I’m an avid Coke drinker – have been since the switch from Diet Pepsi years ago – which I will share the reason for that (something you’ll want to read if you drink diet soda) with you next week. Needless to say, after reading a very disturbing article on Care2.com regarding soda, I feel compelled to share what I learned.  The facts I share might just make you cringe and not ever want another soda again.  My question is why is the FDA allowing these on the market if they are shown to be cancer causing?

Let’s start with the Caramel coloring:

In 2011, the nonprofit Center for Science petitioned the Food and Drug Administration to ban the artificial caramel coloring used to make Pepsi, Coke, and other colas brown – for the best interest of the public.  Why?  These colorings contain contaminants found to have caused cancer in animals. These colorings being: 2-methylimidazole and 4-methylimidazole.  The only reason these colorings are added to the equation is to color the beverage brown.  California is big on banning certain chemicals in their state – often making it so certain products can’t be shipped to CA.  Proposition 65’s list of chemicals that are known to cause cancer states “16 micrograms per person per day of 4-methylimidazole is enough to pose a cancer threat, and most popular brown colas, both diet and regular, contain 200 micrograms per 20-ounce bottle.”

How’s that grab you? Doesn’t settle well with me.  Let me have my soda but get rid of that coloring – I could care less what color the soda is!

Soda…causing water pollution?

Yes, those nasty artificial sweeteners that don’t break down in our bodies when ingested – are excreted in our waste.  Our waste is then headed towards waste water- treatment plants, rivers, and lakes.  Swiss scientists discovered in 2009, through water samples, that the water being sampled contained saccharin, sucralose (aka as Splenda is NOT an all natural sweetener), and acesulfame K – all which are used in diet sodas.  In the US – 19 municipal water supplies found the presence of sucralose.

How about accelerating aging?

Both diet and regular sodas contain phosphates – or phosphoric acid.  This is a weak acid that is found in many whole foods like meats, nuts and dairy products.  Studies have shown though that this acid can lead to kidney and heart problems, osteoporosis, and muscle loss.  To make matters worse, one study suggested it could accelerate aging – killing rats 5 weeks earlier who were given this acid compared to those rats that weren’t.  Can it get worse?  Yes, soda manufacturers have been increasing the amount of this acid in their products over the past few decades.

That Mountain Dew you love could = “Mountain Dew Mind.”

Mountain Dew contains a ton of sugar causing cavities which dentists have labeled children who drink a lot of Mountain Dew with having a “Mountain Dew Mouth.”  What’s worse though, is that it also has medical providers concerned thinking there maybe a new medical condition on the rise called, “Mountain Dew Mind.”  What the cause of this is the ingredient, brominated vegetable oil (BVO), which is added to Mountain Dew to prevent the flavoring from separating from the drink is the same ingredient is also an industrial chemical used as a flame retardant in plastics!  This same ingredient found in other citrus based soft drinks and sport drinks.  This chemical has been known to cause memory loss and nerve disorders when consumed in large quantities.  BVO has lead researchers to suspect that flame retardants contained in furniture foam, can build up in body fat, infertility, possible cause of behavioral issues and lesions on the heart muscle.

Aluminum Cans are Lined with WHAT?

Not all, but nearly all, aluminum soda cans are lined with an epoxy resin called bisphenol A (BPA). This resin is used to keep the acids in the soda from reacting with the metal.  What else is known about BPA?  It interferes with hormones and has been linked from infertility to obesity, diabetes and some forms of reproductive cancers.

High Fructose Corn Syrup? An issue?  

Very well could be.  That ingredient in soda is derived from corn.  In the US, 88 percent of what is grown is genetically modified to resist toxic pesticides or engineered to create pesticides within the plant itself.  There are no human studies to prove whether or not these crops are safe.  Studies done by independent scientists have found that in animals, crops that are genetically modified (GMO’s) are linked to accelerated aging, damage of the digestive tract, and infertility.

If you’d like to read the article in its entirety visit care2.com.  They actually publish a newsletter and I happen to love it.  It’s full of great insights on many topics.