Sushil Dhital

Kathmandu:

Quenching thirst with an ice-cold bottle of soft drink is quite common in hot summer days. These aerated drinks are a type of junk food with no nutritional value in terms of minerals, vitamins and proteins but provide a lot of calories. When taken in excess, almost replacing regular meal, these could spell serious health problems.

Aerated drinks are formulations of highly sweetened water and contain 30 to 40 gram sugar per 300 ml bottle, caffeine, acids (citric, phosphoric, etc), preservatives, colour and many more additives for taste. A single bottle of such drinks provides 150 K Calorie energy but have zero nutritional value.

Caffeine in these drinks are addicting owing to its stimulating effect. Caffeine is the stimulating agent similar to that found in tea and coffee. It is supposed to decrease fatigue, increase alertness and stimulate heart and brain. However, in the long run, it results in addiction with other associated disorders.

Water in our body is depleted due to breathing and sweating. This loss causes dehydration and thirst mechanism is activated for re-hydration. After drinking soft drinks, our body needs more water to dilute the high sugar content, consequently thirst is never quenched as the depleted water is not replaced.

These drinks are acidic in nature due to added acids, with average pH of 3.5 (pH relates to the amount of acid, low pH mean high acid and vice versa, water has pH 7). These high acids react with enamel of teeth and gradually destroy after a long exposure. Easily fermentation and high sugar in these drinks increase the bacterial growth in mouth causing bad breath, tooth and gums decay. They could also cause ulcers and other gastric disorders. Such drinks play vital role in reducing appetite and destroying mineral balance in the body.High phosphorus imbalances calcium and iron in body. Loss of appetite causes deficiency in other important nutrients (protein, fat, minerals and vitamins) resulting in various nutritional disorders like impaired and retarded growth, weak bones, anaemia and mental disorders. Some drinks are labelled ‘sugar free’, ‘diet’ or ‘zero calorie’ drinks, they contain artificial sweetener like aspartame, cyclamate and saccharin instead of table sugar. These artificial sweeteners have been found to be carcinogenic.

Aerated drinks are unsuitable for vulnerable groups — children, pregnant and lactating women. People of other age groups too must think twice before consuming such drinks. Fresh water, juices of watermelon, mango, pineapple or sugarcane in summer are more beneficial. The fruits or juices contain various essential nutrients. Chilled pasteurised milk or ‘lassi’ quenches thirst while providing nutrition. Drinking eight glasses of water each day is healthy.