Sugar-Sweetened Drinks Essay

Sugary beverages suggest a poor dietary quality; they are loaded with added sugars and attribute to the body’s energy density. “A 20-year study on 120,000 men and women found that people who increased their sugary drink consumption by one 12-ounce serving per day gained more weight over time—about 4 pounds per year” (19). Through increasing the daily intake in trivial increments, the body substantially results in an increased BMI (body mass index) and an increased body fat percentage score. Another study conducted at Harvard found that a 60 percent increase occurs in children for each 12-ounce they additionally drink daily. (________) The growing correlation between obesity and sugar has led to further studies, and statistical data. Researchers have revealed that in total, “half the people in the U.S. consume sugary drinks; 1 in 4 get at least 200 calories from such drinks; and 5% get at least 567 calories.” It was additionally found that one-fourth of Americans are consuming more than 135 grams of sugar per day from soda and other sweetened beverages, which compares to people of the past who only had 10 grams of fructose a day (_____). Such a high daily intake of sugar and calories illustrates the risk that arises when people consume too much sugar; that is, sugary drinks result in weight issues and medical consequences.

Excess consumption of high-calorie, low-nutrient foods and sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) are risk factors for obesity.1

Recently, people have become worried about the health issues associated with consuming sugary drinks, especially soda. The rate of people being diagnosed with type-2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease has been going up primarily because of beverages with added sugar (Cited in Crawford, 2016). Several studies have found that soda is linked to over 180,000 deaths per year (Cited in Crawford, 2016). An article by the Huffington Post (2011) said that an average American drinks about 44.7 gallons of carbonated beverages a year, which adds up to over 350 pounds of soda. Comparatively, in 2005 an average American drank only 0.5 gallons, making soft drinks the most consumed beverage in America (n/a, 2011). The way the government is trying to fix

Today, despite technological and scientific discoveries of the past century, we live in a country filled with mysterious sicknesses. While America continues to prosper in other ways, our health continues to decline. What has helped to cause this terrible battle? Sugar. Even though it may pack a great taste, sugar has captured and addicted us to it. Our addiction to sugar has negative consequences such as severe chronic disease and obesity. Americans need to reduce sugar consumption to prevent, cure, or limit problems of chronic disease, addiction, and obesity.

A single can of soda can have at least ten teaspoons of sugar, that is already the daily maximum recommended intake. Sugar can increase cholesterol levels, heart disease, diabetes and weight gain.Moreover. The obesity is a colossal problem in America. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention 35.9% of U.S. adults over the age of twenty are obese (CDC, 2013). The CDC also notes that 69.2% of U.S. adults twenty years of age and over are overweight. The obesity problem does not only affect adults in the U.S. The CDC notes that 18.4% of adolescents between the ages of 12 and 19 are currently obese (CDC, 2013). These numbers show the harshness of the obesity problem in this

In the article from USA Today, “Eating Too Much Added Sugars May Be Killing You,” Nanci Hellmich claims added sugars in soda, candy, and many more sweets may be killing you. Hellmich says that added sugar can lead to an increased risk of death caused by heart disease, obesity, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, and stroke. She supports her claim by referring to a survey recorded by the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey done on 31,000 people, then reflecting on the dietary habits of citizens based on interviews, and finally providing the evidence that most adults consume 10% of their daily calories from added sugar which is very unhealthy and hazardous for people’s health. Hellmich writes it in an informative tone for the public

Consumption of sugary drink can lead to many health risks such as stroke, diabetes, cancer and many more.

Tobacco, alcohol and poor diet are the main risk factors associated with cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes, and respiratory disease that kills approximately 35 million per year. Out of the three risk factors, an inadequate diet was found to the culprit of more diseases than smoking and liquor consumption combined. In Aseem Malhorta’s (2014) article “Sugar is now enemy number one in the western diet”, he claims that added sugar should be regulated as it is a health hazard that has caused the increasing prevalence of diabetes and obesity. Malhorta only focuses on sugar being the main causative agent in causing negative health outcomes, he fails to address the fact that there are many other confounding factors associated with each disease

Food consumption that is high in sugar has been linked with obesity rates, so in order to cut obesity rates we must avoid a heavy load of sugar intake. In order to understand why sugar is “trending” as something to avoid in our diet, here are some reasons why: sugar has been found to be poor for our metabolism and harmful to our health (Flegal). It contains no essential nutrients. Sugar is also high in fructose, which can essentially overload your liver. Sugar can also cause insulin resistance. This is something strongly correlated with obesity rates, which can also be associated with diabetes. So with sugars effects to insulin resistance, it can be a contributor to type II diabetes as well as other chronic diseases. A specific note of this diabetes influence sugar has comes for an analysis done on caloric consumption and diabetes. “When people ate 150 calories more every day, the rate of diabetes went up 0.1%. But if those 150 calories came from a can of fizzy drink, the rate went up 1.1%” (Lambert) showing that added sugar is eleven times more harmful within the same calorie

Nowadays, Americans are facing the danger of being overweight. The article Bad Food? Tax It, and Subsidize Vegetables written by Mark Bittman highlights that “one third of all Americans either have diabetes or are pre-diabetic.” The fat in our body cannot be formed in one day or two. Instead, it is the result of constantly unhealthy eating habit. The author of Obesity Epidemic by First Figuring Out Its Cause stated that “Energy intake rose because of environmental push factors, i.e., increasing available, cheap, tasty, highly promoted obesogenic foods.” Additionally, according to Bittman, “The average American consumes 44.7 gallons of soft drink；s annually.” The fact that Americans like soft drinks and food that are high in calories is irreversible, but we can do something to change this situation.

In the article Dr Francesco Branca discusses how there is strong evidence that by keeping free sugars to less than 10% of your energy intake reduces the risk of obesity. Many free sugars we consume everyday are hidden in foods like ketchup which has about 1 teaspoon of sugar. Obesity is a huge problem in America and sugar is a key contributor. Scientific evidence has found people who lower their sugar intake have lower body weight, while people who have increased their sugar intake have higher body weight. The recommend amount of sugar intake is 6 teaspoons a day I think people easily go over this considering 1 can of sugar-sweetened soda contains around 10 teaspoons of sugar.

With the increase in the number of the diseases and awareness regarding the health care system, Sugar tax is the simple remedy which will not only reduce the sales of the drinks but also lower the kilojoule intake leading to reduction in the body weight and ultimately improvement in the heath. The sugar-sweetened beverages are less healthy than other sources of added sugars and calories and are more likely to contribute to obesity, diabetes, and tooth decay than other foods. According to the recent research diet soda and artificial sweeteners contained in diet soda may adversely affect glucose levels and may increase the risk of developing metabolic syndrome and diabetes, in part, through impairment of glucose and increase in waist circumference.

In addition to mental health, eating too much sugar can severely affect the physical health. Lifestyle diseases are caused by poor lifestyle choices like eating too much sugar. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have reported that about half of all American adults, nearly about 117 million, are struggling with a form of a lifestyle disease. Gary Taubes in The Case Against Sugar, says, “Fifty years ago, one in eight American adults was obese; today the number is greater than one in three.” (Taubes 5) The number of obese Americans has drastically increased which is extremely dangerous. Americans who consume too much sugar, specifically in forms of simple carbohydrates are at more considerable risk of chronic lifestyle diseases. Obesity

Sugar is in so many things that you can barely count. It is even in healthy things such as fruit like apples and bananas, but it is a different kind of sugar. The sugar that is highly addictive, unhealthy, and overall delicious, is the type that is in sweet things like candy, ice cream, so it is in different types of desserts in general. (zelf geschreven)

The article on sugary drinks and soda by Caitlin Dewey, discusses the alarming rate that sugar consumption has been on recently (Dewey 2017). The Journal by The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition clearly analyzed the original article, and even broke down in details what's really happening to society, and not just reporting on it like the article by Dewey (Kit, Fakhouri, Park, Nielsen, Ogden 2013). Although it sugar based beverage consumption is fortunately still on a decline, it wasn’t until recently that it was discovered we have begun to back track the progress we’ve made up to this point. There are several possible explanations on why this has happened. From the lifestyle the sugar consumer has, to the