These refreshing drinks are loved by everyone: Dangerous Ingredients each year, nearly 4 billion sodas are sold worldwide. But what exactly do they contain?
1. Sugar, sugar again, always sugar!
Although sugar is not toxic, its over-consumption leads to weight gain, which can lead to obesity. This, at least, is what health authorities are saying in their reports.
The problem here would be a high amount of Dangerous Ingredients such as fructose, which is now considered to be responsible for chronic diseases such as diabetes or cardiovascular diseases. Why is it still used by the agri-food industries, you say? Well, it’s quite simple: it costs less than white sugar (also called sucrose)!
And it turns out that most cokes are overflowing with it! Indeed, 1L of Coca Cola is equivalent to 115 g of sugar!
Yet, despite all the warnings about too much consumption of sugary drinks, they remain popular. Each year, a person drinks, on average, 60 liters of sugary drinks (excluding fruit juices and syrups). Moreover, on the site of Coca Cola, one can read that it is the favorite brand for those aged 12-19.
2. Sweeteners in moderation. – Dangerous Ingredients
To counter these arguments, most major or distributor brands have released their “light beverage” (-30% sugar) or “zero sugar” version of their drinks. But they have only ousted one poison to make room for a new one…
In these beverages, sugar is replaced by sweeteners, and the most commonly used are acesulfame K, stevia or aspartame. The latter is the most controversial sweetener: it has, for example, been accused of being the cause of brain cancer and epilepsy. Scientific studies have validated, to date, only one real risk.
Phenylketonuria patients are advised not to use them. This rare genetic disorder causes difficulties in digesting an aminoalkanoic acid, phenylalanine.
However, aspartame releases this compound when digested in the intestine.
One thing is certain, today, no sweetener has yet proved its effectiveness in weight loss, nor the fact that it is totally harmless…
Good to know: these sweeteners are to be avoided in the diet of children under 3. Even though there are few people who would give ice tea to their baby, it is never too safe to remember.
3. Caffeine alert!
It is fun to read the labels of some drinks displaying “caffeine flavor” when it is known that caffeine has no flavor. It would be more accurate to write “coffee flavor,” Dangerous Ingredients which would, however, be a bad marketing move, since the children would be diverted from these drinks by their parents…
Indeed, caffeine is better known for its stimulating effects than for its aromatic benefits… Strangely, when we take a closer look at the labels of colas or iced teas, none show their caffeine content. And yet if you knew…
Various studies have shown, for example, that 1L of Pepsi contains 100mg of caffeine, equivalent to 1 to 2 cups of coffee… Do you now realize what your children are drinking?
In the US, the maximum recommended dose for children between 7 and 9 years of age is 62.5 mg per day. If you, or your children, Dangerous Ingredients consume too much caffeine, the side effects can be numerous: excitement, irritability, nervousness, anxiety, insomnia… So there are many reasons to limit the consumption of sodas.
Today, soda manufacturers are still hiding behind the “industrial secret” which allows them not to reveal the recipe for their drinks… Dangerous Ingredients caffeine content, sugars present in so-called drinks, traces of alcohol…: this “industrial secret” pushes some of them to break certain rules. So we have to be careful and keep informed!