Death By Coke (Joshua Frank)

By Joshua Frank -- World News Trust

Dec. 13, 2006 -- We are a country of overweight people. Americans are tipping the scales in record numbers, with approximately 130 million people presently considered overweight or obese. Perhaps most alarmingly of all, half of all women aged 20 to 39 in the United States are included in these figures. Many factors contribute to the growing problem, from our sedentary lifestyles to our overindulgence in high-energy, low nutritional foods. Dealing with the crisis is not easy. The marketing of energy dense foods is a multi-billion- dollar industry and manufactures of such products go to great lengths to ensure their shareholders continue to profit from the sales of nutrition-less foods.

Despite the barrage of marketing to the contrary, sales pitches, and misinformation, consumption of soda has been directly linked to both obesity as well as type 2 diabetes. Soft drinks are packed full of sugar and refined carbohydrates, both of which are undeniably correlated to these factors. Type 2 diabetes is also associated with a poor diet that is laden with high-fructose corn syrup and low in fiber. Research indicates that soft drinks largely contribute to this growing epidemic, with high school- and college-age kids being the most likely to consume sugar laden soda beverages on a regular basis.

Sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) are bad news, according to health experts, because they contribute to the obesity epidemic by providing empty calories, that is, calories that provide little or no nutritional value. Meaning, a person who slugs down too much soda is swallowing more than their body can handle. And this added energy isn’t healthy energy -- it’s energy derived from high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS), i.e., highly refined sugar that has been chemically processed in order to excite your taste buds. It has been argued that too much HFCS in one’s diet may offset the intake of solid food, yet does not produce a positive caloric balance. In turn, this over-consumption contributes to the slow development of obesity because the person is consuming more calories than their body can burn. And these days, people are drinking more soda than ever before. Perhaps not surprisingly, as portion sizes for soft drinks have increased, so have American waistlines.

To put this dangerous pattern in to perspective, one regular 12-ounce can of sugar-sweetened soda contains approximately 150 calories with close to 50 grams of sugar. If this is added to the typical American diet, one can of soda per day could lead to a weight gain of 15 pounds in one year. Currently the consumption of soda accounts for about 8-9 percent of total energy among children and adults, and studies suggest that it is most certainly having a negative effect on the people who consume it in such vast quantities. So what’s so wrong with being overweight then, you ask? So what if soda has been linked to causing obesity? What’s wrong with that? Well, plenty say scores of medical, health and public nutrition experts.

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http://www.worldnewstrust.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=742&Itemid=1

See 1963

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coca-Cola_slogans

I was about 150 pounds overweight in two years. Stopped drinking soda and so far I've dropped about 65 pounds. Soda should be banned.

I like Rum and Coke but had to give it up because of teeth destroying. Maybe once in a blue moon I'll have one, but beer is easy on the teeth as is wine.

I guess I didn't swill it around enough.... I don't like cold stuff on my teeth.

:evilgrin:

everything else that could possibly, maybe, perhaps cause obesity. Like processed sugar. corn syrup, candy, saturated fats, and anything else that might fall into the category of things our weak-willed populus can't seem to stop eating or drinking.

Education and moderation is the answer, not banning.

It's the corn syrup that's the worst. Anyway, I wasn't serious. I thought that was obvious, but apparently it was not.

Shouldn't we be free to make that decision for ourselves? I would agree, perhaps, with more stringent disclosure and labeling, but not an outright ban - that's nanny-state conservatism at it's worst.

Why most alarming?

Oh yeah, I forgot, we're the designated sex objects. My bad. :eyes:

Or perhaps it's because of the high percentage coupled with the youth factor.

Don't let me (or facts) get in the way of your pity party, though...

Looked around a mall lately? But hey, they get to wear those baggy pants so it doesn't show as much.

See <www.dorway.com> Don't sneer cuz it's a crappy and sensationalist web site. I'm a doctor's wife. No doctors I know will let their families touch anything containing Aspartame. It cheers me to know Bushie drinks it by the gallon. Could be the cause of his increasingly less borderline dementia. Unless it's the booze.