Soft Drink Consumption Increases Risk of Stroke and Vascular Disease

Americans drink more than 216 liters of carbonated soft drinks each year, a number that continues to increase at an alarming rate. Many people use low-calorie diet soda in a futile effort to lose weight, yet find that these drinks have the opposite effect leading to overweight or obesity. The high acid content in most carbonated beverages leaches calcium and other critical nutrients from the bone and tissues, significantly increasing disease risk over years of consumption.

Researchers from Cleveland Clinic's Wellness Institute and Harvard University have reported the result of a study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, the first to examine soda's affect on stroke risk and vascular diseases. Past studies have linked sugar-sweetened beverage consumption with weight gain, diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, gout and coronary artery disease, but current research has implicated diet soft drink consumption with increased disease risk and weight gain due to depletion of essential minerals.

Carbonated beverage consumption associated with a 43% increased risk of heart attack

Lead study author Dr. Adam Bernstein noted “Soda remains the largest source of added sugar in the diet… what we're beginning to understand is that regular intake of these beverages sets off a chain reaction in the body that can potentially lead to many diseases, including stroke.” Researchers analyzed soda consumption among 43,371 men and 84,085 women over a time span of nearly thirty years. During that time, 2,938 strokes were documented in women while 1,416 strokes were documented in men.

This study emphasizes the inherent risks involved with consumption of sugar-sweetened or no-calorie soft drinks. Sweetened drinks contain high levels of glucose that lead to a rapid increase in blood glucose and insulin. Over time, this results in glucose intolerance, insulin resistance, and systemic inflammation. Low and no calorie carbonated beverages contain artificial sweeteners including aspartame, known to over stimulate and excite brain neurons resulting in cellular death.

Eliminate Soda and Substitute with Fresh Filtered Water or Brewed Green or White Tea

Further, artificial sweeteners of all types trick our digestive chemistry and hormone balance, leading to weight gain and metabolic instability. Diet soft drinks have also been shown to leach calcium from bones, as our body attempts to compensate for the high acidic load delivered from the phosphoric acid content in the drink. The end result is higher risk of osteoporosis, stroke and cardiovascular disease.

Despite the millions of dollars spent by soda marketers to instill the virtues of drinking soda, there is nothing healthy about consuming any type of carbonated beverage. Regarding low calorie drinks, researchers concluded “older adults who drank diet soda daily had a 43% increased risk of heart attack or stroke compared to those that never drank diet soda.” The study did note that drinking coffee was associated with a ten percent lower risk of stroke, compared to those drinking sweetened beverages. Substitute carbonated beverage consumption with an antioxidant packed cup of green tea or coffee to significantly reduce stroke and vascular disease risks.

Food Additives You Must Avoid

(Article first published as Top Food Additives You Really Need to Avoid on Technorati.)

When was the last time you closely looked at the ingredients inside of your favorite packaged food? The vast majority of foods bought at your local grocery store are the creation of food chemists, not Mother Nature. Most include a long list of synthetic chemicals and modified food components that are designed to enhance shelf life and provide flavorings that appeal to your sense of taste for sweetness, salt and fat.

The vast majorities of processed foods are packed with calories and have been stripped of any nutrients that we require to maintain optimal health. Over the course of years and decades, the lack of vitamins and minerals from natural foods slowly leads to chronic disease conditions such as diabetes, cancer, dementia and heart disease. The artificial chemical compounds in processed foods (all those items in the ingredients lists with names you can’t pronounce) become packed away in your fat tissue and lead to systemic inflammation and depleted antioxidant resources.

Food Additives Lead to Chronic Illness

There are more than 3,000 food additives approved for use in the US and considered ‘Generally Regarded as Safe’ (GRAS) by the FDA. More than 90% of the typical diet is composed of processed foods, meaning that very little food is eaten in its natural form providing nutrients that are properly absorbed by the body.

Food additives include preservatives, sweeteners, artificial colors and flavors as well as flavor enhancers, all designed to provide maximum calories with very little nutrition. The publication Food Matters lists the top food additives you must avoid to preserve your health.

Artificial Sweeteners: Most commonly found in diet or sugar-free drinks, gum, baked goods and even toothpaste, foods that contain aspartame have been shown to contribute to brain aging. Aspartame is neurotoxic and causes loss of memory and difficulty learning new tasks. Researchers believe it may be linked to increased incidence of brain tumors and diseases like lymphoma, diabetes, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's and Alzheimer's.

High Fructose Corn Syrup: High Fructose Corn Syrup has been infused into most processed foods since its inception in the early 1970’s. Extensive scientific research has linked the sweetener to increased levels of obesity due to the way fructose is metabolized in the body and lipid abnormalities that cause diabetes and increased risk of heart disease.

Monosodium Glutamate: MSG is used in many processed foods as a flavor enhancer. It is known to cause neural excitation as it overloads neurons through increased electrical stimulation. The most common side effects are depression, disorientation, eye damage, fatigue and headache. MSG is rarely listed by its common name, and frequently hides as a ‘natural flavoring’. It is far from being natural and should be avoided.

Trans and Hydrogenated Fats: Trans fats have been chemically altered through hydrogenation or cooking at high heat. These synthetic fat molecules are unnatural and cause problems at the cellular level when being used as a component for cell wall synthesis. The most common foods are deep fried, processed and commercially baked products. They are known to increase the risk of death from a heart attack by 25%.

Health minded individuals are experts at deciphering food nutrition labels. The best way to avoid these dangerous additives is to eat nothing that has more than one ingredient on the label, or has no label at all (fruits, vegetables and minimally cooked meats). Reading nutrition labels to avoid a wide array of unnatural food additives will lower your risk of chronic illness and extend your natural lifespan.