Think About That Drink

Oftentimes, we pay more attention to the solid foods that we eat and how they will affect our teeth, while sugary drinks are consumed without much thought about their harmful effects. There is no shortage of sugary drinks in the market today, just walk into a Wawa, Target, Giant and you will see aisles of choices right before you. Here is a review of why you should avoid sugary drinks and which ones have higher sugar contents.

Sugar causes many problems besides cavities in the U.S, including obesity, diabetes, and heart disease. As far as the cavities go, our mouths are full of all types of bacteria, some good and some bad. It’s the bad bacteria in our mouths that feed off the sugar and creates acid to break down teeth to develop cavities. Sugar has lots of calories and zero nutritious value, so it is best to avoid altogether. It’s so easy to consume a large number of calories with sugary drinks because they go down so smooth. Below are drinks that you should avoid.

Juice: It has lots of sugar and most people don’t realize its not good for you. It comes from fruit, right? Yes it does, but the benefit of fiber has been removed and there is added sugar(as if fruit wasn’t sweet enough). There are 36 grams of sugar in grape juice and that is not far off from soda having 39 grams. If you must have juice, mix it with 50% water to reduce the sugar content.

Sports drinks: Training for a marathon? No? Then don’t drink these. One bottle of a typical sports drinks has 50 grams of sugar! Stick to water instead.

Iced tea: If you drink it, make sure its unsweetened or add just a teaspoon of sugar. The sweetened ice tea is full of sugar, up to 30 grams at times, cancelling out the antioxidant properties of tea. Plus, it stains your teeth too!

Energy drinks: Need a pick me up? Don’t grab one of these because your energy goes up, only to crash. Studies have shown that it increases blood pressure even in healthy people.

Soda: This subject wouldn’t be complete without mentioning soda. One coke has 39 grams of sugar. If you drank one a day over the course of a week, you will have consumed 1.33 cups of sugar. Yikes!

Sugary drinks are addictive, erosive to teeth, and cause health problems. Reach for water, it is your best bet!