1. Obesity. Regular consumption of soft drinks make you fat. A 12 oz Coke a day for a year will add 18 pounds to your weight compared to water consumption!

2. Tooth decay. Slowly sipping on cola, iced tea, or a sports drink coats your teeth with sugar, phosphoric acid, malic acid and/or citric acid. These compounds directly damage tooth enamel.

3. Money. A family of 4 can save $150 by switching to tap water.

4. Taste. Soft drinks diminish the taste of food. Of course, if you define food as a quickie meal at Taco Bell, there’s not much to detract from, but eat a decently perepared meal at home or at a good sit down restaurant, and you will not want to spoil the taste with sugary water. Better have the sommelier pair a good wine with your steak.

5. Refined Sugars. High fructose corn syrup (or sugar) is the usually the #2 ingredient after water in soft drinks. For example, a standard single serve 12fl oz can of Coca Cola has the equivalent of 10 teaspoons of sugar! If you drink one Coke a day for a year instead of water you’ll have had 32 pounds of sugar!

6. Artificial sweeteners. OK, the FDA has approved them all, but enough studies have suggested that some artificial sweeteners may cause cancer. Until the scientists sort this out, why take the risk? The UK isn’t taking any.

7. Artificial Colors. Yellow #5 (Tartrazine), present in Mountain Dew, has been linked to hyperactivity in children.

8. Ecology. Billions of empty plastic bottles and cans are contaminating the earth. Recycling barely touches the tip of the iceberg.

9. What’s your reason to quit?

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flickr photo: tristanbrand

In round one, table sugar was the bad boy. Empty calories, with no nutritional benefits.

In round two, High Fructose Corn Syrup got heat, because of the perception that it is unnatural, and promotes obesity as well.

In round three, instead of both sugar and HFCS slowly disappearing from products, good ol’ sugar is back in many products that have long used HFCS, a cheaper sweetener derived from corn.

According to a recent New York Times article:

Sugar, the nutritional pariah that dentists and dietitians have long reviled, is enjoying a second act, dressed up as a natural, healthful ingredient.

From the tomato sauce on a Pizza Hut pie called “The Natural,” to the just-released soda Pepsi Natural, some of the biggest players in the American food business have started, in the last few months, replacing high-fructose corn syrup with old-fashioned sugar.

ConAgra uses only sugar or honey in its new Healthy Choice All Natural frozen entrees. Kraft Foods recently removed the corn sweetener from its salad dressings, and is working on its Lunchables line of portable meals and snacks.

Read the entire article…

What you need to know:

So which is better for you – Sugar or HFCS?

Neither.

Calorically, they are the same. Nutritionally, they are also the same – no nutrients whatsoever.

Although a recent study found trace amounts of mercury in HFCS, they are smaller than what you get from going outside and breathing in exhaust fumes from cars and factory smokestacks.

What to do at the supermarket:

Look for sugar , HFCS, and other synonyms on food labels. You’d be surprised in how many places sweeteners have found a place. In many cases, there is more than one sweetener in the ingredient list. Shy away from products who list sweeteners as one of the first ingredients in the ingredient list. As Pat Crawford of the Center for Weight and Health at the University of California, Berkeley says – “Keep sugar for the desserts”.

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Source: Pepsi Bottling Corp

PepsiCo is due to release its Pepsi Cola and Mountain Dew brand soft drinks in a sugar sweetened formula, a throwback to the 1970’s. The retro brand, aptly named Pepsi Throwback, is due to be release in a few weeks, according to BevReview. High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) is the sweetener of choice in the US since the 1980’s, because it costs half the price of cane sugar.

Could this return to sugar be a trend? Read more…

Image via Wikipedia

From the New York Times:

…now a new study suggests that manufacturers of the [caffeinated] products should be required to list caffeine content and recommended limits, including a warning about use by children.

Writing in the journal Drug and Alcohol Dependence, researchers noted the tremendous increase in sales of drinks like Red Bull, which they said ranged in caffeine content from 50 to 505 milligrams per container. A six-ounce cup of coffee has from 77 to 150 milligrams.

Read More…

What you need to know:

Energy drinks are a huge business in the US, with revenues of over $2.5 Billion a year. Their main ingredient is caffeine. An 8 oz cup of coffee has around 100mg of coffee, so does Red Bull. But Redline has more than twice as much – 250mg! A small warning on the can says only one should be consumed per day.

Here are some caffeine values for various drinks:
Sprite (12 fl oz) 0mg
Coke Classic (12 fl oz) 34mg
Diet Coke (12 fl oz) 45mg
Mountain Dew (12 fl oz) 55mg
Iced Tea (12 fl oz) 70mg
Red Bull (12 fl oz equivalent) 115mg
Redline Energy Drink (12 fl oz equivalent) 375mg
Cocaine Energy Drink (12 fl oz equivalent) 400mg

Decaf coffee less than 5mg
Green Tea 15-50mg
Cup of coffee 65-175mg
Cup of black tea 70mg

What to do at the supermarket:

Currently the caffeine content of most drinks is not disclosed on the nutrition label. Most manufacturers do have the information available if you ask. Or check on the web. Be especially careful with energy drinks your children consume.