Thursday, March 17, 2016

Are We Finally Listening About Sodas??

Finally, some good news regarding sodas! (From a health perspective, there usually isn’t anything “good” to talk about concerning them…) In recent months, there have been numerous reports confirming that overall consumption of carbonated soft drinks (soda) has been steadily declining. As a doctor, I couldn’t be happier because they are frequently a contributing factor to many health conditions that we see in the office such as weight issues, diabetes and gastrointestinal problems. The fact that Americans are slowing down their consumption gives me hope that more people are realizing that regular soda is nothing more than liquid candy (and diet sodas aren’t any better for you with all their chemicals).

Over the last 20 years, sales of full-calorie soda have dropped by more than 25%. Soda consumption, which grew mainly from the 1960’s to the 1990’s, is now experiencing a sustained decline. Researchers found that 30.1 percent of adults reported drinking sugar-sweetened beverages at least once a day in 2013, according to the report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). In 2010, 50.6 percent of adults reported drinking at least one sugar-sweetened beverage a day, according to the report, which gathered data from survey respondents in 23 states.

Drinking at least one sugar-sweetened beverage daily was most common among 18- to 24-year-olds, with 43.3 percent of all people in this age group reporting that they consume a sugary drink at least once daily. Adults in this age group were 2.3 times more likely to have a sugary drink once a day than adults ages 55 and over, according to the report. Other groups in which consumption was high included African-Americans (39.9 percent); men (34.1 percent); people who reported being unemployed (34.4 percent); and people with less than a high school education (42.4 percent).

Part of this declining trend is due to people making smarter beverage choices. More people are opting for bottled water to quench their thirst instead of sugar-laden drinks, which is a great shift as most people do not consume enough water daily and are living in a state of partial dehydration. Ironically, this can be exacerbated by the caffeine in sodas as it has a natural diuretic effect on the body and will cause you to lose more water. Moving away from sodas also offers other benefits as well. The carbonation in sodas produces a very strong acidic environment (just search for the videos online that show people using it to take the rust off of metal!) that the body will attempt to buffer. One way it does this is with calcium from the body’s own supply. If it takes it from our bones, it can contribute to osteoporosis and osteopenia. If it takes it from our muscles (and remember the heart is a muscle!), we can get muscle cramps or contraction problems. Lastly, the option for diet soda in the attempt to avoid excessive calories does not offer any real health benefit. In addition to causing hormonal and neurological issues, the artificial sweeteners still drive the insulin response in the body in response to the perceived sweetness. However, since there are no calories (sugar) for the body to act upon, it leaves the body looking for more and this has been shown to lead to overeating.

Overall, there really are no benefits to drinking sodas and the negative effects they produce on the body far outweigh any perceived short-term enjoyment value one would get from consuming them. Stick to pure water or other natural alternatives like cold-pressed fruit and vegetable juices or coconut water and give your body a healthier hydration option.

And for a little (truthful) humor:

In Health,

Dr. Brad Niewierowski

Thursday, February 25, 2016

How Soda Effects the Body

The majority of our patients come in to the office with the desire to lose some weight in addition to improving their health on various levels. While hormone balances, stress and lifestyle factors all play a part in whether we gain or lose weight on a week by week basis, one major determining factor will simply be how much food we are putting into our bodies. If we are taking in more calories than our body requires to maintain a healthy body weight and composition, it simply has no choice other than to store the excess as body fat.

As patients go through our program, most are surprised to realize how much they have been overeating on a day to day basis. One area that routinely will undermine the ability to maintain a healthy weight is not realizing just how many calories we take in from certain foods. And while the word “food” really shouldn’t be used for sodas, since they do contribute calories to daily intake, they have to be put into this classification. It can be easy to forget how many calories liquids contain since they go down easy and don’t have the bulk that solid foods do. But take a look at an average soda. There are approximately 10 teaspoons of added sugar in a single can of cola. That’s an easy 160 calories, and most people can drink more than one can in a day so they can add up quickly.

Beyond the excessive calorie load though, we also need to understand what effects that type of “food” has on our body, because not all calories are created equal. Most sodas use high fructose corn syrup as their main ingredient, which not only causes blood sugar to spike, but also promotes inflammation in the body. According to one researcher, the intense sweetness of Coca-Cola as a result of its high sugar content should make us vomit as soon as it enters the body. However, the phosphoric acid in the beverage dulls the sweetness, enabling us to keep the drink down.

Due to the high sugar content we get an insulin spike, which causes the body to store all the excess sugar as fat. Shortly thereafter, once the caffeine has been absorbed, you get a rise in your blood pressure which causes the liver to dump more sugar into the bloodstream and you continue to run off the “sugar high”. While this is going on, your body is using it’s own stores of calcium (and magnesium and zinc) to buffer against the acidity from the carbonation (acid) in the soda. The negative here is that as you urinate later (a diuretic effect from the caffeine), you’ll be excreting all those minerals, plus some electrolytes as well, that are supposed to be helping build strong bones and keeping your body fluids in balance. Then of course you’ll get the sugar crash after about an hour, leaving you hungry and/or irritable and more prone to overeating or going through the above nasty cycle again if you reach for another soda.

After learning all that, is it really worth it when there are so many other healthier beverage options available? Coconut waters have gained in popularity recently, and there are many options when it comes to natural juices and smoothies that can deliver plenty of nutrients and also include some fat and protein to help slow down the sugar absorption. Bottom line: be smart when it comes to your beverage selections. They can easily be a source of harmful calories for your body that have multiple negative effects on our health, but they can also offer multiple benefits if you choose your drinks wisely.