This wasn't the planned blog post for this week, but after talking to someone at the gym about their soda addiction, I decided I had to write this because there might be more of you out there.
The reasoning behind the title is that at first glance most people would immediately say that 'beer' is worse for you, but the question is why? Is it because you can buy a co*ke at any age? Is it because we have known alcoholics or heard of drunk drivers harming people? I believe that sugar and alcohol are both poison and not good for you, but the advertising of either one has a dramatic impact on the way people perceive it.
I believe that people should not drink soft drinks at all and drink alcohol in moderation. It seems silly to work in the health and fitness industry, but below are some comparisons that might make you see the same thing.
Let's first start with the health benefits of these products:
Soda has NO health benefits. They contain no vitamins or minerals. Beer has some of them, but not enough to provide a significant amount of micronutrients to stop taking vitamins. In 2010, the American Heart Association released guidelines saying there are benefits to drinking 12 ounces of beer per night. I have yet to find anyone who says this for soda.
The average lager contains fewer calories than 12 ounces of soda, and most light beers contain about fifty fewer calories per serving. 12 ounce can. Beer contains zero grams of sugar, while soda can contain forty or more in each can. Counting calories and sugar, I would say that someone who drinks two beers a day is much less likely to develop a beer belly than someone who drinks two soft drinks a day. Often people who may not look overweight and think they are healthy do not realize that the effects of sugar and soda on the liver are just as damaging as someone who drinks a lot of beer. You can die inside and think that you are healthier because you don't drink beer and aren't overweight.
The second comparison of beer and soft drinks is quickly made:
If you want to clean the corrosion from your car battery, don't pour beer over it first, but pour cola over it.
The third comparison is addictive properties:
Both beer and sugary soft drinks have been shown to trigger the release of endorphins in the brain. The more you drink of both, the more is released. The more you drink, the more you build up a tolerance to it, and the more you have to drink to get the production of endorphins going again. By comparison, both cause the same thing. The main difference here is that the more beer you drink, the drunker you become. This creates the problem of response time, poor decisions and other problems that a limitation can cause. Although both drinks are addictive in the same way as opioids; only one can create a drunken state.
The fourth equation is related to diseases:
Someone who is an avid soda drinker would think that beer is the "eviler" of the two in this comparison, but that is not the case. When I googled “diseases related to alcohol” and “diseases related to sugar,” many of the same diseases came up on both sides, including liver, heart, and kidney health. But the big player in sugar deaths wasn't on the alcohol list at all, and that's Diabetes.
The main battle against the big soft drink is that, according to the American Diabetes Association, 40% of all death certificates list diabetes. This is a major player in millions of deaths every year, and sugar is directly linked to that. One soft drink per day can increase the risk of diabetes by 22%, according to a European study among 350,000 people from eight different countries.
The final equation consists of warning labels:
Beer and alcohol products should have a warning label so that anyone who drinks them knows that he or she is drinking a product that can cause health problems and affect your senses. Soft drinks are not required by federal law to have the same warning label, but some cities and states have or are trying to pass laws where this would be the case. Based on basic research on the health benefits of sugar alone, you might conclude that any drink containing more than three tablespoons of sugar should have a warning label in every state and country. Beer and alcohol companies do not market to children due to the legal age limit and their warning label. Soda doesn't have a warning label (yet), but has promised not to advertise to children. Seems a bit strange?
By comparison, both are bad for you. People think that because you can buy soda at any age that it is safer for you. Both products will kill you at some point. Both will make you feel worse after you start taking them. Both are dangerous; That's how it is. If you can avoid both for the rest of your life, you will live a longer, healthier life.
BUT WHAT YOU DECIDE TO DO IS UP TO YOU. YOU HAVE MADE THESE DECISIONS FOR YOURSELF. BUT IF I HAD TO ASK YOU, I WOULD STILL TAKE YOU IN... DON'T GIVE YOUR CHILDREN SODA. DO A QUICK SEARCH ON GOOGLE FOR A COUPLE STUDIES ON WHAT Soft Drinks Do to Kids. YOU COULD POSSIBLY AND PROBABLY MAKE YOUR CHILDREN BEAUTIFUL, SICK AND UNHEALTHY BY DOING THIS POISON ON THEM.
