Liquid Danger

Everyone has heard that a can of coke can dissolve a steak or clean a corroded car battery. While these examples are extreme and have yet to be proven, there are many very realistic dangers that come from drinking sodas on a regular basis.

For one, you increase your risk of getting Type 2 Diabetes. Any time you have a very large amount of sugar entering the body at once, you mess up the stabilized nature of your insulin and blood sugar causing your body to go into over drive to balance things out. Chronic use of high volumes of sugar will inevitably cause your body to have trouble making and stabilizing sugar, the very definition of Type 2 Diabetes. Most Americans drink at least 1 can of soda each day, most much more, the equivalent of 10 cubes of sugar - most of us would never dare eat 10 cubes of sugar but think nothing of downing 1-3 cans of soda each day.

Another concern for chronic soda drinkers is bone and tooth decay. Most of us have been told over and over again by the dentist to steer clear of sodas but the bone decay is something most of us never consider. According to a recent article on MSN the group at the greatest risk is older women. It says,

"Women are at greater risk of osteoporosis, or bone thinning, as they get older. Most of us already know that. But many people don't realize that drinking a lot of cola and other soft drinks increases osteoporosis risk—or causes the disease to progress faster. The phosphoric acid that makes fizzy drinks fizz actually eats away at bone, making it more porous."

Something else that is alarming is that drinking large amounts of cola can weaken the potassium levels in your muscles causing them to atrophy. Most of us are trying to build up muscle mass, not lose it.

So, what can we do? Most importantly we can drink more water. The benefits of water are ten fold and you can never go wrong replacing your current cola beverage with water. Get creative and add lemon, lime or 
even orange slices to your water for a fun twist.