Have a Coke and a smile. Or, if you're part of the 'new generation,' a Pepsi. One taste of those excito-toxins and you won't worry about aborted fetal cells or cancer-causing chemicals. After all, who wants to think about Type 2 Diabetes when they just want a sweet reward, and a moment to relax?

But that's the worst kind of evil, isn't it? The sneaky, insidious kind? The kind you have to be ever vigilant about lest it permeate itself into the collective consciousness. You may be thinking, 'Seriously? We're going there with soda?!' The answer is, yes. At least one leading biologist has come out and explained why we should avoid soda, and all fizzy drinks.

What happens when you drink soda

The highly addictive nature of the sweeteners used in soda means it functions like a gateway drug. Spikes the blood sugar, unbalances the digestive flora, grows the yeast which then demands more and more and more. The side effects of Candida overgrowth can be very disruptive and wreak havoc on moods and relationships, as well as health. The carbonation (carbonated water, phosphoric acid) means the drink is very acidic, which causes your body to leach calcium from your bones to maintain proper blood pH. It takes around 25 eight ounces glasses of water to neutralize what one 16 ounce soda does to your blood pH. That's a double whamy for teeth - sugar to eat at the enamel, and calcium robbed as well. Small amounts of caffeine won't hurt you, but there are much better, healthier, and more natural sources of caffeine. Who knows what's in the secret flavor recipes, besides more chemicals. If you go for diet, the aspartame is even more dangerous. It's a neurotoxin with 92 known side effects to your health, and it is 180 times sweeter than cane sugar. And one last bit of trash on the ingredient list: the coloring additives.

The risks

Multiple long-term studies show that both regular and diet sodas greatly increase risks of: heart attack, heart disease, high blood pressure (hypertension), stroke, osteoporosis, type 2 diabetes, metabolic syndrome (high triglycerides), fatty liver disease, liver failure, and of course, obesity. Exposure to liquid sugar actually causes the genes in our muscles to change their behavior in as few as two sweet drinks per week for a month. More consumption for a longer period of time increases odds of the changes being permanent. It actually changes our metabolism. Blood tests show harmful levels of inflammation in the blood vessels of soft drinkers, as well as decreased levels of HDL (good) cholesterol, which is crucial to vascular system health.

Researchers are now saying that promoting artificial sweeteners, including high fructose corn syrup, aspartame, and Splenda, as healthy alternatives to sugar is ill-advised. The sweetness of the artificial alternatives is so sweet that it makes users crave more, even when they aren't thirsty. It gives 'an increased preference for sweet things in the mouth' without reducing the consumption of food to offset the increase in calories. It sways people toward a high calorie, high salt diet. Alternative sweeteners overload the body's built in mechanisms for regulating blood sugar. They confuse the body's ability to compensate and process the influx of chemicals and calories. They also come with additional health risks, such as the multiple side effects of aspartame, which range from migraines to depression, blindness to tinnitus, seizures to tachycardia, just to name a few.

To compound the problem, consumption of soft drinks, including other fizzy beverages masquerading as healthier choices, increases the appetite for junk food. The body's ability to cope with rises in blood sugar becomes increasingly inefficient and ineffective, leading to higher levels of fasting glucose, insulin resistance, and ultimately leads to type 2 diabetes. Long term use can lead to liver or pancreatic cancer.

Change isn't always progress. When most of us were kids, we had maybe one 12 or 16 ounce soda, in a glass bottle, made with real sugar, per week. It was still a bit of a luxury item, as most sugary treats were meant to be. Diets were also different then, as was the level of physical exercise of both children and adults. Since 1985 the average person's consumption of soft drinks has risen from 10 gallons a year to more than 25 gallons. These days it's not uncommon to see soda in baby bottles, while the older kids suck down 40 to 60 ounces, on average, per day. We are programming our kids for ill-health and to be diabetic from the get-go.

There is a movement to get Warning labels, such as those on cigarettes, added to soft drinks. There are also people who want to tax the drinks both to make them less available and move them back to luxury-like status, as well as to fund the treatment of the health problems they create, again, like cigarettes. Some people also want sodas removed from all children's menus.

It's not news that soda is bad for you. Just how bad may be a bit of surprise. The problem is, most of us don't want to know. But it's too dangerous to ignore anymore. Remember, when you feel thirst, your body is asking for one thing and one thing only: water.

Learn more: Natural News