Effects of sugary drinks

[Hafeez058]

Consumption of sugary drinks is considered to be a key driver behind the global obesity epidemic, and is linked with tooth decay, diabetes and heart disease. Many public health bodies including the World Health Organization (WHO) have called upon governments, the food and drink industry, educational institutions, places of work and civil society to support healthier beverage choices.

[Activity2004 Administrator]

Very interesting and informative. Thank you for posting this for everyone.😀

[Matt2584 in reply to Activity2004]

Not informative enough Leah. Read the comment I made.

[Zest]

Hi Hafeez058

Thanks, and I hope you enjoy the weekend.

Zest

[Hafeez058 in reply to Zest]

Thanks

[Elisabeth3]

Nice post.

I think most companies and institutions are aware. But do the individuals care enough?

How would you address that?

[Hafeez058 in reply to Elisabeth3]

Yes of course you are right.

The food industry supplies consumers with a hyperpalatable source of calories devoid of real nutrition. The result is profit at the expense of consumer's health. You have choices! Take advantage of the ability to choose what goes in your body.

Advocating and creating awareness on the effects of this sugary drinks will guide consumers to choose wisely.

[Elisabeth3 in reply to Hafeez058]

You certainly are right about the need of developing awareness.

The companies can sell only what is demanded. You say they are hyperpalatable, yes, that's why people like them.

Sugary drink is drunk not only via commercially sweetened beverages.

A lot of people drink tea or coffee (or other drinks) with sugar. And having not only a morning brew but throughout the day. And add the sugar contained in the milk to it.

Do you have a statistic about it?

[Hafeez058 in reply to Elisabeth3]

I don't have statistic about that.

But the sugar mostly added to tea or coffee is refined sugar not the same as that of sugary drinks. It doesn't cause much medical complication when the intake is regulated.

[Elisabeth3 in reply to Hafeez058]

What is the sugar in the sugary drinks? Or not sugar but sweetener?

[Hafeez058 in reply to Elisabeth3]

Artificial sweetners mostly aspartame, saccharine etc.

[Elisabeth3 in reply to Hafeez058]

It seems there are sugary drinks with sugar and sweet drinks with sweeteners it seems. Are they both called sugary drinks despite containing no / less sugar?

[G1nny]

I’m so glad I only drink water, and have for 30 years. My son and his daughter drink only water. She takes a calcium supplement. All her friends drink tons of sugary juice and colas. Such a shame.

[Hafeez058 in reply to G1nny]

That's good. Keep it up

[HOBIEONE]

I hate drinking sugary drinks. I avoid them like the plague. Jamey Oliver "Sugar Tax" is good !

[Elisabeth3 in reply to HOBIEONE]

A lot of people are against Jamie Oliver but he has some brilliant ideas.

[Dietwoman]

I agree Hafeez058 it’s all about the profit for big companies. I am also a water only drinker squash and fizzy sugary drinks taste so artificial to me yuk

[Elisabeth3 in reply to Dietwoman]

It's all about the profit...

They can only sell what sells.

[Dietwoman in reply to Elisabeth3]

Yep I guess that’s very true

[Elisabeth3 in reply to Dietwoman]

What is was trying to say was the companies can't be blamed for wanting to maximize profits. They have to motivated to produce healthier drinks and demotivated to produce less healthy drinks.

They also have to be fair and provide appropriate information. The consumer then has to decide.

To wind down on sugary drinks is a long process, probably a much tougher challenge than cutting smoking.

[Matt2584]

Oh I think fizzy drinks are lead to many more problems than just obesity, tooth decay, diabetes and heart disease.

Brain tumours may be one of the other problems.

When I was little I had a terrible junk food diet which consisted of mostly sugar-laced foods and fizzy drinks and I hardly any natural, REAL food.

In 1996 I was diagnosed with a brain tumour.

My GP told me that my tumour was growing all my life.

Anyhow, I continued my junk food diet as normal and was then diagnosed with a 2nd brain tumour in 98, just 2 years later!

I’ve had many operations on both tumours.

As I grew up (late teens, early 20s) I started coming away from all the sugar intake and not only felt a bit better but looked better too. I was quite a pale kid and it’s no wonder why when I was consuming so much sugar.

Now I am eating much more fruit and veg and try to lower the sugar content to a minimum and I feel so much better for it.

I haven’t been in hospital for almost 10 years now and I hope that it stays that way too.

In my late 20s, early 30s, I did more of my own research on sugar and diet fizzy drinks like Diet Pepsi and Diet Coke contain a chemical sweetener in it called Aspartame.

Aspartame is 200 times sweeter than refined sugar and is dangerous stuff and has been linked to a multitude of health problems including brain cancer.

I know that there are many websites out there that tell you that Aspartame is fine and there are also many websites out there that tell you Aspartame is very very bad... so, what to believe?

Well I don’t go along with all the “scientifically proven facts” that tell you Aspartame is harmless, I go by what faith and experience tell me.

[Activity2004 Administrator in reply to Matt2584]

They say that it’s dangerous because some people have an I allergic reaction to the chemical/sweetener. I get what you’re saying.😀👍

[Matt2584 in reply to Activity2004]

I don’t think you do get what I am saying.

Some folk may have an allergic reaction to Aspartame or even its close relative Acesulfame K (Ace K) but this is not the only thing that is seen as dangerous about it.

If you do your own research on how bad Aspartame is I think you will be quite surprised with the health problems it can lead to.

The big thing is, we have all been lied to, not just when it comes to Aspartame, but many many other things to.

You could totally ignore what I am saying (millions of others do the same and end up with problems) or you could drink gallons of diet coke (including Aspartame) and develop some health problem. Just like I did.

[Activity2004 Administrator in reply to Matt2584]

Thank you for letting me know. I understand what you’re saying about it being not good.

[Elisabeth3 in reply to Matt2584]

So glad you have recovered.

Oh, I never knew that about the coke.

[Matt2584 in reply to Elisabeth3]

Thank you Elisabeth :).

Yes, I try to avoid Aspartame like the plague now.

And you should also watch out for a chemical sweetener similar to Aspartame called Acesulfame K (Ace K). In fact, just watch out for any man-made chemicals.

The other day I was offered some Ginger ale.

I like Ginger ale and said I would like a glass.

Silly me should have looked at the ingredients first really.

I had a few sips and thought, this doesn’t really taste too much like Ginger ale.

Then I decided to look at the ingredients. It had Acesulfame K in it as well as Sucralose, another sweetener that is no good.

So after I read that I stopped drinking.

I just regret not looking at the ingredients before hand.

[Hafeez058 in reply to Matt2584]

Thanks for sharing the experience. Did you also experience something about saccharine?

[Matt2584 in reply to Hafeez058]

I’m not certain that I had experienced saccharin. I was young when I was consuming sugar left, right and centre. 11 years old at the time of my first operation.

But ‘sugar’ or sweeteners come under many names including sacharin, aspartame, acesulfame K (Ace K), dextrose, fructose, glucose, sucrose, sucralose...

In my view, I think most of those mentioned are bad for you and many are hidden in foods as well.

Fructose is natural sugars from fruit and glucose comes from carbs.

All other sugars mentioned and ones not mentioned I wouldn’t trust.

[Elisabeth3 in reply to Matt2584]

Thanks for sharing. Best consume food and drink as natural as you can.

[Hafeez058 in reply to Matt2584]

Glucose is the primary source of energy in the body, why do you not trust it?

[Matt2584 in reply to Hafeez058]

You misread what I was saying Fructose and Glucose are natural sugars. All others mentioned like dextrose, sucrose, sucralose, aspartame, ace K and so on is what I don’t trust.

I forgot to mention, there are some other natural sugars on the market like stevia, xylitol, honey, date syrup, mallasses and others if I have not mentioned them.

Xylitol looks just like table sugar (refined sugar) but is completely natural as it comes from the bark of birch trees.

Stevia and honey, I would watch out for. Although these are both natural there are cheaper, synthetic versions out there.

I read that most supermarkets sell shelves of honey bu most of that honey, if not all, is fake honey.

You don’t want to be ingesting fake honey.

It takes thousands of bees to produce just 1 teaspoon of honey, apparently.

It is best to buy your honey locally. If you have a health food shop near you that sells local honey then buy that.

You can buy Manuka honey from some health food shops but they can be well expensive.

[Hafeez058 in reply to Matt2584]

I understand.

[Elisabeth3 in reply to Matt2584]

The honey, to be called honey, has to contain X amount of real honey. Once this percentage is met, it can be 'diluted' with I guess sugary syrup.

[HOBIEONE]

Plastic Honey & Sugar ??? What's next ?

[Hidden]

Low-carb sweeteners, the best and the worst

dietdoctor.com/low-carb/swe...

[Praveen55 Star in reply to Hidden]

Balanced information about sweeteners.

[Matt2584 in reply to Hidden]

I think some of the info on that site were both true and false.

One of the sweeteners called ‘Equal’ which contains aspartame was on the ‘less bad’ side.

Aspartame is a killer.

I used to consume a lot of fizzy drinks including aspartame and had years of health problems.

Once I come away from all the sugar and the aspartame I was feeling much better.

Aspartame can also be found in yogurts and chewing gum and other sources.

If aspartame was completely safe to consume then how come the chewing gum I buy (Peppersmith gum) is totally aspartame free, uses xylitol sugar and it clearly says this on the package.

There are a lot of truths and a lot of falsehoods going around.