Nowadays, it is habitual to desire a cold bottle of soda or a chilled bottle of beer when you are parched; depriving the body of its naturally convenient and compatible choice of liquid – water. While the body desiderates water, we’d prefer to satisfy the urge with a cold bottle of soda. It is important for you to know however that the human body is made up of 60% – 70% water.
Carbonated water is what is served in our table water and a whole lot of our beverage drinks and most alcoholic content drinks too. Carbonated water is simply, water infused with carbon (IV) oxide under pressure. Carbonated water has been associated with removing the enamel off the teeth, causing kidney stone and leaching the bone – this implies a decreasing bone strength, increase risk of fracture etc. However, there are claims that these are not clinically certified researches.
These sodas also contain sweeteners and flavouring. All these unfortunately do not compensate for water loss in the body. Instead, the sugar content of soda employs more body water to metabolize it successfully causing a desiccating effect. Also, the caffeine content of soda is responsible for instigating urination as caffeine is known as a diuretic. The activity of sugar and caffeine as desiccants is quite negligible to qualify soda as a facilitator of dehydration because the water used by the blood to metabolize sugar only lasts while sugar is being metabolized then it is returned and studies show that the diuretic activity of caffeine is negligible. Therefore, this reason is why soda cannot be categorized as a dehydrator but here is where it gets more interesting: how about diet soda? Diet soda has no sugar content, low calorie content and has mostly chemical sweeteners. People say that diet soda is almost as good as water for hydrating the body. I agree!
However, pure water or flat water (water without carbonation) is highly preferable to all other means of hydration since it has no cream, sugar or synthetic content. Water is much healthier than any other substitute we can formulate because there is no consequence to lookout for. Water reinforces our body’s cells to carry out metabolism effectively, helps memory retention etc.
Click here to know more benefits of drinking water.
Patronize your favourite soda but maintain a healthy consumption and do not forget to drink 8 glasses of water on a daily basis.
About the Writer: Bello Muhammad is a graduate of Biological Sciences. He is passionate about education and personal development. He is also a lover of chess who has featured in the West African University Games for his institution. You can contact him via Google+ and email: slimophobia@gmail.com, call 08152501891 and twitter @Slimanic.
