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Soda May Age You as Much as Smoking

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Re: Soda May Age You as Much as Smoking

#41

Post by DanBC »

mikeyouse wrote: post #3

The key results from the paper: After adjustment for sociodemographic and health-related characteristics, sugar-sweetened soda consumption was associated with shorter telomeres (b = –0.010; 95% confidence interval [CI] = −0.020, −0.001; P = .04). Consumption of 100% fruit juice was marginally associated with longer telomeres (b = 0.016; 95% CI = −0.000, 0.033; P = .05). No significant associations were observed betwe…

> It's nice to have another datapoint against some of the bro-sciencey "Fruit juice has as much sugar as soda" arguments.

Go careful, that's not all broscience. Children especially should not have undiluted fruit juices.

Re: Soda May Age You as Much as Smoking

#42

Post by nilkn »

ch4s3 wrote: post #13
geoka9 wrote: post #9

It's hard for me to understand the whole soda phenomenon in Canada and the US. Is it as addictive as cigarettes? Does it make you crave for more? Or it simply tastes so good that you can't get enough of it? Why not eat a bunch of apples instead (if you don't care about the amount of sugar you consume)? Wouldn't they taste better?

Heavy sugar consumption actually does cause dependency. You are genetically hard wired to crave fats and sugars, and refined sugar interacts with the reward centers in your brain in a manner somewhat similar to cocaine.

It's not just the sugar but also the caffeine and the carbonation. It's really a killer combination. I can't really comment on whether it's as addictive as smoking since I've never smoked, but I can say without the slightest doubt that soda addiction exists.

I was myself addicted to soda, and while I never experienced any sort of physical withdrawal symptoms (no headaches, no shaking, etc.), I did experience incredible cravings.

In certain parts of the US, soda is basically thrown in your face everywhere. Every restaurant serves soda as the main beverage. Every theater serves soda, and it's cheaper than the bottled water often and comes with free refills. Every gas station sells soda. Every office has a soda vending machine (or even just free soda altogether, like the one I work in). At lots of fast food places, if you want water, they won't even give you a full-sized cup -- they give you a tiny cup (though it's free) and then you have to hunt for a nearly hidden water tab on the fountain machine.

Re: Soda May Age You as Much as Smoking

#43

Post by Geee »

squozzer wrote: post #4

It's funny but one never hears about the ill effects of carrots. "They" only study stuff that's already assumed to be bad for you. Ever wonder why?

It's because of old-school research methods. They haven't yet developed a method which correlates any diet with any effect, so they have to look for correlations from a specific subset of data, which is assumed to return results.

Re: Soda May Age You as Much as Smoking

#44

Post by lazythrowaway »

novalis78 wrote: post #34
boydjd wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What are you drinking instead of soda in your country?

That question - in and by itself - gives you away as an American. As a central European who grew up on water, fruit juice (80-60% water thinned) and tea (green, herb and on and off black) it made me chuckle. I have never seen so much soda consumption anywhere on this planet before coming to the US.

America definitely drinks more soda than anyone else: http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/map_of_the_.... 3x as much as most central European countries.

Re: Soda May Age You as Much as Smoking

#46

Post by stealthlogic »

boydjd wrote: post #25
geoka9 wrote: post #9

It's hard for me to understand the whole soda phenomenon in Canada and the US. Is it as addictive as cigarettes? Does it make you crave for more? Or it simply tastes so good that you can't get enough of it? Why not eat a bunch of apples instead (if you don't care about the amount of sugar you consume)? Wouldn't they taste better?

What are you drinking instead of soda in your country?

uh, water?

Re: Soda May Age You as Much as Smoking

#47

Post by rquantz »

josephpmay wrote: post #37
geoka9 wrote: post #9

It's hard for me to understand the whole soda phenomenon in Canada and the US. Is it as addictive as cigarettes? Does it make you crave for more? Or it simply tastes so good that you can't get enough of it? Why not eat a bunch of apples instead (if you don't care about the amount of sugar you consume)? Wouldn't they taste better?

A couple of factors that I can think of: 1) Sugar is addicting, and there is significantly more sugar in soda than other drinks [Google it] 2) Soda is very refreshing. This is important in warmer climates. If it is 98 degrees outside (37C), an orange Fanta does a much better job of making me feel better than just water 3) Soda is available everywhere and is the de-facto drink with most meals. Just like Italians drink…

3) Soda is available everywhere and is the de-facto drink with most meals.

I don't remember the last meal I ate with adults where people ordered soda. It may be that every once in a while I'll be around a recovering alcoholic who orders a soda, but usually it seems they order something like sparkling water.

It's probably a regional/class thing, since I live in NYC. Maybe in the middle of the country or in a working class household you'd be more likely to see people drinking soft drinks with a meal?

Re: Soda May Age You as Much as Smoking

#48

Post by a8da6b0c91d »

DanBC wrote: post #41
mikeyouse wrote: post #3

The key results from the paper: After adjustment for sociodemographic and health-related characteristics, sugar-sweetened soda consumption was associated with shorter telomeres (b = –0.010; 95% confidence interval [CI] = −0.020, −0.001; P = .04). Consumption of 100% fruit juice was marginally associated with longer telomeres (b = 0.016; 95% CI = −0.000, 0.033; P = .05). No significant associations were observed betwe…

> It's nice to have another datapoint against some of the bro-sciencey "Fruit juice has as much sugar as soda" arguments. Go careful, that's not all broscience. Children especially should not have undiluted fruit juices.

Children have massive metabolic demands for sugars to support growth. Children should have as much undiluted fruit juice as they want.

Re: Soda May Age You as Much as Smoking

#49

Post by geoka9 »

boydjd wrote: post #25
geoka9 wrote: post #9

It's hard for me to understand the whole soda phenomenon in Canada and the US. Is it as addictive as cigarettes? Does it make you crave for more? Or it simply tastes so good that you can't get enough of it? Why not eat a bunch of apples instead (if you don't care about the amount of sugar you consume)? Wouldn't they taste better?

What are you drinking instead of soda in your country?

That's a good question. Back in the old country, people don't drink as much soda but they have another "drinking" problem--beer and hard liquor. That's much worse than soda, but it's a real addiction (alcoholism).

In the other country where I lived a big chunk of my life, they usually drink green tea.

Re: Soda May Age You as Much as Smoking

#50

Post by legomylibrum »

izzo wrote: post #39
toomuchtodo wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> So they saw 'aging' with sugar-sweetened soda, the opposite with fruit juice, and no significant difference with diet sodas or non-carbonated sugary sodas. What compounds in soda are most likely causing this? If they're not seeing the results in fruit juice, its not sugar causing the damage.

possibly sodium benzoate: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21130826

That's also in diet and non-carbonated sugary sodas; it's used as a preservative in just about everything.
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