’ve been warning readers of the dangers of soda since I started Mercola.com, well over a decade ago. Since then, science has caught up; now definitively showing the profound health risks of this popular beverage. Here is a video I recommend watching, click here!

Amazingly, as of 2005, white bread was dethroned by soft drinks as the number one source of calories in the American diet! I keep repeating that statistic because I find it so incredible. According to recent statistics, Americans consume close to 50 billion liters of soda per year, which equates to about 216 liters, or about 57 gallons per person. That equates to a staggering amount of sugar!

Play-By-Play of what Happens in Your Body when You Drink a Soda

Soda is on my list of the five absolute worst foods and drinks you can consume. The video above offers a compelling illustration of why I make this claim.

In it, reporter Yunji DeNies drinks a 20-ounce glass of cola, which contains the equivalent of 16 teaspoons of sugar in the form of high fructose corn syrup (HFCS). This is nearly three times the maximum daily sugar intake recommended by the American Heart Association.

HFCS typically contains a mixture of 45 percent glucose and 55 percent fructose (although recent investigations have found that many brand-name sodas actually contain 65 percent fructose!).

Top 5 Reasons Not to Drink Soda

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Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may not reflect those of
Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers.

Sherri M.

6:01PM PST on Jan 11, 2012

WOW! Unbelievable the many aspects of our health attributed to soda!! Which I'd none this years & years ago. Thanks so much for this information in a clear, concise & compact article.

send a green star

Lilly M.

10:18PM PDT on Sep 25, 2011

oh why does all the tasty stuff have to be so bad!

Robert B.

9:05AM PDT on Sep 23, 2011

The best thing to drink is purified water. So far I have found 3 alternatives. The best would be a Reverse Osmosis filter. Also a water distiller and the "Zero Water" pitcher that come with a TDS meter and one special filter. All three of these are great. Don't confuse these with plain old filters, which only remove some of the contaminates. I started with a distiller , then switched to Reverse Osmosis. My wife uses the Zero Pitcher at work. These three are especially good for anyone who has a problem with kidney stones which are caused by inorganic minerals dissolved in the water.

Allen J.

12:26AM PDT on Sep 23, 2011

Thanks for the article. I stopped drinking all soda recently and am glad I did. The only thing I had to see was that Coca-Cola will totally dissolve a t-bone steak overnight, remove corrosion from battery terminals and shine a penny if soaked in it. Plus, I feel great now!

Ve G.

7:42PM PDT on Sep 21, 2011

Hmmm.

Evelyn D.

10:50AM PDT on Sep 21, 2011

Another item to check for on ingredient lists. Fructose. Who new? I don't drink soda but I do eat food that has fructose. I'm overweight and I've been trying to eat better, so now I will be looking for fructose. Thanks for the article.

Jon T.

8:33AM PDT on Sep 20, 2011

Hmmm, just got the the end of this article and it has an absolute howler. Recommending people not to drink tap water (and by corollary not soft drinks as they use it). What do you suggest instead? Bottled water?!? What a load of rubbish on the dangers of tap water - in most developed countries this is the most regulated drink you will find.

Olja K.

4:53AM PDT on Sep 20, 2011

LOL...if this is true i should be uber fat by now...from just drinking soda...
which i am not...

Lynn S.

3:28PM PDT on Sep 19, 2011

I found out the hard way many years ago what coca cola addiction was all about --- I went into withdrawal for 3-4 days and it was ugly. I switched to diet coke and never had that addiction again, thankfully. Relatively recently, I discovered that if I drank diet coke in the evening, I had to get up during the night. If I drank plain spring water, I didn't. This lead me to believe that caffeine is a diuretic. I have now cut my diet coke consumption by 95%. Since I am allergic to coffee (coffee oil), not thrilled by tea unless I'm sick, shouldn't have fruit juice and limited milk intake because I am diabetic, I drink water almost exclusively. And of that, I usually drink 3-4 liters per day.

Sarah K.

12:43PM PDT on Sep 19, 2011

Watch out for juices out there too. Natural soda can be a good temporary replacement. They are not made with HFCS, but ather natural cane sugar. Obviously, onsuption should be moderated still, but it's still better than most sugar substitutes. I'm not sure I totally agree with the "Don't drink tap water". As, tap water is usually clean and there are pleanty of bottle waters that are just tap water. Flitered tap water would be best, but just tap water is still better than soda.
I didn't see where any of the "studys" were sourced. It would be nice to see some of the citings.