Sugary Drinks Could Kill You

 

You think that a little soda with your lunch can’t do much harm, even if you’ve heard about the devastating effects sugar has on your health. However, you might reconsider this after you learn that sugary drinks are responsible for more than 180,000 deaths every year.

While the actual drink is not going to kill you the minute you consume it, once it becomes a habit to have one or more sugary beverages every day, you might see the consequences quite soon. The diseases associated with the consumption of such products are diabetes, obesity, heart attacks and cancer. Moreover, they can damage our teeth and lead to dehydration.

A new study led by experts at Tufts University in Boston said that there are 184,000 people who die every year because of their preference to drink soda, iced-tea, energy drinks and even fruit juice with added sugar. Such beverages contain loads of sugar and chemicals that are extremely harmful and their nutritional value is close to zero.

The authors of the study analyzed 61 dietary surveys that had been carried out within 30 years (from 1980 to 2010)in 51 countries in order to reach such worrying conclusions.

The lead author of the study, Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian, who is also the dean of the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University in Massachusetts said that it is of utmost importance that authorities do something about these types of drinks: “It should be a global priority to substantially reduce or eliminate sugar-sweetened beverages from the diet”.

Other experts have commented that these beverages are as dangerous to our health as cigarettes and alcohol are. We are unaware of this because these products are still massively advertised and still sold to our children as a bonus whenever they order a fast food meal in some restaurants. Therefore, we believe that if they are sold to children, they can’t be too bad.

Moreover, commercials employ famous stars, even famous sportspeople, such as Michael Jordan to promote various kinds of soda.

Dr. Mozaffarian pointed out that these stars would never agree to act in commercials that promote cigarettes, drugs or alcohol. However, the effects sugary drinks have on our bodies are quite similar, so they should be included in the  “dangerous” foods category.

Image Source: healthimpactnews