Too Much Soda Drinking Can Damage Your Muscles

For the last two weeks I’ve written articles telling you about the downside of sugar in all its variations – sugar, high fructose corn syrup and artificial sweeteners.

I even told you of the controversy surrounding the natural sweetener stevia.

All of these sweeteners are harmful to your health, and will hinder you in your attempt to experience healthy living and health and wellness.

And as a result, they will also deter your ability to live a Low Density Lifestyle.

I thought I would move on from talking about sugar, but because sugar is consumed in such high quantities – in the U.S. per capita sugar intake is around 175 pounds a year – I’ve decided to spend this week continuing to talk about sugar.

For the next few days, I want to talk about sugary soft drinks. After all, we are inundated with advertising telling us how great our lives can be the more we consume the sugary drinks.

I figured since I don’t have the advertising budget of the soft drink companies that would allow me to run endless ads promoting my point of view, I would just have to tell you some negatives about soft drinks.

For instance, did you know drinking soda can screw up your muscles, leading to anything from mild muscle weakness to severe muscle paralysis?

This was the findings of doctors writing in a medical journal. They said soda does this because it causes blood potassium levels to drop dangerously low.

The author of the research paper said it appeared that hypokalaemia (low blood potassium) can be caused by excessive consumption of three of the most common ingredients in cola drinks – glucose, fructose and caffeine.

The author, Dr Moses Elisaf from the University of Ioannina in Greece wrote, “The individual role of each of these ingredients in the pathophysiology of cola-induced hypokalaemia has not been determined and may vary in different patients.

“However in most of the cases we looked at for our review, caffeine intoxication was thought to play the most important role.

“This has been borne out by case studies that focus on other products that contain high levels of caffeine but no glucose or fructose.”

Despite this, he warned that caffeine free cola products could also cause hypokalaemia because the fructose they contain can cause diarrhea.

“We believe that further studies are needed to establish how much is too much when it comes to the daily consumption of cola drinks.”

Excessive consumption of soda has already been linked with obesity, diabetes and tooth and bone problems.

A spokeswoman from the British Soft Drinks Association said in response to the journal article: “The soft drinks industry is committed to encouraging responsible consumption of all its products. Nutrition labeling is included on the pack so people can make an informed choice about the products they are drinking.”

What? Did you expect them to say something different?

Like, that drinking soft drinks can cause your health to suffer and take you off the path of health and wellness?

Fat chance.