Many Americans are taking the right step and are actively looking to cut soda out of their diet. A recent Gallup Poll showed Americans are far more likely in 2015 (61%) than in 2002 (41%) to actively avoid drinking soda.
It's great news for a society that continues to look for ways to get more healthy. However, despite the wording in the recent Gallup Poll, Americans still consume tons of soda, a poll conducted in 2012 saw nearly half of Americans drinking at least one soda per day.
While one soda per day may seem harmless (and really everything is in moderation), an infographic posted last month by The Renegade Pharmasist has people talking about soda's effect on the human body. The most startling, perhaps, is what happens within only an hour of drinking the can of coke and the numerous peaks and valleys your body goes through.
- In The First 10 minutes: 10 teaspoons of sugar hit your system. (100% of your recommended daily intake.) You don't immediately vomit from the overwhelming sweetness because phosphoric acid cuts the flavor allowing you to keep it down.
- 20 minutes: Your blood sugar spikes, causing an insulin burst. Your liver responds to this by turning any sugar it can get its hands on into fat. (There's plenty of that at this particular moment.)
- 40 minutes: Caffeine absorption is complete. Your pupils dilate, your blood pressure rises, as a response your livers dumps more sugar into your bloodstream. The adenosine receptors in your brain are now blocked preventing drowsiness.
- 45 minutes: Your body ups your dopamine production stimulating the pleasure centers of your brain. This is physically the same way heroin works, by the way.
- 60 minutes: The phosphoric acid binds calcium, magnesium and zinc in your lower intestine, providing a further boost in metabolism. This is compounded by high doses of sugar and artificial sweeteners also increasing the urinary excretion of calcium.
- >60 Minutes: The caffeine's diuretic properties come into play. (It makes you have to pee.) It is now assured that you'll evacuate the bonded calcium, magnesium and zinc that was headed to your bones as well as sodium, electrolytes and water.
- >60 minutes: As the rave inside of you dies down you'll start to have a sugar crash. You may become irritable and/or sluggish. You've also now, literally, *ahem* peed away all the water that was in the Coke. But not before infusing it with valuable nutrients your body could have used for things like even having the ability to hydrate your system or build strong bones and teeth.
You can view the full infographic from The Renegade Pharmasist below:
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