Are Soft Drinks Bad Or Good?

Is drinking soft drinks harmful to you? I guess the answer is yes. In fact, this question is not new for us. Numerous people hold the opinion that soft drinks are bad for our health, although they have neither substantial evidences nor persuasive analysis. Moreover, I find several classmates of mine like to drink soft drinks such as coke and soda from their eating journals. This fact reveals that drinking soft drinks already becomes a pervasive eating habit for people; it is also the comfort food for them. Therefore, the association between the increasingly more large consumption of soft drinks and our health encourages me to do some researches on soft drinks, verifying whether drinking soft drinks is harmful or not. And, is it better for us to reduce the large consumption of soft drinks?

During my research of soft drinks, I found a representative experimental study, which verified the negative effect of drinking too much soft drink: chronic diseases. This is the first large-scale study showing the association between the large soft drink consumptions and the increased risk of getting asthma and COPD. Asthma and COPD are prevalent chronic diseases in South Australia and people there often drink soft drinks. So this study randomly picked up interviewees among the adults living in South Australia. Each month, health interviewers use a computer-assisted telephone interviewing system to interview at least 600 selected Australia adults. They asked many questions about their personal history, symptoms of asthma/COPD as well as consumption of soft drinks to collect the important data. For instance, those interviewees would be asked “Have you ever been told by a doctor that you have chronic bronchitis or emphysema” and “On average, how many liters of soft drink and sports drink do you usually have in a day?” (SHI, P364)

After analyzing the data collected, the researchers found, “Among those with asthma and COPD, 13.3 and 15.6%, respectively, consumed 0.5 L or more of soft drink per day.”(SHI, P365) This group of data indicates that people regularly drinking soft drinks have higher risk of getting asthma and COPD, compared with those who rarely drink soft drinks. Also, the study figured out that the negative effect of combination of soft drinks and smoking is significantly associated with the increased risk of asthma and COPO, which emphasized the importance and necessity of healthy habits and lifestyle. Moreover, it mentioned that chemicals from the plastic bottles of soft drinks may also lead to asthma. Thereby, this experimental study verified that drinking soft drinks too often increases the risk of asthma and COPD as a result of various factors, recommending the reduction of soft drink consumption.

In addition, I found other harmful effects of soft drinks on the Internet. Drinking too much soft drinks for a long time will intake too much caffeine, which makes people addicted to it and feel uncomfortable right after stopping drinking soft drinks. More than that, people regularly drinking soft drinks will feel headache, tired and anxious after energizing nervous system for a long period by caffeine. Furthermore, a US research team also assumed, “One soft drink a day raises ‘heart attack danger’ by 20%.”(Fiona Macrae, 1)They verified these sugar-sweetened soft drinks contribute to the high level of dangerous blood fats and of proteins linked to heart diseases.

What’s more, I was surprised to learn about the positive effects of soft drinks during my research, because all my expressions of soft drinks before were unhealthy and harmful. According to Rice University, caffeine contained in some soft drinks could stimulate our nervous system and quickly recharge ourselves. Therefore, if we have to do some difficult work which needs lots of energy, we will benefit from the caffeine in soft drinks. Also, the alkaline of soft drinks helps to build bones while the minerals and vitamins contained in diet sodas enrich the nutrition in our body. Looking at these positive effects, it seems that reducing drinking soft drinks is not that necessary.

I feel glad to know more about soft drinks after doing these researches. Learning soft drinks comprehensively helps me to drink soft drinks in a healthy way. As all the factors mentioned above, soft drinks have both negative and positive effects. But above all, moderate consumption of soft drinks is the most important. Drinking either too much or too little soft drink cannot have a positive effect on our body. However, I still incline to the idea that it is necessary for us to reduce soft drink consumption because they are more or less harmful to our health. Some other healthy drinks, such as water, low-fat milk and unsweetened juice, are much healthier and safer. But if some people do not want to reduce soft drink consumption, drinking diet soft drinks is a good choice for the reason that they are sugar-free and reduced-calorie, which prevent people from getting fat and diabetes after drinking them regularly.