For years, doctors, food experts and health critics have touted to the world that soda is bad for everyone. They cited increased risk of diabetes, obesity, tooth decay, weight gain, depression, kidney issues and heart diseases, just to name a few, as part of the scary effects of soda. Often, people get lost in the medical jargon and chemical names, and then just decide they don’t care enough to research them and find out what is really going into that can of Coke they're drinking. A pharmacologist who writes under the name “Renegade Pharmacist” took this information and put it into a infographic (pictured below) that breaks down just how all those chemicals really affect your body in just one hour (and beyond).
Some highlights for you:
1. That’s 100 percent of your daily sugar intake all at once. So much that, if you ingested that amount of raw sugar at once, you’d normally vomit.
2. All that sugar is turned into fat in just 20 minutes. F-A-T.
3. Coke has the same effect as heroin on your brain…that’s why you drink more later on.
4. Within an hour, you’ve flushed anything good the Coke may have had in it down the toilet.
Small recap for you: Soda is bad for you.
The infographic has gone viral over the past week, shared, posted and blogged about by soda haters and lovers alike. The infographic has yet to be publicly addressed by the Coca-Cola Company. One doctor has described the article as "inaccurate and incorrect" and "malarkey" and denounced all points in the infographic but has said he “doesn’t advise daily consumption of carbonated beverages." However, several doctors, after having seen the infographic, have had this to say:
"Carbonated beverages that have a lot of sugar and have caffeine are going to (have) ill effects on us, and I think mostly the information is true. I think a little bit of it's overstated," said Dr. Kelly Nelson, Family Medicine with United Hospital Center. "There's (sic) some more surges of sugar, maybe a little bit of an overstatement of the effects of the caffeine, but it just harkens back to all good things in measure. (Wanting) to take a carbonated beverage here and there is OK, but if that's your only source of fluids, you're making a mistake."
According to Dana Hunnes, a senior dietitian at the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, paraphrased in an article from cbsnews.com, “On the whole, the science presented in the infographic is fairly accurate."
While most doctors agree with the science, they don’t agree with the wording often saying it is “strong” and “too generalized.” The overall agreement is that soda alone doesn’t make you unhealthy, but there are healthier choices, and less consumption is a better option than consistent soda intake. As Dr. Nelson advises, soda is not an "only source of fluids” but as with "all good things," they are best in moderation.
