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Given the latest report on fizzy drinks or sodas, are they on the brink of being the next big thing we need to get rid of to improve our health?
A study led by Dr Moses Elisaf, a Greek university academic, which found drinking large amounts of cola (2 or more litres a day) can cause tooth decay, diabetes, softening of the bones and irregularities in the rhythm of the heart. This study is published in the International Journal of Clinical Practice.
Now I admit that this is a significant amount, but then hot on the heals of this study comes the report that liver damage, normally associated with alcohol abuse, can also be initiated by non-alcoholic drinks. Those with a high sugar content can cause a condition called fatty liver disease. Scientists from Israel found that people who drank a litre of fizzy drinks were five times more likely to develop fatty liver disease. Even drinking a couple of cans of fizzy drinks a day raised the risk of liver damage in addition to causing diabetes and heart damage.
We already know that in America the average teenage boy drinks two cans of fizzy drink or soda per day or more than 700 cans per year. The average teenage girl drinks 1.4 cans of fizzy drink or soda per day or more than 500 cans per year. That equates to 20 teaspoons of sugar for the teenage boy, or providing the average teenage boy with the total recommended allowance for sugars from all sources for the entire day in just two cans of drink. If we saw them putting that amount of sugar into tea or coffee we would definitely do something about it.
It seems that the government has started to move to protect us from oursleves, reportssuggest they plan to recommend that cans of fizzy drinks, currently 330ml, should be sold in a significantly smaller size of 250ml.
So maybe its time to start watching what we and the kids are drinking.
