The Bitter Truth Of Sweetened Beverages

When we are so much concerned about what to eat then why don't we think about what drinks we consume daily. If we're not careful a large amount of calories can come from the beverages we drink with meals or as snacks. The majority of these excess calories comes in the form of sugar sweetened beverages. Some such as fruit juices may already have naturally occurring sugar in them. But many more drink have added sugar in the form of corn syrup, invert sugar or other sweeteners that can contribute to weight gain and provide little to no nutritional value.

Unlike sugar from food, the sugar from drinks enters the body so quickly that it can overload the pancreas and the liver, leading to diabetes type-2 and heart disease over time and it may also cause obesity and tooth decay.

Safe Amount of Sugar:

Men should consume no more than 9 teaspoon (36 grams) &

women should consume 6 teaspoon (25 grams) of added sugar per day.

As per WHO:

Adults and children reduce their daily intake of free sugars to less than 10% of their total energy intake. A further reduction to below 5% or roughly 25 grams (6 teaspoons) per day would provide additional health benefits.

Non-nutritive or Artificial sweeteners:

Now a days many non-nutritive & artificial sweeteners have been introduced into the market in non caloric drinks such as diet sodas due to the growing demand for alternatives to sugar sweetened beverages.

These artificial sweeteners poses a greater risk to children especially because caloric

compensation after consumption of this is more complete in children who compared to adults, lack social cues, learned behavior self control. Children choose sweetened beverages instead of milk and those who do not consume the appropriate amount of calcium consumption as they get older. Insufficient level of calcium throughout adolescence is a precursor for all the bone problems.

Facts:

• A 2010 study said that consuming one to two sugary drinks a day increases your risk of developing diabetes by 26%.

• Excess sugar consumption is believed to stimulate dopamine in central nervous system.

• The addition of one sugar sweetened beverage per day to the normal diet can amount to 15 pounds of weight gain over the course of 1 year.

• Extreme cola consumption leads to hypokalemia.

• The caffeinated drinks lead to diaresis, increase renin level etc.

• The rise in consumption of such drink is due to the current convenience , availability and accessibility of sugar sweetened beverages today.

• Due to negative health effects of overconsumption of sweetened beverages, a sweetened beverage tax(soda tax) has been recommended by the institute of medicine.

Alternative:

Drink water instead of soda or juices and don't add sugar to your coffee/tea.

Instead of sugar in recipes, you can try things like cinnamon, nutmeg, almond, entrails, vanilla, ginger or lemon.

A natural, zero-calorie alternative to sugar is stevia. 

Some of the zero calorie drinks are:

• mint detox water, green tea, ginger tea, turmeric tea and apple cider low calorie drink.

• make your own unsweetened iced tea with decaf tea bags or herbal tea bags.

Conclusion:

At the end of the day, it's important for us to figure out the sugar intake that's right for us.

• 

  STOP : drink rarely

• Regular Sodas

• Energy or Sports Drinks

• Fruit Drinks

• Sweetened Tea.

  

  Yellow: Think before drink- drink occasionally

• Diet soda / Diet Cola

• Low calorie or low sugary drinks

• 100% Real juice (Packed).

• 

  Green: go on drink-drink plenty

• Water

• Skimmed or 1% milk

• Unsweetened tea.

  
  

Some people can handle a little bit of sugar in their diet, while for others it causes craving, binge eating weight gain etc.

Every individual is unique and we need to figure out what works for us.

nutrition/ humanbody/ healthy lifestyle/ artificial sweetners/ sweetened beverages