sodaYou may want to think twice before drinking the sugary drink called soda. I’m going to tell you the truth about soda, and you may not like it, but this is your health we are discussing.

Soda is nothing but sugar water devoid of any nutritional value. Liquid calories are more conducive to weight gain than solid calories because the human body doesn’t compensate by reducing calorie intake later in the day.

Research has proven a direct relationship between consumption of soda and an increase in obesity, which promotes diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and many other health problems.

Soda is the #1 source of calories in the American diet with 33% of America overweight and 33% obese. On average, Americans are consuming 38 pounds of sugar per year just from soda.

Over the last 30 years, Americans have added 300 calories to their diet, soda contributing to 20-50% of those 300 calories. Men drink 178 calories per day, and women 103. Overall, males 12-19 years old consume 273 soda calories per day and female teens consume 171 per day.

Each additional soda consumed per day increases the likelihood of a child becoming obese by 60%.

Each soda consumed per day increases the risk of heart disease by 19% in men.

Drinking 1-2 sodas per day increases the risk for type 2 diabetes by 25%.

Still craving a soda?

Danish researchers discovered that drinking soda leads to a 132%-142% increase in fat buildup around your liver and 117%-221% increase around your skeletal muscles, both of which contribute to insulin resistance, diabetes, and an 11% increase in cholesterol.

Diet soda anyone?

Researchers monitored 475 adults for 10 years, and found that those who drank diet soda had a 70% increase in waist size compared with those who didn’t drink any soda. Those who drank more than 2 diet sodas per day saw a 500% waist expansion. The culprit? Aspartame, an artificial sweetener. It raises blood glucose levels and when your liver encounters too much glucose, the excess is converted to fat.

The caramel coloring used to make soda brown contains 2 chemicals that have been found to cause cancer. According to California’s strict Proposition 65 list of chemicals known to cause cancer, 16 micrograms per person per day of one of the chemicals is enough to pose a cancer threat, and most popular brown sodas, both diet and regular, contain 200 micrograms per 20-ounce bottle.

All sodas contain phosphoric acid, and too much can lead to heart and kidney problems, muscle loss, osteoporosis, and it could accelerate aging.

Lastly, the aluminum cans that soda comes in is lined with an epoxy resin (BPA) that is known to interfere with hormones and has been linked to everything from infertility to obesity to diabetes to some forms of reproductive cancers.

The American Heart Association urges Americans to consume 60% less sodas by 2020…but that doesn’t coincide with the $21 billion that Coca-Cola plans to spend over the next 5 years to expand its business into China, India, Brazil, and nonetheless, Mexico.

So next time you’re thirsty, skip the soda – choose water!