Every day you drink a variety of beverages, but do you know what harm they can cause to you? Here, the editor will tell you about the harmful substances that common beverages produce in our bodies. Let's learn about this health knowledge and see if you should switch to plain water.
1. Cola and Carbonated Drinks:
Non-soda drinks and sports drinks can cause much more damage to tooth enamel than cola, with their harm being 3 and 11 times greater, respectively. Among them, high-energy drinks and bottled lemon tea are the most harmful to teeth. Compared to regular cola, sports drinks contain various organic acids in their additives, which can break down calcium and further erode tooth enamel.
Carbonated drinks are soft drinks infused with carbon dioxide, also known as soda in our daily lives. Long-term consumption of carbonated drinks can easily lead to obesity and diabetes. The phosphoric acid in carbonated drinks can subtly affect human bones, leading to osteoporosis.
Carbonated drinks affect the body's absorption of calcium ions, so long-term consumption will definitely lead to calcium deficiency. For children and adolescents who are in a period of growth and development, it is best not to drink carbonated drinks.
2. Milk Coffee Drinks
Each cup of milk coffee can contain up to 800 calories and about 170 grams of sugar. Due to its rich flavor, people can easily consume excessive calories and sugar without realizing it, which is detrimental to health. The caffeine in coffee drinks can pass through the pancreas and accumulate in fetal tissues, especially the fetus's liver and brain, which may cause the baby to develop diabetes after birth. In addition, for both men and women, drinking coffee can increase the risk of heart disease and high blood pressure, and can also lead to addiction.
3. Lemon Water
Regularly drinking beverages containing lemon juice can increase the level of citrate in urine. This chemical substance can prevent minerals in urine from forming crystals in the kidneys, which are kidney stones. Many people are easily deceived by the name of this drink. Packaged lemon water on the market usually contains various sweeteners, preservatives, and artificial colors.
4. Flavored Sodas
In addition to vitamins, most flavored sodas contain artificial sweeteners. Drinking too much soda can dilute gastric juice, reduce the stomach's digestion and sterilization capabilities; at the same time, it can also stimulate the gastrointestinal mucosa, cause the stomach to contract, reduce gastric juice secretion, and lead to impaired or disordered digestive function. When sweating excessively, drinking a large amount of iced soda can cause the dilated sweat pores to suddenly close upon encountering cold, immediately stopping sweating, which creates an obstacle to body heat dissipation. Try to choose sodas that only list "water" and "natural flavorings" on their labels.
5. Energy Drinks
It can indeed provide energy to the body, but it contains a large amount of caffeine and sugar, and excessive intake is not good for health. Overconsumption of energy drinks can cause adverse reactions, including arrhythmia, high blood pressure, dehydration, etc. Combining energy drinks with drug abuse can lead to more serious problems, and even endanger life. Normal people generally do not need to consume energy drinks.
6. Sports Drinks
When sweating a lot, drinking sports drinks to replenish electrolytes is very necessary. The kidneys play an important regulatory role in the process of electrolyte balance. If excessive electrolytes are consumed for a long time, the excess must be excreted, which undoubtedly adds a lot of burden on the kidneys. In severe cases, it can cause kidney damage, lead to an increase in blood pressure, and may also cause damage to body functions such as the heart and blood vessels. At the same time, most sports drinks also contain large amounts of sugar and preservatives, so consumers must check the ingredient list carefully when choosing them.
7. Juice Drinks
Drinking a lot of pure natural juice is not necessarily beneficial to health. The obesity caused by drinking natural juice is no different from drinking sodas like cola or sugar-sweetened alcoholic beverages. A glass of juice combines the sugar from multiple servings of fruit. If calculated on an equivalent basis, the calories in juice can even be higher than in soda. Most juice drinks contain a certain amount of added sugar, and excessive intake is not good for health. Therefore, it is best to choose 100% pure juice.
Harm of Regularly Drinking Beverages
1. Drinking too many beverages can harm the kidneys
The kidneys are the most important excretory organ in the human body. Most of the harmful substances produced in the human body are excreted from the body in the form of urine through the kidneys. Beverages often contain large amounts of minerals, additives, colors, preservatives, etc. These substances enter the human body and cause damage to the kidneys, and also increase the risk of developing kidney stones.
2. Beverages can also harm teeth
The various additives, flavor enhancers, and organic acids in beverages have a strong corrosive effect on human teeth and can damage the protective layer of tooth enamel on the tooth surface. If the tooth enamel is damaged, symptoms such as soreness and pain will appear, and pulp diseases can also be triggered.
3. Increases the risk of diabetes
People who drink more than one can of sweet drinks a day have twice the risk of developing diabetes compared to those who drink less than one can a month. Moreover, even among people who do not gain weight from drinking sweet drinks, they still show a promoting effect on the occurrence of diabetes under the condition of the same body mass index and daily energy intake.
4. Easily leads to obesity in children
Children who particularly like to drink beverages often show a polarization in physical development: they are either chubby or very thin. Everyone knows that eating too much sugar can lead to weight gain. The sugar content of carbonated drinks is about 10%. A 355ml can of carbonated drink contains about 40 grams of sugar. Drinking two cans of carbonated drinks a day provides 320 kcal of energy. Over three consecutive months, this would result in an additional 28,800 kcal of energy, equivalent to an increase of 4.1 kg of fat.