5th Oct 2011 Newsletter

How much sugar is there in soft drink?

And why is it important?

From time to time each of us will indulge in a can of soft drink, some will use soft drink as a mixer with alcohol, and some drink it every day, but why should you minimise your soft drink consumption? well here are a few reasons…

Sugar is necessary for humans to eat. It is a refined carbohydrate and gives a quick energy boost, (and usually subsequent energy crash). When you don’t use the energy that the sugar provides, it is stored by your body for a ‘rainy day’ (or famine in the good old days) as fat.

Excessive sugar consumption has been linked to increased obesity, Diabetes, Macular degeneration, behavioral issues, cardiovascular disease and tooth decay.

In a normal can of  soft drink there is about 40 grams of sugar. – or about 10 sugar cubes! that is alot. and you can almost double that amount for a 600ml bottle. That gives you about 140 calories and you need to do 15 minutes of medium intensity exercise to use all the energy, before you store it as fat.

What about artificial sweeteners? (phenylalanine/aspartame) OK, they don’t have as many calories, but depending on what you read the are either totally fine, or totally carcinogenic and poisonous. Make you own decision on whether or not you think they are safe. I personally prefer to use a reasonable amount of normal sugar, rather than something that ‘might’ be dangerous. -better the devil you know than the one you don’t.

Try drinking water instead, or tea, or fresh juice, they all have different levels of, and types of sugar, but they are all definitely a healthier alternative. The less ingredients and numbers on the label the better.