Protecting families from contaminated food and water
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Protecting families from contaminated food and water
Posted in Our Blog on June 23, 2026
I have to admit that one of the first things I grab in the morning is a soda. For some it may be coffee or an energy drink. For me it is the crisp taste of Dr Pepper, but I have been researching more and more why this may be worse for me than ever thought.
The most common form of added sugar — sucrose or table sugar — supplies large amounts of the simple sugar fructose.
Fructose does not lower the hunger hormone ghrelin or stimulate fullness in the same way as glucose, the sugar that forms when you digest starchy foods.
Thus, when you consume liquid sugar, you usually add it on top of your total calorie intake — because sugary drinks don’t make you feel full.
In one study, people who drank sugary soda in addition to their current diet consumed 17% more calories than before.
Not surprisingly, studies show that people who drink sugar-sweetened beverages consistently gain more weight than people who don’t.
In one study in children, each daily serving of sugar-sweetened beverages was linked to a 60% increased risk of obesity.
In fact, sugary drinks are among the most fattening aspects of the modern diet.
Table sugar (sucrose) and high-fructose corn syrup are composed of two molecules — glucose and fructose — in roughly equal amounts.
Glucose can be metabolized by every cell in your body, whereas fructose can only be metabolized by one organ — your liver.
Sugary drinks are the easiest and most common way to consume excessive amounts of fructose.
When you consume too much, your liver becomes overloaded and turns the fructose into fat.
Soda is nothing but sugar. There is no fiber, nutrients or minerals that our bodies so desperately need. It is just unnecessary calories.
I have to say that trying to stop drinking soda is one of the hardest things I have ever done in my life. The sugar, caffeine and whatever else is in the nearly black in color beverages are very hard to kick. Studies have shown that these ingredients can have the same effects on the brain as hard drugs. They have also been known to increase food addiction by letting us use reward seeking tendencies.
It is well established that sugar-sweetened drinks increase risk factors for heart disease, including high blood sugar, blood triglycerides, and small, dense LDL particles. One 20-year study in 40,000 men found that those who drank 1 sugary drink per day had a 20% higher risk of having — or dying from — a heart attack, compared to men who rarely consumed sugary drinks.
Cancer tends to go hand-in-hand with other chronic diseases like obesity, type 2 diabetes, and heart disease.
For this reason, it is unsurprising to see that sugary drinks are frequently associated with an increased risk of cancer.
One study in over 60,000 adults discovered that those who drank 2 or more sugary sodas per week were 87% more likely to develop pancreatic cancer than those who did not drink soda.
It is a well-known fact that sugary soda is bad for your teeth.
Soda contains acids like phosphoric acid and carbonic acid.
These acids create a highly acidic environment in your mouth, which makes your teeth vulnerable to decay.
While the acids in soda can themselves cause damage, it is the combination with sugar that makes soda particularly harmful.
Sugar provides easily digestible energy for the bad bacteria in your mouth. This, combined with the acids, wreaks havoc on dental health over time.
As we get older it is hard to break habits that many of us have had for decades. I started drinking soda daily as a teenager and it just carried with me through adulthood. It is rare that anyone sees me without one and it is time to make some big big changes.
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