We are having a brand new food fight on our hands. This time, it is about beverages – soft drinks and sodas, to be more precise. A new tax has been proposed for sodas based on the rationale that they may significantly contribute to our national obesity crisis. Advocates for the tax argue that additional revenues are needed to pay for health care costs and that it would be justified to hold the soft drink industry responsible for the damage caused by its hazardous products. They also predict that resulting price increases would cause consumers to cut back on consumption, which would have positive effects on their health.
Opponents say that people should be free to make their own choices and that it would be unfair to single out individual items, such as sodas, as culprits for widespread health problems. Weight issues, they argue, are caused by overindulgence in all food products, not just soft drinks.
The “war on sodas” is actually not all that new. Schools across the country have long made efforts to remove soda vending machines from their premises, often against their own financial interests. State legislators and school boards have endured immense struggles against the soda industry.
The whole tax issue aside, as a dietitian and health counselor who has worked with children for many years, I believe indeed that sodas are harmful to our health and should not be consumed in large quantities, especially at a young age. And not just because their high sugar content can make us fat. What bothers me as much is the fact that almost all diet and regular sodas are carbonated.
Carbonated drinks have high levels of phosphoric acid (phosphate) and carbonic acid. Elevated acidic levels can cause an imbalance of calcium (an alkaline mineral) in our blood stream. Under normal circumstances, our body’s natural mechanism maintains a steady ratio of calcium to phosphate in the blood (also known as “acid base balance” or “blood pH”) with the help of a healthy diet.
However, if we overindulge in foods and beverages that throw off the delicate acid-alkaline balance, the body has to struggle hard get it back by adding calcium. The more phosphate from carbonated drinks is ingested, the more calcium is needed. If that calcium is not supplied in sufficient quantities from food products, such as milk, cheese, salmon and sardines (with bones), dark green leafy vegetables and the like, calcium that is already stored in the body will be “pulled” from bone mass and teeth, thereby damaging their density. Severe osteoporosis and premature loss of teeth may result in later years.
To growing kids, an acid-alkaline imbalance is especially harmful. Potentially serious damage to their bone structure is being done at a critical time when they build up their bone mass that has to last for a lifetime. The consumption of large amounts of carbonated drinks can jeopardize this process. Once the damage is done, it is hard to reverse.
Supporters of the soda tax are right to compare the consumption of carbonated drinks to tobacco products and alcohol as equally harmful to minors. In the absence of any meaningful government regulation efforts of the soft drink industry, we consumers have to educate ourselves about the facts of carbonated sodas, so we can make better informed choices to protect ourselves and our children.
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