Carbonated Beverages (Should I? or Should I not?)

Assalamu’alaikum to dear readers, this post is dedicated to everybody as a medium for me to share this knowledge I gained from my readings and few researches to be shared with everybody.

Firstly, I would like to apologize if there are any grammatical mistakes or any false statement or facts that I’ve written inside this post.

T

hese days, carbonated beverage becomes a popular drink especially to teenagers as it has this unique, one of a kind taste, with delightful flavoring, refreshing  and tangible sensation. It becomes almost everyone cup of tea, with its wowing effervescent, gassy appearance as it is exposed towards the normal atmospheric pressure. But… is that all there is or does it more than just a drink? And why does some parents prevent their kids from drinking this so called refreshing drinks?

What does it contains?

Carbonated  beverages are not more than a whole part of carbonated water (containing bicarbonate ions), added with sodium chloride, phosphoric acid, sodium citrate, caffeine  and some light flavouring – and of course, one of the most important ingredient: a whole lot of sugar (10 teaspoons to be exact).

The truth about it, once we drink it…

This is a study done by a Brazilian professor of Matto Grosso Federal University. These sequential-events take place inside our body after approximately 60 minutes after glugging the so-called refreshing can of soft drinks…

• ·         After 10 minutes:  10 teaspoons of sugar starts to take an immediate action. At this rate, we should have vomit because of overwhelming with sweetness. But, fortunately, the sweet taste of it is cut by an immediate reaction of sugar with phosphate molecules, causes a decrease in sweetness than it should be.

* Notice that, normally, we need to consume only 10 teaspoons of sugar daily, and by drinking  a can of soft drink, we actually takes in 100% of sugar for our daily requirement.

• ·         After 20 minutes: our body starts to react as the blood sugar level erupts, beta cells of pancreas are forced to produce a high amount of insulin and convert most of the sugar into fats (this is because of a high consumption of sugar).

• ·         After 40 minutes: caffeine absorption is completed.  An immediate response of caffeine takes place such as our pupil will be dilated, blood pressure rises, and forces our liver to release more sugar into our blood. In the same time, caffeine is also known as 1 of the chemical that can crosses the blood-brain barrier. Once it enters the brain, it will compete with adenosine to bind to adenosine receptors of the brain’s cells, prevents drowsiness. All of these reactions will trigger an energy rush in our body.

• ·         After 45 minutes: the body increases dopamine production thus, stimulating the pleasure centres.
• ·         After 50 minutes: phosphate binds to calcium, magnesium and zinc in the intestine, and prevent these important minerals from being reuptake by our body. These minerals will then carried by the blood to our kidney to be filtered as waste products. Excess sugar and sweeteners also causes decrease in calcium reuptake. 
• ·         After 60 minutes: caffeine’s diuretic properties play its role. We will urinate, excreting extra calcium, magnesium and zinc which are very essential for our bone development. As times passed by, we will also experience sugar crash.

So… does it REALLY that bad?

Well… some doctors recommend their patients to stop their habit of regular soda intake. Through some researches, regular habit of soda intake may cause numerous diseases such as:

1.       Decrease in bone density that may lead to osteoporosis especially in woman.

Phosphoric acid, which is the real culprit, says Katherine Tucker, Ph.D., lead author of the study. When this compound breaks down, the acidity (or concentration of free hydrogen ions) of the blood increases. To neutralize acidity, hydrogen ions bind with minerals, including calcium and magnesium. If they’re not available in the blood, the body draws calcium by decalcifying our bone.

2.       Increases oesophageal cancer risk.

        

study explains by drinking a quarter of a litre of water, our stomach distends by a quarter of a litre, but if it's a carbonated drink, our stomach may distend to maybe half a litre. This causes reflux - the acid of the stomach is thrown back into the food pipe.

 And recurring acid reflux is the most important risk factor for esophageal adenocarcinoma.

3.       Childhood obesity.

For children, soft drinks could be very addictive. Drinking soda all day long means they are consuming 1,000 calories a day in the form of liquid candy.

If this condition goes on day by days, week by weeks, without any preventive measure, it will cause obesity towards the children.

So…  “should I? or should I not drink it?” That is a question we should answer.

A study shows that consumption of carbonated soft drinks rose by more than 450 percent, from 10.8 gallons per year in 1946 to 49.2 gallons per year in 2000.

So…  are we one of those regular drinkers who contribute this much amount of data in this statistic?

Wallahu a’lam... may Allah always be with us… may we always make the  wise decisions…