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THE BANE OF SOFT DRINKS
Article by herbalist
Dave
Hawkins, MH, CNC
Over the years when
consulting with people about their lifestyle, it has become
evident to me that soft drinks have become the mainstay for
fluids being put into the body. Long term use of these
drinks can have a detrimental effect on the human body.
I
have always wondered why everyone likes soft drinks because
they are just artificial, color flavored, carbonated water.
In a recent edition of Townsend Letter
For Doctors And Patients an article called The Curse
Of The Soft Drink inspired me to bring this to your
attention. The following are excerpts of that article
written by the author Stan Field.
The soft drink market is
huge and has a long history. What we know of as soda had
its origin in
Atlanta, Georgia
back in the 1880’s. The new non-alcoholic beverage would
quench the thirst and provide pep. Its ingredients were
cocaine, kola bean, sugar, caramel coloring, lime juice,
citric acid, phosphoric acid, nutmeg, coriander,
neroli, and cinnamon. Have you
guessed it yet?
So how can such an innocent
drink be of harm to the body?
Let’s look at some of the
ingredients that you will find in almost every can of pop.
Most contain phosphoric acid, caffeine,
sugar, saccharin or nutri-sweet,
caramel coloring, carbon dioxide and aluminum. The
detrimental health benefits of these beverages
takes its
toll over a long period of time. I really don’t think
having a soft drink occasionally does much harm but what
about pop-aholics who drink
numerous daily.
Let’s begin with phosphoric
acid: this is used in soft drinks to allow the bubbles of
carbon dioxide to release more slowly which helps with
bottling. Phosphoric acid has a sour taste and needs sugar
to make it more palatable.
So what does phosphoric acid do
to your body? Phosphorus works in the body with calcium to
maintain proper building and tearing down of bone. Soft
drinks cause the excessive excretion of calcium. Thus over
time this can contribute to disorders like
osteoporosis. It
doesn’t stop here though folks. The body excretes more
calcium in anticipation of more phosphorus which leads to
excess calcium in the urine, the depositing of calcium in
joints (osteoarthritis, bursitis, gout, bone spurs and
bunions), the formation of kidney and gall stones, and the
development of plaque calcifying on the arteries.
Phosphoric acid further depletes other alkaline minerals,
magnesium, sodium, and magnesium which are used in numerous
body functions such as the heart, nerves, and adrenal gland
function. It causes the reduction of
HCl (hydrochloric acid) secretion in the stomach
thus aiding in the formation of gas and bloating by
interfering with digestion.
Caffeine is another popular
ingredient in soft drinks: we know that caffeine is a
stimulant and helps to overcome fatigue, mental
sluggishness and to enhance endurance. Some of its
negative
attributes are that it aids the constriction of arteries
thus increasing the heart beat and blood pressure. It
affects the adrenal glands in a way that weakens them. Once
weakened another set of symptoms become prevalent such as
inflammatory disorders like arthritis.
Sugar: a 12- ounce can of
soda contains approximately 11 teaspoons (33 grams) of
sugar. The ingestion of simple sugar has many effects on
the body: it increases urinary calcium (and magnesium,
chromium, copper, zinc and sodium) by impairing
reabsorption by the kidneys,
causes blood sugar to rise
requiring insulin release from the pancreas to normalize.
This overworks the pancreas. It causes clumping of red
blood cells, impairs immune function by reducing the
activity of white cells to attack invading bacteria.
In the
United States, the
average
adult ingests 150 pounds of the white stuff per year. Over
80 percent is already added to what you are buying. So what
about artificial sweeteners are they better? Artificial
sweeteners may not have calories but they affect the body
adversely too.
Let’s take a look at aspartame. This
substance when ingested breaks down into three chemical.
They are aspartic acid, phenylalanine and methanol.
Aspartic acid is an excitotoxin
to the nervous system due to exciting the nerves
excessively. Phenylalanine (amino acid)
can depress serotonin (neurotransmitter) thus leading to
emotional disorders, depression and poor sleep. Methanol is
a poison to the liver and the brain. It is converted to
formaldehyde which is a neurotoxin, carcinogen and can lead
to birth defects. Methanol poisoning is a cumulative poison
with symptoms including headaches, tinnitus, memory lapses,
numbness, nerve inflammation, blurred vision and blindness.
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Saccharin is not much better. It is a known carcinogen that
the FDA suggests should not be used in food but is OK as a
table sweetener.
·
Caramel coloring: is made by heating sugar until it browns
and it’s characteristic flavor
develops. It has negative genetic effects and it is
considered a cancer causing agent.
·
Carbon dioxide: it is a waste product of the body when we
exhale. Why put it into the body? It is probably not that
bad on the body and it is the least detrimental in all of
these ingredients.
·
Aluminum became an issue when soft drinks were put into
cans instead of bottles. The phosphoric acid was eating the
can so they solved this problem by coating the inside of
the can with plastic. Aluminum still leaches out though and
recently has been a factor in aluminum toxicity. It
tends
to deposit in brain and bone tissue and is a possible
contributor to Alzheimer’s disease. It also causes the
excess excretion of calcium in the urine which has
been
shown to cause bone and joint disorders.
I find this to be an
interesting subject given the fact that Americans love
their soft drinks at whatever price. I have seen many
people feel better when they have eliminated or reduced the
amount of soft drinks in their lifestyle.
As I mention in one of my past articles about the
benefits of water. It is still the best fluid you can put
into your body. Good health!
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