What 1s

SODA
Doing tO You?

When you eat fast food, such as pizza, hamburger, or fried chicken, what do

you drink with it? Most people have a soda. When you go to the movies or when
often the first
you just want something refreshing to satisfy your thirst, a soda is

choice.

Soda, also called a soft drink, is a sweet drink with carbonation. People all

over the world love sodas. Every year, Americans consume 170 liters of soda per

drink the most soda.

person, and the British 100 liters. Of all age groups, teenagers

health due
Most people, however, understand that sodas are not good for their to

the ingredients. What is in a soda? Which ingredients are really not good for you?

person every year?

01 How much soda do Americans consume per

Stop & Think When do you most want to drink a soda?

satisfy [stisfail thirst [0a:rst] carbonation [ka:rbanéifon]

refreshing [rifréfin)
consume [kansu:m] due to ingredient [ingri:diant]

Eat Right, Be Healthy 61

 Sugar
are loaded with large
Everyone knows that soft drinks
of soda contains
amounts of sugar. A typical 250ml can

02
30 grams of sugar. WHO, the World Health Organization,
What does WHO
05 recommends that people consume less than 25 grams of sugar
recommendaboutthe
a day. Therefore, if you drink one small can of soda, your daily consumption ofsugart
What
sugar intake already exceeds the recommended amount.
1s worse, people usually don't stop with one can. Having extra
sugar means adding unnecessary calories. Over time, this can

10
lead to obesity and other health problems, such as heart disease
and diabetes.

Even diet sodas are not safe. Diet sodas

replace the sugar with artificial sweeteners.

Artificial sweeteners provide a sweet, sugary

taste with fewer calories. This may seem like 03

a
good thing, but it really isn't.
According What kind of illnesses
are artificial sweeteners
recentstudy, artificialsweeteners make
to a
known to generate?
you
want more sweet foods. This means
that you may
easily gain weightifyou keep drinking diet
20
soda. In addition, artificialsweeteners
are known
to generate

headaches,emotionaldisorders,andsleepingproblems

typical [tipikal]
recommend[rekomend]
unnecessary [annésaseril lead to intake\inteil]
generate [dzenoreit] obesityloubi.soul
artificial [artafifoll exceed liksid] extra [ekstral
with
disorder diabetes [daiabitiz] replace
62 LESSON 3 [disairdar]
Acid

Most soda contains several types of acids. Acid is a

chemical substance with a sour taste. When added to water, it

04
produces a sharp flavor. Acid also delays the growth of bacteria,
What is the bad side of
which extends the expiration date of : product. However, acid acid in sodas in terms of

interferes with the body's ability to absorb calcium, and as a digestion?

result, bone softening occurs. Also, the acid in sodas interacts

Stop & Think
with stomach acid, slowing digestion and blocking nutrient
What can you do to

absorption. Furthermore, it can damage tooth enamel, the hard prevent tooth decay
caused by drinking soda?
substance that protects your teeth. If you drink sodas regularly,

your teeth decay more easily.

TOD-

acid lasid] chemical [kémikal] substance [sAbstans] sour [sauar] flavor [fléivor] delay [diléi]

extend [iksténd] expiration date interfere with absorb [abs5:rb] interact with

digestion [daidsest(an] block [blak] nutrient [nju:triant] decay [dikéi]

Eat Right, Be Healthy 63

 05
Caffeine
likely think
hear the word "caffeine," you
most Which drinks contain
When you
caffeine?

of coffee. But some sodas, especially colas and carbonated

Caffeine makes you feel
energy drinks, also contain caffeine.
heartbeat. A
05 more awake, but it may bring about an irregular Stop & Think

Have you ever

much, but if you consume
single can of cola may not affect you experienced sleep
make you feel more nervous and keep problems after drinking
colas regularly, they can

soda or coffee?
you from sleeping well at night.

Artificial Colors and Artificial Flavors

10 Soft drink companies attract consumers by adding bright

colors and sweet flavors to their products. Most of these car

What kind of problems
colors and flavors, however, are not natural. excessive consumptiondf
They are artificial flavos
artificial colors and
chemicals. For example, the artificial color Yellow No. b, used create?

in some pineapple juices, adds nothing to the taste. It is just

15 there to make the drink look pretty. Also, the artificial flavor

that gives the drink its pineapple taste is not real

pineapple juice
at all. Studies have shown that
excessive consumption of these
kinds of chemicals can create problems such as
kidney disease
and ADHD.'

bring about irregular [irégjular]

heartbeat [hartbi:t]
excessive [iksésiv] kidney [kidni] keep from ... attract[atrakt

64 LESSON 3
 You can see how the the acid, the caffeine, and the
sugar,

artificial chemicals in sodas are really not good for you. Perhaps
you might now understand that you should stop drinking them.
However, if quitting sodas altogether sounds too difficult, cut
05 down gradually. For example, replace one regular soft drink or

one diet soda per day with another healthier drink. Of course,
07
the best choice would be water. Water has no calories, no acid,
Why is water the best
no caffeine, and no chemicals of any kind. And if you want alternative to soda?

something to add a boost of flavor, put a slice of lemon in the

10 water. If you can't break your soda drinking habits in a short

Ston & Think

period of time, don't be too hard on yourself. Once you start
What would you like to
cutting back, you are heading in the right direction. drink instead of sodas?

quit [kwit] altogether [:ltagéoar] gradually [gredguali]

boost [bu:st] cut back

More Info. How much water does the human

body contain?
The average human body is between 50 and

65 percent water. Adult men on the average

have a higher percent of body water than adult

women - around 60 percent - because men
have less body fat (in fact, body fat contains
10 percent water, and bone has 22 percent
water). During a normal day, we lose 5~10% of

our body's water, so we need to replace that

amount.