Sweet lies: how soft drinks and juices harm your health

Excessive consumption of them can lead to weight gain and disrupt metabolism.

Sugary drinks cause more than a million heart diseases worldwide each year. Juices and carbonated drinks contain half of the daily sugar requirement, said functional diagnostics doctor Rashid Songurov to Gazeta.ru.

"The WHO recommends that sugar should account for less than 10% of total daily caloric intake. If a person consumes less than 5% of the total amount (25 grams or 6 teaspoons of sugar), then they are within a healthy range. However, a single glass of grape or apple juice can easily meet the daily requirement, containing about 6-8 teaspoons of sugar," the specialist explained.

The doctor also noted that people often do not stop at a glass of juice, but then consume fruits, sweets, and other products containing sugar. Thus, they significantly exceed the allowed limit. From this, we can conclude that even one sugary drink a day can lead to dietary imbalance.

Excessive consumption of sugary drinks leads to weight gain and metabolic diseases. The latter increases the likelihood of developing diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. Overconsumption of juices and carbonated drinks can lead to the development of several heart diseases at the same time.

"Excess sugar contributes to an increase in triglyceride levels and a decrease in 'good' cholesterol (HDL) levels. This increases the risk of developing atherosclerosis, where the walls of blood vessels thicken and lose elasticity, which can later lead to a heart attack (myocardial infarction) or a stroke; moreover, regular consumption of sugary drinks leads to an increase in visceral fat (fat deposits around internal organs). And this, in turn, is a risk factor for cardiovascular diseases," the doctor explained.

The constant desire to drink sweet beverages may be a result of deficiencies in the body. For example, a lack of chromium, phosphorus, sulfur, and tryptophan. When choosing juice or soda, it is important to carefully study its composition. Preference should be given to drinks that contain less sugar. The best option is water with natural additives.