Nancy Appleton, PhD
Nancy Appleton, PhD, a nutritional consultant based in La Jolla, California, and author of Stopping Inflammation (Square One).
You know that soda is no good for you, although you might not realize just how bad it really is. And fruit juice is almost as bad. According to The American Heart Association, the safe upper limit of daily added sugar—which includes all of the sugar that isn’t naturally present in foods—is six teaspoons for women and nine teaspoons for men. A 12-ounce can of Pepsi has about 10 teaspoons of sugar. Even real fruit juice—including fresh apple, grape and orange juice—contains about 10 teaspoons of sugar in every 12-ounce glass. Yes, it is naturally occurring sugar, but it upsets your body chemistry in the same way that added sugar does.
For details on the risks of added sugar and ways to steer clear of it, our editors turned to Nancy Appleton, PhD, a nutritional consultant based in San Diego. She created an advanced curriculum for the National Institute for Nutritional Education and is a coauthor, with G.N. Jacobs, of Killer Colas: The Hard Truth About Soft Drinks (Square One).
In addition to sugar, soda, soft drinks, bottled teas and sports drinks may contain phosphoric acid (which disrupts mineral balance), high-fructose corn syrup (a form of sugar that may increase the risk for metabolic syndrome) and caffeine (which can cause heart palpitations and insomnia). None of it is good for you.
The average American drinks about 11.5 gallons of fruit juice and fruit beverages and more than 50 gallons of soft drinks a year. This works out to about 600 12-ounce cans of soda and 125 12-ounce servings of juice.
Our bodies aren’t designed to process this much sweetness. Excess sugar breaks down the process of homeostasis, the body’s ability to maintain a healthy chemical balance. What this can lead to…
Calcium depletion. Sugar acidifies the blood. The body attempts to restore a normal state of alkalinity by removing calcium from the bones. This increases blood levels of calcium while decreasing bone levels. Results: A higher risk for bone fractures and osteoporosis, along with an increased risk for cardiovascular disease from arterial calcification.
Autoimmune diseases. The mineral imbalances caused by excess sugar and phosphoric acid impair the normal functions of enzymes, including digestive enzymes. When the digestive enzymes can’t function, protein molecules from incompletely digested foods can pass through the intestine and into the bloodstream. These “foreign” molecules then are attacked by the immune system. This condition, known as leaky gut syndrome, could increase the risk for and/or severity of lupus, rheumatoid arthritis and other autoimmune diseases.
Pancreatic cancer. Swedish researchers sent food questionnaires to nearly 80,000 men and women. They found that those who consumed the most sugar, particularly from soft drinks, were significantly more likely to get this deadly cancer than those who consumed less. Other studies have reported similar results.
Hypertension, heartburn, asthma and more. The consumption of soft drinks has been linked to an increased risk for high blood pressure, gout, heartburn and even asthma.
A presentation at the International Stroke Conference in Los Angeles looked at information from more than 2,500 participants. Researchers found that those who drank diet soda daily were 61% more likely to suffer a cardiovascular event, such as a heart attack or stroke, than those who didn’t drink these beverages. Although the reason for this isn’t known, there is enough information about sugar substitutes (such as aspartame and saccharin) to make diet soda the likely culprit. The phosphoric acid could be a likely cause, too. Whatever the case, these are not recommended.
When French researchers gave cocaine-addicted rats a choice between more cocaine or an artificial sweetener, the animals consistently chose the artificial sweetener. Like cocaine, sweeteners elevate dopamine, a neurotransmitter that makes us feel good. However, the sugar “high” doesn’t last very long. In the absence of more sugar, dopamine declines precipitously, which causes classic symptoms of withdrawal—mood changes, fatigue and irritability. To relieve these symptoms, soda drinkers unconsciously “self-medicate” with more soft drinks.
Manufacturers have promoted sports drinks (such as Gatorade), bottled teas and fruit juices as being healthier than carbonated beverages such as 7-Up, Coca-Cola and Pepsi. They’re not. A 16-ounce bottle of lemon tea has 10.5 teaspoons of sugar. A 20-ounce bottle of Gatorade Original Lemon-Lime contains 8.5 teaspoons.
You can enjoy the occasional soft drink, just as you might enjoy the occasional rich dessert. But people with health challenges should not drink any soft drinks, sugar or no sugar, caffeine or no caffeine.
The challenge for those who are accustomed to sugary beverages and have developed a chemical dependence is cutting back. You’ll invariably experience intense cravings. You can quit cold turkey or do it gradually. If you want to do it gradually, try the following strategies…
Water it down. You don’t need full-strength fruit juice to get the satisfying taste. Add about three-quarters cup of water to one-quarter cup of juice. You’ll get a little sweetness and fruit flavor, without the excess sugar.
Add bubbles. Many people like the carbonation in soft drinks as much as the sugar. You can make your own carbonated beverage by adding about one-half cup of soda water to one-half cup of fruit juice or iced tea.
Add lemon. Many restaurants routinely add lemon slices to glasses of water. You also can add a little pur
