Hazardous things often come in tempting formula, and for soda, a favourite drink for many, it can’t get any truer!As opposed to all natural fruit juices and water, soda and other soft drinks have no nutritional benefits as it mostly contains filtered water and lots of sugar.Due to too much sugar in soda, one puts their lives at a risk of weight gain, which also comes with bigger risks to different diseases including diabetes, according to Dr Gerald Kirega of King Faisal Hospital, Rwanda.He said the biggest danger of over consumption of soft drinks, especially soda, is its high sugar content.“Soda has lots of sugar and too much sugar leads to overweight, which might result in obesity,” Dr Kirega said.The American Heart Institute recommends that one should not consume more than 450 calories from sugar-sweetened beverages per week yet three cans (the size of a 300 millilitre small bottle of soda) of soda contain the same amount of calories.This means that if you take more than three cans of soda a week, then you’ll have exceeded the recommended amount of calories for your body in a week.Gerald Ruzindana, a nutritionist at Amazon Nutritional Centre, Remera, said sugar increases insulin levels which in turn puts one’s life at a risk of suffering from high cholesterol, diabetes, high blood pressure and heart diseases.Ruzindana adds that high levels of acidity in soda causes an imbalance in the body since the body needs more alkalinity. This can also cause teeth decay.“Soda is highly acidic yet our bodies need to preserve an alkaline pH balance, so consumption of soda drains minerals from our bones and teeth in order balance. This beverage is also toxic and contains carbon, which is dangerous if consumed in large quantities,” he said.Online sources say a 12-ounce can of diet Coke has about 42 milligrammes of caffeine; a can of Pepsi has about 56 milligrammes of caffeine, 18 milligrams more than both regular Pepsi and Diet Pepsi. Sprite and 7-Up are said to be caffeine-free, but nutritionists advise that you stick to natural fruit juice and water.
