The Center for Unhindered Living
Why Soda Pop Drains You Dry

Soda pop is not good for you.  Of course, you have probably suspected this, but perhaps you don't know the extent to which drinking carbonated, caffeinated, sugared, or artificially sweetened beverages destroys your body.

If you look at the list of ingredients in most soda pops, you will likely see most or all of these listed:

caffeine
carbonated water
phosphoric acid
sugar or high fructose corn syrup
aspartame
acesulfame-k
sucralose

Let's start with carbonated water.  As you know, our bodies require oxygen to remain healthy.  For every can of carbonated soda ingested, the amount of oxygen in the blood is decreased by 25% for up to three hours.  If you are drinking several sodas per day, you are depriving yourself for a significant amount of oxygen.

Calcium, magnesium, and phosphorus must be maintained in the proper balance for bone health.  When too much phosphorus is in the blood, calcium is leached from the bones, causing osteoporosis.  Even in citrus sodas which contain citric acid instead of phosphoric acid, calcium is needed to normalize blood pH.  It has been said that the fastest growing group of people with osteoporosis in this country is teenagers....because of the huge number of sodas they consume.  

As far as caffeine and sugar are concerned, they both cause dehydration, and the massive depletion of minerals.  A study was done in which two groups of children aged 13-18 years of age were given one of two drinks, a caffeinated sugar-free drink, or a drink containing both caffeine and sugar.  When caffeine was added, calcium excretion in the urine increased by 25%.  When sugar was added, urinary calcium loss almost doubled (1).  Both caffeine and sugar also cause dehydration.

Sugar in particular is destructive because its ingestion lowers immune function by reducing the ability of white blood cells to ingest and destroy bacteria.  This lowered immune function can last for five hours or more after the ingestions of sugar (2).

Sucralose, also marketed as Splenda, breaks down into small amounts of 1,6 -dichlorofructose, a chemical similar to chlorinated pesticides.  There has not been adequate testing of this product before it was released for public use, and many of the post-approval studies are alarming.  To ready about it, go to  Sucralose Toxicity Information Center .

Aspartame, or Nutra Sweet, has an alarming health record.  Read my article about Aspartame

Even though this article is about how aspartame poisons the pregnant woman and her unborn child, you can see how it would do similar things in the bodies of others.  Also, see the Aspartame (Nutra Sweet) Toxicity Info Center . . 

Acesulfame-k is a dangerous chemical.  Read  Sample Quotes from Cancer Experts' Letters on Acesulfame Testing .

The Main Issue

Soda has a pH of about 1.5 and normal blood pH is between 7.2 to 7.4

It takes 32 glasses of alkaline water at a pH of 9 to neutralize the acid on ONE 12 oz can of soda.  Most people don't drink that much water, and if they do, it's just regular water, not water that has been alkalinized. So in order to keep your blood at a neutral pH, your body uses the only thing it has to buffer that acid...the calcium from your bones. For every can of soda, your body withdraws 20mg of calcium from the bones.

When your body is an extremely acidic state, that is when disease develops.  For a more thorough explanation of this, see What Causes Disease?

See "The Day I Gave Up Soda Pop"

(2)  Sanchez, A., et al.  (1973).  Role of Sugars in human Neutrophilic Phacocytosis.  Am J Clin Nutr 26:180.