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Posts Tagged ‘soft drinks’
Sugar and High Fructose Corn Syrup: Let’s Deconstruct!
Part 2: How HFCS Super-Sized Us
A number of studies have shown that when we drink our calories (as opposed to eat them), our brains will process information differently. Unlike solid food, liquid calories don’t satisfy hunger because they don’t suppress a hunger hormone called ghrelin which tells us to eat more. In an analysis of the eight-year Nurses’ Health Study II, it was shown that women who upped their caloric soft drink consumption from one soda per week to one or more per day gained weight and had a higher risk of type II diabetes.1
Sodas are unquestionably linked to obesity, both the adult kind and the childhood kind. Research conducted in 2001 by David Ludwig, director of the obesity program at Children’s Hospital in Boston found that the odds of a teenager becoming obese increased a whopping 60% for each can or glass of sugar-sweetened soft drinks.2
Which brings us back to HFCS. “The low cost of high fructose corn syrup allowed the explosion of 20-oz sodas, Super Big Gulps and the like to happen,” C. Leigh Broadhurst, PhD, a research scientist and nutritionist at the USDA told me.
Caffeine - Are You Addicted?
If you have an addiction to caffeine, you usually know it fairly quickly — especially if you ever miss your regular fix. Not only can caffeine withdrawal make you feel very sluggish and cranky, it can give you severe headaches.
Caffeine is a central nervous system stimulant. And usually we get started on it because we enjoy the energy boost and the increased alertness it can give us. But there can be downsides. Caffeine increases acid production in the stomach and can lead to gastric reflux. It is also associated with fibrocystic breast disease.
