In the Bell household, soda was for special events, not a regular beverage during a meal. And although we would only drink soda with Mexican food, popcorn or pizza, it soon became normal to order it when eating out, if you know what I mean. But last year, my husband and I eliminated soda and most dairy products from our diet. And, along with the Shaklee Joint Health Complex and some trips to see our friendly chiropractor, his knees and legs have been pain free. ( old sports injuries, you know) I can actually count on my hand the number of sodas I've had in the last several months.
SODA ( or pop for some of you)is a hot topic these days in the health realm, from heart risk and diabetes and obesity. And for our health and safe living, we will continue to use it in moderation. ( come on, there is something good about a nice cold Pepsi with fish tacos from Rubios)
So what do we drink instead? H20 ( without the lead and other stuff that comes with it.)
Or Performance Sports Drink, or Green Tea...
Here are a couple sources that I thought worthy of checking out.
Arkansas' Dr. Scott Davis on medical warnings for soda drinkers
http://www.todaysthv.com/news/story.aspx?storyid=201520
Then today I saw this email with Dr. Chaney's Health tips, it was congruent with the direction we have chosen and rightly so....read on!
For today's "Health Tip" I'm going to paraphrase a
quote from your some of your favorite action flicks:
"Put down that soda and back away and nobody gets
hurt."
You see, the news about sodas keeps getting worse and
worse!
You've already heard that soda consumption leads to
weight gain, pre-diabetes and possibly even diabetes
because calories in liquid form do not affect appetite
to the same extent as calories in solid form.
As if that weren't bad enough, three recent studies
suggest that soda consumption is also associated with
increased risk of heart attacks and stroke.
The first study looked at sweetened beverage
consumption and risk of coronary heart disease in women
(Fung et al, Am. J. Clin. Nutr., 89: 1037-1042, 2009).
This study followed 88,520 women enrolled in the Nurses
Health Study for 24 years. Consumption of sugar-
sweetened beverages (either sodas or non-carbonated
sugar-sweetened beverages such as Hawaiian Punch,
lemonade and other non-carbonated fruit drinks) was
assessed from food-frequency questionnaires
administered 7 times during the 24 years. And the total
incidence of coronary events (both fatal and non-fatal)
was recorded.
The RESULTS were striking. When they compared women who
consumed as little as one sugar-sweetened beverage per
day with women who consumed those beverages less than
once per month, the increased risk of coronary heart
disease was 23%.
And when they compared women who consumed more than two
sugar-sweetened beverage per day with women who
consumed those beverages less than once per month, the
increased risk of coronary heart disease was a whopping
35%.
And, in case you guys thought you were off the hook, a
study has just been published showing similar results
in men (de Koning et al, Circulation, March 12, 2012,
Epub ahead of print).
This study was a 22 year follow up of 42,883 men
enrolled in the Men's Health Professional study.
The study design and results were very similar to the
ones obtained previously in the Nurses Health Study
except that this study did not distinguish between
subjects consuming one sugar sweetened beverage a day
and those consuming more than one each day.
When they compared men who consumed one or more sugar
sweetened beverage a day to men who never consumed
sugar-sweetened beverages, the increased risk of
coronary heart disease was 20%.
Finally, you may be saying that this information
doesn't apply to you because you only consumed diet
sodas or artificially sweetened non-carbonated
beverages.
Unfortunately, you may not be off the hook either!
Another study published in January 2012 reported that
diet soft drink consumption is also associated with
increased risk of coronary heart disease - including
strokes (Gardener et al, J. Gen. Intern. Med., DOI:
10.1007/sl11606-011-1968-2). This study followed 2564
men and women enrolled in the Northern Manhattan Study
for 10 years.
The people in this study who consumed more than one
diet soda or artificially sweetened beverage/day were
43% more likely to have a vascular event (heart attack
or stroke) then the people consuming less than one diet
beverage/month.
This study is in line with previous studies showing
that diet soda consumption is associated with increased
risk of pre-diabetes and type 2 diabetes.
And, as I have pointed out in my previous "Health
Tips",there is no convincing evidence that diet sodas
actually help prevent weight gain.
Sure there are several published studies showing that
when dietitians supervise the diets of the study
participants, you can achieve weight loss by substituting
diet beverages for sugar containing beverages.
However, two major studies have shown that when you
look at free-living populations, consumption of diet
beverages is associated with just as much weight gain
as consumption of sugar containing beverages (Dhingra
et al, Circulation,116: 480-488, 2007; Fowler et al,
Obesity, 16:1894-1900, 2008).
Apparently, without a dietitian looking over our
shoulder, we manage to make up for those lost calories
somewhere else!
So what's the bottom line for you?
You should be aware that these studies just look at
associations - not cause and effect - and they can be
skewed by the characteristics of the study populations.
For example, there were some striking inconsistencies
between the 3 studies I cited that are likely due to
differences in the population groups that they sampled.
However, despite some differences from one study to the
next, the weight of accumulating evidence seems to
suggest that sodas - both sugar containing and diet -
are really not good for us.
So it's back to my original advice: "Just put down that
soda and nobody gets hurt."
Water is sounding better and better!
To Your Health!
Dr. Stephen G Chaney
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