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Do
soft drinks make you fat?
Soft
drinks make up a major part of our meals, thanks to their rich
taste and numerous choices. The intake of these drinks has increased
over the few years as the popularity of fast foods has reached
a high. Our life styles coupled with the unhealthy food we eat
has led to an increased number of people who are suffering from
obesity. One of the factors is the consumption of soft drinks.
A recent survey has proved that more than 34 billion gallons of
these drinks are consumed in a year. The main ingredients of a
soft drink are water (88 to 93%) and sugar (7 to 12 %). The sugar
contains a high level of high fructose corn syrup, also known
as HFCS. This is used by almost all soft drink manufactures as
it is cheap and is sweeter than the common table sugar.
What happens when HFCS is consumed?
Since children and teenagers are the ones that are lured the most
to drink these, it results in higher chances of being overweight.
Though its usability is the same as sugar, when it is inside the
body, it increases the rate of breakup of sugar content. This
causes a negative hormonal response and your cravings for sweets
increases like never before.
HFCS is also an ingredient which makes the body organs to store
fats in our body. There have been many tests conducted which have
inferred that this many prove to a major reason of weight gain.
Another reason is that we cannot keep the drink in our mouth for
a longer time because it is carbonated and as a result, the mouth
does not get to send a message to the brain that you are eating.
Therefore, we tend to eat more as we do not feel full.
A can of soft drink contains sugar that is equivalent to 9 teaspoons,
which means calories. The human body processes the calories first
because of the ease. The sugar is used first and when soft drinks
are taken along with food, the resultant energy by breaking up
the sugar is enough to leave the carbohydrates behind. These carbohydrates
convert to fats.
Contrary to the belief, diet soft drinks are also not a healthy
alternative. These also force us to eat more calorific food which
in turn results in excess fat.
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