20 Reasons to Never Drink Soda or Diet Soda Again

Posted September 18, 2010 in Diet 24 Comments »

Call it what you like; soda, tonic, pop, or the leading cause of the onset of type II diabetes in middle aged over-weight Americans; the experts agree that carbonated flavored beverages are not good for your health. While regular and diet sodas are both borderline dangerous, diet drinks seem to pose a much greater risk to the body. Still thinking about reaching for a soda??? Here are only 20 reasons not to drink one ever again:

1. Your diet soda could be loaded with saccharin. Saccharin (Sweet n’ Low) is a noncaloric petroleum derivative that has been linked to bladder cancer in laboratory animals. In fact, Saccharin was discovered by Ira Remsen in 1879 at the dinner table after not having washed the coal tar derivatives off of his hands. Coal tar derivatives – it’s what’s for dinner!

2. Your diet soda could be loaded with Aspartame. Aspartame (NutraSweet) contains ethyl or wood alcohol, which has been known to hinder fetal brain development.

3. Your regular soda IS loaded with sugar. Refined sugar and syrupy sugar, eg high-fructose corn syrup, are both linked directly to weight gain and adult-onset type II diabetes. Both of these can kill you.

4. Diet drinks are loaded with sodium which causes calcium to be excreted. This loss of calcium leads to osteoporosis, which causes your bones to become weak and brittle. We all know about the person that trips and falls and breaks their hip. Don’t let this be you.

5. Sodas tend to interact adversely with antacids, possibly causing headaches, constipation, hypertension, nausea, vomiting, and kidney damage.

6. Sodas contain a lot of phosphorus, which can also lead to excessive calcium loss and even they can even hinder the body’s ability to utilize calcium. Can we say osteoporosis? Soft drinks serve as the number one source of phosphorus in the American diet. Maybe Americans weren’t always so decrepit, eh?

7. Heavy soft drink consumption can interfere with the body’s metabolization of iron, which could mean diminished nerve impulse transmission. More soda, less sensation.

8. Caffeine withdrawal can occur in those that drink soft drinks daily. It’s a dreadful experience that can include symptoms such as headache, fatigue, mild depression, muscle pain and stiffness, flu-like feelings, nausea, and vomiting.

9. Women that consume at least one caffeinated beverage a day are more prone to PMS. In fact, the more caffeine a women consumes, the worse the PMS symptoms tend to be.

10. Listen up ladies. Just having one caffeinated drink a day reduces your monthly chances of conceiving a child up to 50%. In related news, having just 20-30 extra pounds of blubber on your body reduces your chances of ever being asked out by that hot, young, successful entrepreneur across that room that clearly sports 6-pack abs underneath his workout shirt.

11. Listen up men. Soda stored in plastic containers can decrease your testosterone levels, which could have any number of negative effects including increased fat retention, decreased muscle mass and strength, loss of libido, inability to maintain an erection, and an increased chance of developing certain types of cancer. Why? Because plastic is known to contain certain environmental estrogens that seep into whatever the plastic comes in contact with. Estrogen is essentially the opposite of testosterone in the same way that a woman in the opposite of a man.

12. When stored improperly, the artificial sweetener aspartame can turn into methanol, a poisonous alcohol which General Motors is considering using as a fuel. Even when stored properly, 10% of the consumed aspartame will be absorbed into the bloodstream as methanol. So, damned if you do, damned if you don’t….

13. Phosphoric acid found in soft drinks can actually corrode your stomach lining and your liver.

14. A high phosphorus intake can lead to gingivitis, tooth loss, and periodontal disease.

15. PET bottling is used exclusively for soft drinks. This Polyethylene terephthalate can release small amounts of dimethyl terephthalate into the beverage. Unfortunately, this compound is potentially carcinogenic.

16. One extra soft drink a day gives a child a 60% greater chance of becoming obese. Each daily drink adds 0.18 points to the child’s BMI score, regardless of exercise and other foods consumed.

17. One liter of aspartame-sweetened soda can produce about 56 mg of methanol. When several diet sodas are consumed daily, as much as 250 mg of methanol are stuffed into the bloodstream. Oh, and by the way, this is 32 times the Environmental Protection Agency’s limit.

18. The acidity of soda is about the same as vinegar, but the sugar content disguises the acidity. Clever, huh??

19. The sugar from one soft drink has the ability to weaken the white blood cells up to 7 hours.

20. Children who drink soft drinks are 3-4 times more likely to suffer from bone fractures than those who don’t.

In conclusion, drink water… and lots of it. If you aren’t drinking 8, 8 oz. glasses a day, you are only hurting yourself. Today is the day to make a change!

Share the Swole!

24 Responses to “20 Reasons to Never Drink Soda or Diet Soda Again”

  1. HAHA! Diet soda in plastic can decrease testosterone levels? HAHAHA!
    Because of what the plastic is made out of? Oh, so if i drink water out of plastic my testosterone levels will drop. Most stupid thing ive ever heard. And if you think you’re right, where is the scientific evidence?

  2. Hi there I loved your post. I feel that it’s important when discussing diabetes to at least point out natural therapies that have been shown to be effective in controlling high blood glucose. Many natural herbs can be including in a diabetics regimen that will help maintain a healthy glucose level.

  3. […] I was shocked to read a list of points of what both regular and diet sodas contain and do to you on Project Swole.  I think some of them are over-exaggerated and a few of their facts are debatable or are skewed […]

  4. I justed chucked out a 6 pack of diet cola. I knew diet sodas weren’t good, I just didn’t know how bad. This summer I’ve had one every couple of days. No hot dogs and no soda. Thanks Steve.

  5. the only time i’d drink soda is at a resturant.
    and then i dont drink it, i take a little bottle of lemon or lime juice and just ask for water and ice, give a crafty little squirt and
    get a great refeshing drink, cheap too, lol !

  6. […] Swole gives you 20 Reasons to Never Drink Soda Again.  Its suprising what is inside those 12oz […]

  7. Hey Steve. I tend to drink a lot of diet soda, because the caffeine is a great boost. I’m not much of a coffee guy, can you suggest any healthier alternatives that still have a bit of caffeine?

    • Green Tea is the best, but you can also choose the low calorie version of energy drinks like Monster, Red Bull, and the various 5 Hour Energy Shots. Of course energy drinks have their own downsides – they are acidic, often don’t taste that great, use artificial sweeteners, etc… The low carb versions are probably not much better than diet soda, if at all. If you want to drink something healthy with a caffeine boost, green tea is your choice, just don’t expect a HUGE boost unless you drink a bunch of it.

      • I don’t like this post. At all. It’s full of misinformation that things like news shows use daily to keep people interested (TONIGHT AT 6, HOW YOUR TAP WATER IS MURDERING YOUR CHILDREN AND AIDING TERRORISTS). Here’s my take, as a University biology student:

        1&2- One is banned in drinks in america one is banned in drinks in canada. Whats the difference? politics. Whenever you inject lab rats full of something, it’s probably going to cause cancer. There’s no good evidence to support either being worse than the other, and its potential to cause liver cancer is not well understood. (meaning a link between the two is weak). However, there is still a link, so possible dangers should not be dismissed, they just need further studies.

        3- sugar is perhaps the worst part of soda, because it is so prevalent in the drinks. Sugar makes you fat and causes horrible sugar crashes, but is obviously fine in moderation or avoided by drinking diet, or maybe just going for an extra jog and realizing that sugar rush is going to end, and when it does, you will feel bad.

        4- Sodium excretion has been found to be an indicator of calcium excretion (more sodium excreted usually means more calcium excreted) However, These effects are seen more significantly in low calcium diets (when you arent getting enough calcium anyway) and these excretion levels in a calcium sufficient diet had no significant impact on bone mass density. So the link between sodium and O.P. is weak at best.
        https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14586799

        5- Why are you drinking soda if it makes you nauseous or constipated?

        6&14- Phosphourous is absolutely ESSENTIAL in your diet, and actually builds bones along with calcium (so yes, when it binds to calcium to strengthen your bones it is actively using up your body’s calcium, keeping it from use in other bodily functions)But, the amount of P in soda compared to, say, a chicken breast, is relatively tiny. The problem arises when your phosphourous levels shoot far above your calcium level, a problem easily remedied by keeping in mind your daily calcium requirements, and drinking a nice glass of milk.
        https://www.umm.edu/altmed/articles/phosphorus-000319.htm

        7- Whaaaaat? What’s “heavy consumption”? I’d be eager to read the source on this…

        8-10- 4 12oz. cans of Mountain Dew = roughly 1 16oz cup of dunkin doughnuts coffee.

        11. Men have estrogen too, in fact low estrogen leads to low fertility in men… I dont know what your source is on this, but if I submitted this as a theory to my bio professor, I think he would laugh in my face until I slunk back out of his office in shame.

        12&17. Whoaaaa these are a STRETCH. Ethanol is used as a fuel. And we drink it as booze? Ethanol is also used when people get methanol poisioning. So if youre concerned about…methanol from bottles…I guess just add some whiskey to it :p

        13&18- Popular sodas prolly have on average a pH of maybe 2.5 (very acidic) but your stomach is constantly being filled with hydrochloric acid which has a pH of 2. So your digestive system can handle it. The bigger concern is how these acidic sodas (which are not all sodas, by the way) can erode tooth enamel. which again isn’t that significant when consumed in moderation

        15- true, but then again if you were scared off of everything that had some link to a carcinogen, you wouldn’t be consuming much at all…

        16. I’d be eager to see the source on this

        19. I haven’t heard this either, but soda sugar isn’t poison, it’s in a LOT of things. What else should be avoided then?

        20. Children just shouldn’t be drinking soda anyway. It’s got too much sugar and, as explained before, can restrict bone growth if taken out of proportion with required calcium.

        Side note, 8 8oz glasses has no basis in science or medicine.

        Still, don’t let my debunking prevent you from making healthier drink choices. Sodas are still high in sugar (as are most energy drinks), promote obesity, and have possible links to various cancers/kidney scarring later down the road. I will admit that I am an avid, addicted soda consumer so I do have bias, but as long as you keep things in moderation, there’s no reason to think sodas are in anyway dangerous, as this might lead you to believe.

        • Wow, that’s quite a response. I can see you are passionate about your cause. Thanks for the thorough contribution.

  8. I agree that soda is no bueno and I was going to post this to facebook but noticed there are no sources referenced for this article. Can you list your sources so give this post even more of a case against soda?

    • Sorry, I’m not sure what I used for sources. This is actually an old post and I didn’t always cite my resources back then.

  9. To Fake name-

    The same could be said about breathing in coal dust. So tell that to coal miners with the Black Lung. The same could be said about smoking cigarettes. So tell that to those people who have Lung Disease/Cancer due to direct relation to cigarette addiction.

    Everything is OKAY in moderation but it still comes down to what YOU want for YOURSELF. Some people choose to have a healthier life, some people choose “Live to Eat” mentality. That is their prerogative. Still, the science is here for OUR knowledge.

    On topic here. Thanks Steve! Another good article to try and get the rest of my family into living healthy!

  10. Whatever. These are all very SMALL chances. You have to drink a lot of soda to actually worry about this stuff.

  11. It always amazes me to see obese lard bags pouring liquid candy down their flabby necks. Either these fools don’t care that that are obese and will lose years from their lives, are professional victims and think they are not able to stop, or they are just stupid.

  12. wow! thats a amazing…
    i’ve been trying to get “off” drinking soda, its not easy, its really hard!
    its true, when trying to get off soda you go through withdraws, and i usually tend to feel the headaches and flu like symptoms with nausea.
    I usually drink coffee and water…(the coffee to make up for the caffine loss when not drinking soda.)
    i noticed that when i drink coffe while not drinking the of the, i dont get the withdraw symptoms..its a way to trick your body…hahah
    yea its tough, but in the long run, its healthier for us all.
    what are we doing to ourselves?

    i came to the conclusion that the only thing im going to eat is “god-made” food, not man made.

  13. WOW…….

    And I was addicted to soda for over 20 yrs, And its been 2 yrs. since i kicked my daily habit of 3-6 ltrs a day.
    DAMMMMMMMMMMMM
    the above info is too scary ,
    peace

Leave a Reply