Carbonated drinks: variety, harm or benefit

2024 Author: Isabella Gilson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:14

Many today prefer carbonated drinks. They are pleasant to the taste, it is believed that they effectively quench thirst. But do they cause serious harm to our body? More and more Russians have been asking this question lately.

Water is life

Without carbonated drinks, many cannot imagine a day. After all, the human body consists of 60 percent water, so drinking liquid is a must. Some prefer coffee or tea, others prefer dairy products. But there are many who drink carbonated drinks every day.

Do not forget that all drinks, in addition to water, contain many other substances that have some effect on our body. Naturally, it can be both positive and negative. It depends on the substances themselves, and on the regularity and volume of the drink.

A lot of liquid won't hurt an adult, but a lot of sugary fizzy drinks can hurt him too.

Soda base

Every soda has its own sweet and sourthe basis. This is the content of sugar (or its substitutes) and acid. Recall that sugar is a carbohydrate in its purest form. One gram of sugar forms almost four kilocalories.

And for popular carbonated soft drinks, these figures are very significant. 57.74 kcal per 100 ml in Pepsi-Cola, 42 kcal per 100 ml in Coca-Cola. It turns out that a can of 0.33 Pepsi contains 8 lumps of sugar and 6.5 pieces in a can of Cola. Slightly less sugar in other sodas, but still quite high.

In this case, it is a kind of calories that are very easily absorbed by the body, so our brain is deceived. For a short time, the feeling of hunger disappears, while this does not affect the amount of food that a person ate during the day. In this case, light calories are utilized, mainly in fat. So drinking too much soda at times increases the likelihood of diabetes and obesity.

Sweeteners

If you have a predisposition to such diseases, you can drink sweet carbonated drinks only if the manufacturer used sweeteners during the manufacturing process. For example, in soda with zero calorie content, they do this. As a result, artificial sweeteners are not absorbed by the body, and you get practically no calories.

The most famous sweetener is called aspartame. This is a protein that is also unsafe. In some people, it can provoke an allergy. Also popular are cyclomat,saccharin, sunet. The energy value of such drinks is extremely low.

Acids

Another component of any carbonated water is acid. Use malic, citric, sometimes phosphoric acid. The latter contains calcium s alts, which leach calcium from the bones. Sometimes, this leads to a weakening of the bone tissue, the bones can begin to break more easily.

Another mandatory component of any carbonated water is carbon dioxide. In its pure form, it is absolutely safe, it is used for better preservation of the drink, but with large quantities, the acidity of gastric juice increases in a person, gastric secretion is stimulated, all this leads to abundant gas, which is also called flatulence.

If you suffer from an ulcer or gastritis, then you need to shake the bottle well before drinking soda so that the gas comes out of it, otherwise it will negatively affect your condition. The same recommendations apply to mineral water.

Pancreatic cancer

Talking about the dangers or benefits of carbonated drinks, we can conclude that among the pluses there is only pleasure, but there are much more minuses. For example, scientists are sure that they provoke pancreatic cancer.

American scientists have studied about 60,500 residents of Singapore for more than ten years. During this period, 140 of them were diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. It turned out that every week they drank at least two cans of sweet soda. Usually 5 to 7.

Scientists attribute this to the fact that soda is high inthe amount of sugar, as a result, an abnormally large amount of insulin begins to be released in the pancreas. This leads to cancer.

Effect on the heart

These drinks also affect the heart. Cardiologists are convinced that soda cannot be attributed to products for a he althy lifestyle. Its consumption must be kept to a minimum.

Cola with caffeine, as well as soda with a high sugar content, has the greatest harm to the human heart. Fruit juices and non-carbonated high-calorie drinks that contain sweeteners also have a negative effect. Over the past few decades, the world began to drink twice as many of these drinks. They are becoming especially popular among young people and teenagers.

Contraindications

Categorically soda is contraindicated for people suffering from chronic diseases. These are overweight, peptic ulcer, gastritis, allergies, colitis and similar ailments. They are strongly discouraged from drinking carbonated drinks in large quantities, and ideally, it is better to simply refuse them.

It is forbidden to give soda to children under three years of age. Their body and stomach are still in the formation stage, this can lead to negative consequences.

How do drinks fill with gas?

In order to thoroughly understand all these processes, let's figure out what drinks are carbonated with. There are two ways.

The first one is mechanical. With it, the liquid is saturated with carbon dioxide. It is used in the productioncarbonated and sparkling wines, mineral and fruit waters, soda. Everything happens in special devices called saturators, siphons or acratophores. Air is expelled from the pre-cooled liquid under high pressure.

There is also a chemical way. It is used in the manufacture of beer, champagne, cider, bread kvass, wines. The drink is carbonated in the process of fermentation with carbon dioxide. A variant of the interaction of drinking water and acid is also possible. For example, this is how soda or seltzer water is obtained.

Tarragon

Let's dwell on several popular carbonated drinks in Russia. One of them is Tarragon. It has an emerald green color, water, sugar, citric acid, tarragon extract (this is the plant that gave the name to the drink, otherwise it is also called tarragon).

The Tarragon drink was invented by the pharmacist Mitrofan Lagidze, who lived in Tiflis in 1887. He began to add natural syrup to soda, which he produced himself.

Received several medals at international exhibitions for his invention. In 1927, the Soviet authorities built a factory for the production of the Tarragon drink.

Interestingly, recently it has been made yellow, but traditionally it continues to be produced in green glass bottles.

Pinocchio

"Pinocchio" - a drink popular in the USSR. It is also being released now. This is one of the most popular varieties. Soviet lemonade. It has a golden color and a characteristic sour-sweet-bitter taste. The corresponding fairy-tale character is always depicted on the bottle.

In Soviet times, the composition of this lemonade, a drink that millions liked, was extremely simple - water, sugar, lemons and oranges. Only natural products were used, which is why he was so loved and revered by many.

Now flavors and dyes are being added to Pinocchio. Therefore, drinking it is no longer so tasty and safe.

Baikal

Another popular soda from the Soviet period, which has retained its popularity to this day, is Baikal. The release of this product in the USSR was launched in 1973. The drink became extremely popular almost immediately. This was our answer to the American Coca-Cola, which at that time was practically unavailable. Only occasionally a select few could bring back a jar from an overseas trip.

At the same time, the composition of "Baikal" was radically different from its Western counterpart. These were water, sugar, citric acid, as well as licorice root, extract of St. John's wort and Eleutherococcus. Be sure to add essential oils - lemon, fir, laurel, eucalyptus. Now the Baikal recipe has been bought out by Western companies. He was loved not only in our country, but also abroad.

Is there an alternative?

Convinced that soda does more harm than good, one has to ask a reasonable question if there is an alternative.

There are many options. If yougo on a country holiday, you can make a cocktail with your own hands. It will be tasty, nutritious and he althy. Take one and a half liters of clean water, add the juice of some citrus fruit, such as orange or lemon, to your taste. Finally, a pinch of s alt and sugar. It will be a pleasant drink with a subtle sourness that will support the body after a long transition, quickly quench your thirst.

You can also drink juices. They are much he althier than soda, especially freshly squeezed. They contain all the microelements and vitamins that our body needs. As well as fiber and many other biologically active substances. In addition, juices are absorbed by the body faster and easier than any vegetable or fruit. Of course, they cost many times more than soda, not everyone can afford them.

Then you should pay attention to canned juices, the price of which is much lower. True, after industrial processing, some vitamins are destroyed in them, but in most juices all the lost vitamins are added additionally. Juices are also of great benefit because they contain iron and calcium, which contain organic acids necessary for the human body. In addition, many juices are good for stimulating the appetite.

Of course, the he althiest juices are those intended for baby food. It is strictly forbidden to add any preservatives to them, with the exception of citric acid.

From adult alternatives, juices with pulp are considered he althy, in which there are much more nutrients than most other juices.

Another deliciousand a he althy drink - nectars. These are juices that have been diluted with water and sweetened with sugar. They contain a large amount of minerals, vitamins and other useful and necessary components. Of course, there are fewer of them than in juices, but not by much. Moreover, they do not cause such harm to our body as soda.

Do not forget that many juices have medicinal properties. To be effective, an adult needs to drink three glasses a day, and children under three years of age no more than one. They should be diluted with water.

Doctors advise not to drink juices with meals, especially if you suffer from chronic diseases of the digestive system. This can increase fermentation in the intestines, it is best to drink juices before meals. When the acidity of the stomach is low or normal, then you need to drink a glass of juice half an hour before a meal, so the most favorable effect will be exerted on he alth.

But don't go overboard with juices. Because of this, the load on the kidneys increases, which threatens with edema. In addition, there are enough "chemistry" in juices, and some manufacturers do not shy away from adding preservatives and dyes to them. Moreover, they may not report this on the packaging. And such substances often cause allergies.

Mineral waters also have useful properties. Especially if they are produced on high-quality equipment that can dissolve s alts normally and saturate water with carbon dioxide.

It is definitely impossible to answer the question of how much water you need to drink per day. It all depends on the physical condition of the person, the presence of certain diseases. If you drinkmedicinal mineral waters, then, as it happens with any medicine, an overdose is possible. Therefore, a consultation with a doctor is necessary.

When choosing what to drink, read the label carefully, giving preference to drinks prepared with a natural basis.