Day 68: Soda
Facts About Soda, Diet Soda and Weight Gain; Soda as a Pesticide; Health Effects on Our Children; Why Soda Pop Drains You Dry
“…increased soft-drink consumption is a major factor that contributes to osteoporosis.” — Michael T. Murray, N.D., author, the Encyclopedia of Natural Medicine
Soda can cause heart disease. A Harvard study found that one daily 12-ounce serving of regular soda increases the risk of cardiovascular disease by 19 percent. — The Washington Post, “10 Reasons to Skip Soda.”
Welcome to Day 68!
Are you on top of the world? If you are doing a 60-92 Day Juice Feast, then you are getting close to Feast Breaking–so you should be!
Today we have for you our file on Soda. By weight, the number one item people consume from the grocery store is soft drinks.
Even more appalling, people feed soft drinks to their infants and children, thus habituating the brain to the supernormal stimuli (unnaturally high sensory impact) of processed sugar and caffeine.
Most soft drinks have phosphoric acid as an ingredient–which happens to require calcium to be metabolized. Where does the calcium come from? Your bones. This, and the high intake of processed sugars and animal proteins–also acid forming and deleterious to bone density–is the reason that we have a shocking amount of osteoporosis in the United States, as you read about yesterday.
One eight-ounce glass of soda is so acid-forming that it requires 30 eight-ounce glasses of water to dilute it and normalize the pH.
Below is a graphic we made about soft drinks you can drag to your desktop, print, and post anywhere…
The Soft Drink Association surveyed the use of soft drinks in hospitals in America and found 85 percent of them serve sodas with their patients’ meals.
For this and more fun facts about soda (clears throat), including diet soda and weight gain, health effects on our children, and why soda pop drains you dry, and a truth-in-advertising, high-sugar, NOT recommended energy drink called, “Cocaine,” enjoy the downloads we have prepared for you.
And enjoy the best energy drink possible–juice made by you.
See you in The Green Room!
P.S. Below is a MASSIVE listing of reasons from the health experts why soda should be left behind.
The Health Effects of Soft Drinks: Quotes From the Experts
This is a compilation of quotes about the destructive health effects of soft drinks from some of the leading authors on health, nutrition and junk food. This full list, and much more information, is included in The Five Soft Drink Monsters downloadable ebook.
Michael Murray ND and Joseph Pizzorno ND
Encyclopedia of Natural Medicine, Revised Second Edition
“The allergenicity of penicillin in the general population is thought to be at least ten percent. Nearly 25 percent of these individuals will display hives, angioedema, or anaphylaxis upon ingestion of penicillin…. hives and anaphylactic symptoms have been traced to penicillin in milk, soft drinks, and frozen dinners.”
“Many general dietary factors have been suggested as a cause of osteoporosis, including: low calcium-high phosphorus intake, high-protein diet, high-acid-ash diet, high salt intake, and trace mineral deficiencies. It appears that increased soft drink consumption is a major factor that contributes to osteoporosis. A deficiency of vitamin K leads to impaired mineralization of bone. Boron deficiency may contribute greatly to osteoporosis as well as to menopausal symptoms.”
“Soft drinks have long been suspected of leading to lower calcium levels and higher phosphate levels in the blood. When phosphate levels are high and calcium levels are low, calcium is pulled out of the bones. The phosphate content of soft drinks like Coca -Cola and Pepsi is very high, and they contain virtually no calcium.”
“The United States ranks first among countries in soft drink consumption. The per-capita consumption of soft drinks is in excess of 150 quarts per year, or about three quarts per week.”
“Soft drink consumption in children poses a significant risk factor for impaired calcification of growing bones.”
“Of the fifty-seven children who had low blood calcium levels, thirty-eight (66.7 percent) drank more than four bottles (12 to 16 ounces per bottle) of soft drinks per week, but only forty-eight (28 percent) of the 171 children with normal serum calcium levels consumed as much soft drink … These results more than support the contention that soft drink consumption leads to lower calcium levels in children. This situation that ultimately leads to poor bone mineralization, which explains the greater risk of broken bones in children who consume soft drinks.”
“Soft drink consumption may be a major factor for osteoporosis as they are high in phosphates but contain virtually no calcium. This leads to lower calcium levels and higher phosphate levels in the blood. The United States ranks first among countries for soft drink consumption with a per capita consumption of approximately 15 ounces a day.”
James A Howenstine M.D.
A Physician’s Guide to Natural Health Products That Work
“In an interesting experiment the sugar from one soft drink was able to damage the white blood cells’ ability to ingest and kill gonococcal bacteria for seven hours.”
“Soft drinks also contain large quantities of phosphorus, which when excreted pulls calcium out of the bones. Heavy users of soft drinks will have osteoporosis along with their damaged arteries.”
James Duke PhD
The Green Pharmacy : The Ultimate Compendium Of Natural Remedies From The World’s Foremost Authority On Healing Herbs
“And watch out for cola soft drinks, which are very high in bone-dissolving phosphorus.”
Marion Nestle
Food Politics: How the Food Industry Influences Nutrition and Health (California Studies in Food and Culture)
“Soft drinks are the single greatest source of caffeine in children’s diets; a 12-ounce can of cola contains about 45 milligrams but the amounts in more potent soft drinks can exceed 100 milligrams— a level approaching that found in coffee.”
“Soft drinks have replaced milk in the diets of many American children as well as adults. School purchases reflect such trends. From 1985 to 1997, school districts decreased the amounts of milk they bought by nearly 30% and increased their purchases of carbonated sodas.”
“The relationship between soft drink consumption and body weight is so strong that researchers calculate that for each additional soda consumed, the risk of obesity increases 1.6 times.”
“Adolescents who consume soft drinks display a risk of bone fractures three to four-fold higher than those who do not.”
“Sugar and acid in soft drinks so easily dissolve tooth enamel.”
“Americans drink 13.15 billion gallons of carbonated drinks every year.”
William Duffy
The doctor speaking in these dialogs is, Dr. McCay, the nutritionist at the Naval Medical Research Institute.
“I was amazed to learn,” he testified, “that the beverage contained substantial amounts of phosphoric acid. . . . At the Naval Medical Research Institute, we put human teeth in a cola beverage and found they softened and started to dissolve within a short period… The acidity of cola beverages … is about the same as vinegar. The sugar content masks the acidity, and children little realize they are drinking this strange mixture of phosphoric acid, sugar, caffeine, coloring, and flavoring matter.”
Carol Simontacchi
The Crazy Makers: How the Food Industry Is Destroying Our Brains and Harming Our Children
“One liter of an aspartame-sweetened beverage can produce about fifty-six milligrams of methanol. When several of these beverages are consumed in a short period of time (one day, perhaps), as much as two hundred fifty milligrams of methanol are dumped into the bloodstream, or thirty-two times the EPA limit.”
“What may happen, in the face of day-to-day, continuously high levels of sodium in the diet and the bloodstream, is that we experience a type of acute hypernatremia—not enough to kill us or cause the myelin sheath to lose its integrity, but enough to keep our sodium potassium pump slightly dysregulated and throw off the electrical system of the brain…. Americans drink soft drinks that are often loaded with more sodium and which further unbalance the mineral stores.”
Greg Critser
Fat Land : How Americans Became the Fattest People in the World
“A joint study by Harvard University and Boston Children’s Hospital researchers in February 2001 concluded that such excess liquid calories inhibited the ability of older children to compensate at mealtime, leading to caloric imbalance and, in time, obesity.”
“One extra soft drink a day gave a child a 60 percent greater chance of becoming obese. One could even link specific amounts of soda to specific amounts of weight gain. Each daily drink added .18 points to a child’s body mass index (BMI). This, the researchers noted, was regardless of what else they ate or how much they exercised. “Consumption of sugar [high fructose corn syrup]-sweetened drinks,” they concluded, “is associated with obesity in children.”
Samuel S. Epstein MD
The Safe Shopper’s Bible : A Consumer’s Guide to Nontoxic Household Products
“Saccharin is a 100-year-old non-nutritive, non-caloric sweetening agent… its use has exploded over the last twenty years as a staple of the diet food and drink craze. Its major current consumption is in diet pop by teenagers, and not by diabetics and the obese. The public now firmly believes that foods containing saccharin are effective in weight control, and has been persuaded by the soft drink industry (through the Calorie Control Council) that these benefits outweigh any possible health risks.”
“More than a dozen animal tests over the last thirty years have demonstrated the carcinogenic effects of saccharin in the bladder and other sites, particularly female reproductive organs, and in some instances at doses as low as the equivalent of one to two bottles of diet pop daily.”
“The public board of inquiry concluded that experimental data “’…do not rule out an oncogenic effect of aspartame, and that, to the contrary, they appear to suggest the possibility that aspartame, at least when administered in the ‘huge’ quantities employed in the studies, may contribute to the development of brain tumors.’” Until these controversial findings on brain cancer in experimental animals have been resolved, use this product sparingly, if at all.”
“PET bottling and packaging: Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) is used extensively in soft drink containers. PET bottles can release small amounts of dimethyl terephthalate into foods and beverages. Although the National Cancer Institute claims that dimethyl terephthalate is noncarcinogenic, these results have been questioned. Some experts believe this compound to be carcinogenic.”
Neal Barnard MD
Foods That Cause You to Lose Weight: : The Negative Calorie Effect
“Another advantage of avoiding sodas is that you will avoid the caffeine that is in many of them. Caffeine is a weak diuretic that causes calcium loss via the kidneys.”
Dr. Earl Mindell
Earl Mindell’s New Vitamin Bible
“Recent research has linked soft drinks with childhood obesity— and an estimated 200 school districts nationwide have contracts with soft drink companies that give them exclusive rights to sell their products in schools.”
“Saccharin is a noncaloric petroleum derivative estimated to be three hundred to five hundred times sweeter than sugar… It’s used in diet soft drinks… Studies done in the 1970s linked saccharin ingestion to bladder cancer in laboratory animals”
“Children who drink large quantities of diet sodas containing aspartame are particularly vulnerable to its dangerous side effects.”
“Aspartame contains methyl or wood alcohol, which can affect fetal brain development.”
“Twenty-one percent of the sugar in the American diet comes from soft drinks! That’s more than just an unhealthy consumption of empty calories. It is a dangerous overload of caffeine and potentially hazardous, nutrient-depleting additives.”
“Soft drinks contain large amounts of phosphorus, which can throw off the body’s calcium/phosphorus ratio (twice as much calcium as phosphorus), decreasing calcium as well as reducing your body’s ability to use it.”
“For anyone over age 40, soft drinks can be especially hazardous because the kidneys are less able to excrete excess phosphorus, causing depletion of vital calcium.”
“Heavy soft drink consumption can interfere with your body’s metabolization of iron and diminish nerve impulse transmission.”
“Cola drinks can interact adversely with antacids, possibly causing constipation, calcium loss, hypertension, nausea, vomiting, headaches, and kidney damage.”
“Soft drinks can decrease the antibacterial action of penicillin and ampicillin.”
“Diet sodas that are low in calories are high in sodium. Too much salt in the diet may cause more calcium to be excreted in the urine and increase the risk of osteoporosis.”
“Excessive consumption of soft drinks, which are high in phosphorus, can also deplete you of calcium and increase your chances of osteoporosis.”
Jean Carper
Food: Your Miracle Medicine : How Food Can Prevent and Cure over 100 Symptoms and Problems
“Tests at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine by Roland R. Griffiths, MD, show caffeine withdrawal can strike people who drink a single cup of strongly brewed coffee or drink caffeinated soft drinks everyday. Further, Dr. Griffiths discovered that caffeine-withdrawal symptoms include not only headache, but also fatigue, mild depression, muscle pain and stiffness, flu-like feelings, nausea and vomiting.”
“Those consuming at least one cup of a caffeine-containing beverage per day, such as coffee, tea or soft drinks, were more prone to PMS. And the more caffeine they consumed, the more severe their PMS symptoms.”
Elson M Haas MD
The Detox Diet: A How-To & When-To Guide for Cleansing the Body
“Phosphorus is found in most foods but soda pops, diet pops… contain especially high amounts. The ideal dietary phosphorus-calcium ratio is about 1:1. The ratio in the average American diet is often greater than 2:1 and sometimes even 4:1 or 5:1. At those levels, excess calcium is removed from bone and eliminated, blood levels are reduced, and there is bone demineralization. A diet high in phosphorus and low in calcium has been shown to cause bone loss and increase tissue calcification.”
“Tooth loss, periodontal disease, and gingivitis can be problems, especially with a high phosphorus intake, particularly from soft drinks. All kinds of bone problems can occur with prolonged calcium deficiency, which causes a decrease in bone mass. Rickets in children, osteomalacia (decreased bone calcium) in adults, and osteoporosis (porous and fragile bones) can occur when calcium is withdrawn from bones faster than it is deposited. Fractures are more common with osteoporosis—almost eight million yearly in the United States are related to this prevalent nutritional deficiency disease”
“High dietary phosphorus, as is found in a diet with meats, soft drinks, and other convenience foods, can readily affect calcium metabolism. Potential calcium deficiency symptoms may be more likely when the phosphorus intake is very high. A low calcium-to-phosphorus ratio in the diet increases the incidence of hypertension and the risk of colon-rectal cancer.”
Barnet Meltzer MD
Food Swings: Make the Life-Changing Connection Between the Foods You Eat and Your Emotional Health and Well-Being
“But soft drinks are far from soft. High in phosphorous and phosphoric acid, they infiltrate bodily fluids and corrode stomach linings, upset the alkaline-acid balance of the kidneys, and eat away at your liver like Hannibal Lecter. Soft drinks also contain hidden caffeine, refined sugar, and artificial chemicals.”
Ralph T Golan ND
Optimal Wellness
“Avoid processed foods and cola soft drinks; their phosphates can also cause calcium loss and excretion.”
Dr. Gary Null
“Natural Living” radio show
Gary Null’s Power Aging
“A study on the relationship between caffeine and fertility found that… just one caffeinated soft drink per day was associated with a reduced monthly chance of conception of 50 percent.”
“It should be noted here that soft drinks are the number one source of phosphorus in the American diet today… According to Dr. Steenblock, excess phosphorus is one of the major contributing factors to the development of osteoarthritis.”
James A May
United American Industries Inc.
“Absorption in primates is hastened considerably if the methanol is ingested as free methanol as it occurs in soft drinks after the decomposition of aspartame during storage or in other foods after being heated. Regardless of whether the aspartame-derived methanol exists in food in its free form or still esterified to phenylalanine, 10 percent of the weight of aspartame intake of an individual will be absorbed by the bloodstream as methanol within hours after consumption.”
Marcia Zimmerman CN
The A.D.D. Nutrition Solution : A Drug-Free 30 Day Plan
“Sodium benzoate Sodium benzoate is used as a preservative (microbial control) in foods, including soft drinks, fruit juices, margarine, confections, pickles, and jams. Sodium preservatives add sodium to the diet and reduce the availability of potassium. Some reported reactions to sodium benzoate include recurring urticaria (rash), asthma, and eczema.”
All in all, some excellent information gathered here by so many professionals, to fully drive home the importance of not succumbing to the high-sugar, mega-advertised, destructive soft drink industry.
Dr. Mark Hyman: Four Reasons High Fructose Corn Syrup is Poison.
Present day cola ads are much more savy and emotionaly manipulative, but for the sake of sparing you, the viewer from their sneaky, subconcious moulding jingles and images, we have chosen this corny old propaganda.
Did you know that Coca Cola used to have cocaine in it? Today we delve into the untold history of the unbreakable link between the most popular soft drink on the planet, Coca Cola, and cocaine.
Vitamin Water: Exposed.
Today’s Downloads
Soda
The active ingredient in most soda pop is phosphoric acid. The pH of most soda pop is 2.8, which is very acidic. As we discuss in detail in the body PH page, you want your diet to ALKALIZE your body, and ingesting a highly acidic drink like soda pop does the opposite and is very detrimental to your health. Phosphoric acid also leaches calcium from bones and is a major contributor to the rising increase in osteoporosis.
why soda pop drains you dry
Soda pop is not good for you. Of course, you have probably suspected this, but perhaps you don’t know the extent to which drinking carbonated, caffeinated, sugared, or artificially sweetened beverages destroys your body.
It has been said that the fastest growing group of people with osteoporosis in this country is teenagers….because of the huge number of sodas they consume. As far as caffeine and sugar are concerned, they both cause dehydration, and the massive depletion of minerals.
Sweetened Beverage Consumption, Incident Coronary Heart Disease, and Biomarkers of Risk in Men
Background—Sugar-sweetened beverage consumption is associated with weight gain and risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus. Few studies have tested for a relationship with coronary heart disease (CHD) or intermediate biomarkers.
Conclusions—Consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages was associated with increased risk of CHD and some adverse changes in lipids, inflammatory factors, and leptin.
Online Articles
Nutritionally unaware consumers guzzle down soda pop for breakfast by David Gutierrez
Consumption of carbonated soft drinks with breakfast has soared among U.S. consumers in the past 20 years, according to data from the New York-based consumer research firm NPD Group. Coffee consumption appears to have fallen accordingly. According to NPD executive Harry Balzer, consumers…
Soda industry desperate to avoid cancer classification of toxic chemicals used to make caramel color by Ethan Huff
The processed beverage industry is fighting tooth and nail to stop federal regulators from publicly identifying a toxic ingredient in many popular cola brands as being a cancer-causing chemical. 4-methylimidazole (4-MI), a chemical used to make the “caramel color” agent added to Coca-Cola, Pepsi-Cola, Snapple Group Inc.’s Dr. Pepper, and Whole Foods’ 365 cola, among others, has been found to cause cancer in mammals, and yet the U.S. Food and Drug Administration(FDA) refuses, thus far, to ban it from use in food.
Sugary Drink Consumption Linked to Alzheimer’s Disease by David Gutierrez
High consumption of sugary beverages may increase the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease, according to a new study conducted by the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. Researchers took mice that were genetically predisposed to develop Alzheimer’s-like symptoms as adults, and added a 10 percent sugar water solution to the diet of half of them. After 25 weeks, the mice fed the sugar water had gained 17 percent more weight than the other mice. Unlike the other mice, they had also developed insulin resistance and had higher cholesterol.
The unauthorized history of Coca-Cola by Mike Adams (satire)
Deep-fried coke a big hit at state fairs; health author calls treat “metabolic time bomb” by Ben Kage
Bush administration pressures India to reinstate Coke, Pepsi sales regardless of pesticide content
Diet Soft Drink Makers Not Required to Disclose Chemical Sweetener Ingredients in Restaurants by David Gutierrez
India threatened by business interests: Sell Coke and Pepsi, or your economy will suffer
Want to have a stroke? Keep drinking diet sodas by S.L. Baker
Great Books
By Mike Adams
How to finally kick the soft drink habit for good! Kicking the soft drink habit is a critical step for achieving lasting health and weight loss. Avoiding soft drinks can literally transform your health and cause you to lose weight, reverse symptoms of diabetes, enhance bone density, support healthy brain function and even protect your body’s nervous system. Until now, however, most people have found it nearly impossible to successfully quit drinking soft drinks.
Now for the first time, The Five Soft Drink Monsters reveals how to easily and permanently break the soft drink habit for good. Using the simple five-step strategy revealed inside, you will successfully break free from the ravaging health effects of soft drinks. This guide will show you, in clear understandable terms, how to recognize each of the five addictive elements of soft drinks — and then beat them with a clever strategy that’s already worked for thousands of people.
By Mark Thomas
Coca-Cola and its logo are everywhere. In our homes, our workplaces, and even our schools. It is a company that sponsors the Olympics, backs US presidents and even re-brands Santa Claus. A truly universal product, it has even been served in space. From Istanbul to Mexico City, Mark travels the globe investigating the stories and people Coca-Cola’s iconic advertising campaigns don’t mention such as: child labourers in the sugar cane fields of El Salvador; Indian workers exposed to toxic chemicals; Colombian union leaders falsely accused of terrorism and jailed alongside the paramilitaries who want to kill them; and, many more. Provocative, funny and stirring, “Belching Out the Devil” investigates the truth behind one of the planet’s biggest brands.
By Michael Blanding
The Coke Machine takes readers deep inside the Coca-Cola Company and its international franchisees to reveal how they became the number one brand in the world, and just how far they’ll go to stay there.
Ever since its “I’d like to teach the world to sing” commercials from the 1970s, Coca-Cola has billed itself as the world’s beverage, uniting all colors and cultures in a mutual love of its caramel-sweet sugar water. The formula has worked incredibly well-making it one of the most profitable companies on the planet and “Coca-Cola” the world’s second- most recognized word after “hello.” However, as the company expands its reach into both domestic and foreign markets, an increasing number of the world’s citizens are finding the taste of Coke more bitter than sweet.
Journalist Michael Blanding’s The Coke Machine probes shocking accusations about the company’s global impact, including:
• Coca-Cola’s history of winning at any cost, even if it meant that its franchisees were making deals with the Nazis and Guatemalan paramilitary squads
• How Coke has harmed children’s health and contributed to an obesity epidemic through exclusive soda contracts in schools
• The horrific environmental impact of Coke bottling plants in India and Mexico, where water supplies have been decimated while toxic pollution has escalated
• That Coke bottlers stand accused of conspiring with paramilitaries to threaten, kidnap, and murder union leaders in their bottling plants in Colombia
A disturbing portrait drawn from an award-winning journalist’s daring, in-depth research, The Coke Machine is the first comprehensive probe of the company and its secret formula for greed.
Media, Films, & Documentaries
[Documentary] King Corn
KING CORN is a fun and crusading journey into the digestive tract of our fast food nation where one ultra-industrial, pesticide-laden, heavily-subsidized commodity dominates the food pyramid from top to bottom corn. Fueled by curiosity and a dash of naivete, college buddies Ian Cheney and Curt Ellis return to their ancestral home of Greene, Iowa to figure out how a modest kernel conquered America.
With the help of some real farmers, oodles of fertilizer and government aide, and some genetically modified seeds, the friends manage to grow one acre of corn. Along the way, they unlock the hilarious absurdities and scary but hidden truths about America s modern food system in this engrossing and eye-opening documentary.
A graceful and frequently humorous film that captures the idiosyncrasies of its characters and never hectors (Salon), KING CORN shows how and why whenever you eat a hamburger or drink a soda, you re really consuming … corn.
Sugar: The Bitter Truth | Robert H. Lustig, M.D., UCSF Professor of Pediatrics
Killer Cola: The Cost of a Coke, 2nd Edition | Coca Cola Exposed!
Another case of profit over humanity a stunning view into the corporate world and how one of our major brand name products stays on top by inflicting brutal treatment on its workers. http://killercoke.org/