Introduction
Summers are here and everyone wants to drool over cool shakes, ice creams, and cold drinks. Well, the craving behind such cold beverages is well understood, given that the temperatures are soaring, but the side effects of consuming these cold beverages are manifold. This holds especially true for cold drinks or aerated drinks. Taking cold drinks can have many bad effects on your health. And if consumed regularly, they can prove to be fatal for your physical health. A large amount of sugar, also added sweeteners, preservatives, food colors, and some added acid types can cause umpteen health problems and illnesses.
From Diabetes to obesity, weight gain, heart diseases, digestion ailments, liver malfunctioning, cancer, damaged bone health, tooth decay or erosion, kidney failures, increased metabolism; you name it and cold drinks cause it. And there is more to it. What? We will see in the upcoming article.
Reasons why Cold Drinks Should be Avoided
Following are the reasons why cold drinks should be avoided:-
- Obesity: The biggest concern regarding overconsumption of cold drinks is weight gain. These cold drinks can pile up empty calories in your body which are nothing but fat and carbohydrates. The cold drinks do not add to the nutritional value of your dietary intake. Besides, you do not feel full when you consume these cold drinks because your body does not treat these liquid calories as calories. And we are tempted to eat more even after taking or drinking these high-calorie cold drinks. Additionally, these cold drinks contain large amounts of sugar and added sweeteners, which again add to the calories that you are taking. Thus, overall, these cold drinks lead to weight gain and do not provide a nutritional balance to our daily dietary needs. It is a general fact that a can of cold drink contains as much as ten teaspoons of sugar. This sugary intake can keep your hunger aside for a while, but you end up consuming more calories as you would feel hungry again in a short time thus leading to weight gain.
2. Dental Issues: Another big problem that can erupt due to overconsumption of cold drinks is tooth decay. Cold drinks contain phosphate and carbonic acid. These ingredients are known to be the factors for erosion of teeth enamel over a period. Additionally, these acids in combination with sugar can lead to the development of bacteria in the mouth thus ultimately causing tooth decay. And if you do not properly consider the health of your teeth it can lead to mouth ulcers and serious tooth decomposition and ultimately breaking them.
3. Digestion Problems: Cold drinks are harmful to digestion in more than one way. They can impair digestion by contracting blood vessels and prohibiting nutrients get absorbed by your body. Additionally, these cold drinks would need your body to raise its temperature to accommodate the cold nature of these cold beverages. Thus, the body would need to invoke extra energy to digest the sugar and other ingredients in the body. This would lead to serious digestion problems as extra energy needed to break this calorie consumed by the body can have harmful effects on the other parts of your body.
4. Diabetic Complications: It is not rocket science to understand that these cold drinks amplify the possibilities of diabetes in your body. Added Sweeteners and huge quantities of sugar will raise your blood sugar levels at a very high speed. At the same time, these aerated drinks can cause havoc with your body because sugar in liquid form directly enters the veins raising blood sugar levels and hence can prove to be detrimental in the long run. Additionally, these cold drinks can impair the production of insulin in your body. Insulin is known for its regulating the blood sugar levels. Thus, leading to more serious diabetic problems.
5. Heart Diseases: These aerated drinks or cold drinks can increase the risk of cardiovascular diseases. Ranging from increased heartbeat rate, and visceral fat, to coronary heart diseases are some of the by-products of these extremely harmful cold drinks. It is said to be a belief and confirmed by many doctors that the consumption of these cold drinks will hamper the normal functioning of the heart even if you do a physical workout after consuming them. Such are the harmful effects of these cold drinks. According to a study published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, drinking cold drinks daily may increase the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD). The study found that:
One cold drink per day would lead to an 18% increased risk of CVD
Two or more cold drinks per day would lead to a 21% higher risk of CVD
6. Liver Ailments: Drinking too many cold drinks would lead to the risk of liver diseases. These aerated drinks high in sugar and fat would ultimately lead to the depositing of fat onto your liver thus causing fatty liver. The fatty liver would ultimately lead to liver failure and there might come a situation of liver transplant and sometimes a total liver failure condition. On top of that this, it is sometimes also possible that this extra fat on your liver may lead to stress out the liver cells making it extremely difficult to filter out toxins from your body. This may lead to even more complexities such as cirrhosis, diabetes, heart disease, and cancer.
7. Premature Ageing: Can you believe that cold drinks can age your skin much faster than you think? It can result in various skin conditions such as acne, eczema, and premature aging. Some studies suggest that consumption of cold drinks may trigger an inflammatory response in your body. It is believed to be a fact that when cold drinks come in direct contact with your digestive system, the body may think of it as a threat and activate the immune system. This immune system response can lead to chronic inflammation which over a certain amount of time can lead to skin problems and accentuate the aging process.
8. Asthma: Cold drinks are known to fast-track coughing and cold conditions in human bodies. Cold drinks can trigger asthma attacks because they can dry out and cool airways in your body. This cooling and drying can irritate and swell the airways. This can have great harmful effects on your body in the form of asthma. Cold drinks can lead to bronchospasms, a condition in which a brief tightening of the airways happens that can additionally lead to coughing. The cold nature of these aerated drinks can also cause the airways to produce histamine, a chemical that leads to wheezing and other asthma symptoms.
9. Bone Decay: Cold drinks contain Phosphoric acid, which can lead to impaired calcium absorption in the human body. Day-to-day consumption of this Phosphoric Acid can weaken the bones, resulting in osteoporosis and fractures. Osteoporosis is a condition in which bones become weak and thus are more prone to breaking and fracture.
10. High Risk of Gout: Gout is a condition in which there appears to be inflammation and pain in your joints, especially your toes. This condition occurs when there is increased uric acid in your body. Uric acid increases because of the fructose present in the carbohydrates. Fructose is the main ingredient in cold drinks. Thus, causing the condition.
Conclusion
Yes, I agree that in summer we all are tempted to resort to cold drinks because they can well satiate our thirst. But you can always go in for healthy cold drinks such as iced tea, lemon teas, buttermilk, and lassi and should avoid these overrated cold drinks which can lead to heaps of fats in your body. It is only a voluntary madness to resort to these cold drinks.
This chilled soda is causing serious implications for your health.
I will end with a famous quote that very much applies to these cold drinks.
“Those who have no time for healthy eating will sooner or later have to find the time for illness.’’ – Edward Stanley
