health benefits of not drinking soda

Sales of diet sodas are going flat

After surging in popularity for decades, diet sodas are beginning to lose their fizz.

Concerns over chemicals they contain as well as doubts that they actually aid in weight loss are giving drinkers a new taste for water.

At the Mid City Gym in Manhattan, Ben Roman is closing in on his fourth mile on the treadmill. And he’s ready for a drink, but not the kind he used to crave.

“I don’t drink soda at all now. More water now,” Roman says.

“I advise people should really start drinking water, and if possible, good-quality water, filtered water.”

More than ever before, plain old H2O is muscling in on the $61 billion-a-year soda industry.

Over the past year, sales of non-diet sodas have declined 2.2 percent, while diet sodas have declined 6.8 percent.

“There has been a negative attitude about artificial sweeteners in this country that has been growing over the years. It’s not all of a sudden,” says Harry Balzer, who analyzes eating trends for the NPD Group, a global market research company.

To stop the sliding sales, the beverage industry is looking at replacing artificial sweeteners such as aspartame and saccharine with those derived naturally from the stevia plant.

“Twenty years ago, it was all about avoiding harmful substances, avoiding calories, avoiding sugar, avoiding fat, avoiding cholesterol,” Balzer says. “This generation looks at health as, ‘What can you add to my diet? Where is the whole grains, where are the antioxidants, where is the dietary fiber?’ ”

Natural foods in general have increased in popularity. Ten years ago, diet and non-diet soft drinks were the second most popular food item. Today, they’ve fallen to fourth place, behind sandwiches, fruit and vegetables.

Back at the gym, Andre Giulino drinks a toast to that trend every day. His company is about to launch a new bottle design – for water.

Source: abc news

Drinking sodas will erode the tooth enamel:

 

When it is subject to enamel erosion of teeth, diet soda is not good as regular ones, a new study have found.

Kim McFarland, D.D.S., associate professor in the University Of Nebraska Medical Center College Of Dentistry in Lincoln, has observed a number of dental patients with erosion of tooth enamel, the protective layer of the tooth.

If erosion takes place in enamel, then it can’t be taken back and affects people their whole life.

This erosion occurs in teenagers, the main reason behind this is drinking more amount of soda.

Triggers like hot and cold drinks – and even cold air – reach the tooth`s nerve and cause pain.

Depending on the frequency and amount of soda consumed, the erosion process can be extreme and it can be throughout the life time. She said the National Soft Drink Association estimates the average American drinks 44 gallons of soda a year.

Phosphoric and citric acid, are common ingredients in most popular sodas and diet soda which is the main phenomenon to alter the pH balance in the mouth and can cause tooth erosion over time.