Food & Beverages

Harmful Effects Of Soft Drinks

Along with the popularity of the ready to eat food industry, the consumption volume of soft drinks saw an exponential growth, reaching up to 7 billion liters in India during the year 2023. With the free flow of soft drinks into Indian homes, the risk of harmful side effects that come with them is also becoming predominant. Sugar, the main ingredient in all soft drinks, is the root cause of various acute health conditions. The consumption of sugar releases dopamine in the brain, which makes it addictive in nature. Drinking soft drinks regularly will lead to weight gain, fatty liver, diabetes, tooth decay and more.

Side effects on a human body

The risk of cancer, gout, leptin resistance, and dementia increases if a person consumes soft drinks for over a long period of time. Added sugar consists of sucrose and fructose, which needs to be converted into glucose by the liver before it can be used by the body. Fructose in the body does not lower ghrelin or ‘hunger hormone’ in the same way glucose does. Glucose can be metabolized by every cell in your body, whereas fructose can only be metabolized by the liver and when the liver gets overloaded, the fructose is turned into fat.

When someone consumes liquid sugar, it adds to their total calorie intake, which is associated with weight gain. Fructose significantly increases the dangerous fat around the belly and organs called visceral fat. This may lead to obesity in a person, increasing the risk of heart diseases, liver diseases, sleep apnea and certain cancers.

The function of hormone insulin is to drive glucose from the bloodstream into the cells. When someone consumes soft drinks, the cells become less sensitive or resistant to the effects of insulin. This puts more pressure on pancreas to make even more insulin to remove glucose from the bloodstream, which spikes the insulin in the human body. This condition is called insulin resistance. Such an insulin spike will lead to medical conditions like Type 2 diabetes.

The leptin hormones produced by the body’s fat cells regulate the number of calories a person eats and burns. The leptin levels change in response to both starvation and obesity is often called the fullness or starvation hormone and being resistant to this effect is a medical condition known as leptin resistance.

Sugar content causes an increase in blood sugar levels, blood triglycerides, small and dense LDL particles, leading to progressive heart disease risk. Cancer has the tendency to be accompanied by other chronic diseases like obesity, type 2 diabetes and heart diseases. When the intake of sugary soda increases, especially for postmenopausal women, there’s a high risk of endometrial cancer and cancer of the inner lining of the uterus.

High sugar consumption weakens and destroys blood vessels in the brain, resulting in a decline in mental capacity which further leads to dementia and Alzheimer's.

Diet drinks as an alternative

The debate on whether diet soda is a good alternative for drinks spiked with sugar is yet to be settled. There is a need to conduct more research into the connection between sweeteners and their effect on health as frequent consumption of high intensity sweeteners might have an effect opposite to what one expects.

Some studies revealed that drinking diet soda frequently may lead to metabolic issues that can contribute to heart disease, high blood pressure and diabetes. It contains caffeine and phosphoric acid, which negatively affects bone health and bone loss, leading to osteoporosis and bone fracture. Even though it doesn’t contain sugar like regular soda, it is highly acidic and affects the surface roughness of tooth enamel.

Sweetened beverages like sodas or diet sodas might taste good but they are harmful to human health and can cause various medical conditions, including cancer and diabetes. The substitutes for such drinks are still a controversial choice. Consuming fewer or no soft drinks is the healthy choice to lead a healthy life.