Soft drinks: Not always unhealthy

Soft drinks are non-alcoholic refreshments. They are mostly carbonated and have a sweet and sour  taste . In addition to carbonic acid, they may also contain ingredients such as sugar, sweeteners, aromas, fruit concentrate and vitamins and  minerals  . Especially when it comes to the use of sugar, no savings are made in the production of many soft drinks. That is why the sweet drinks often have a high calorie content and are considered unhealthy.

Not only lemonades are soft drinks

When you think of soft drinks, you usually first think of soft drinks such as cola or lemonade. According to the food book, however, the term soft drink is much broader. Accordingly, soft drinks include:

• fruit juice drinks
• fruit spritzers
• lemonades
• showers

fruit juice drinks and fruit spritzers

Fruit juice drinks  differ from pure fruit juice in that other ingredients – including sugar and flavorings – may be added. Their fruit content is therefore no longer 100 percent, but is usually significantly lower. Depending on the type of fruit, it is between at least six percent (for citrus fruits) and 30 percent (for pome fruit).

Juice spritzers  are a mixture of fruit juice and  mineral water . Typically, the mixing ratio is around 50 percent water and 50 percent  juice . In contrast to fruit juice drinks, no additional ingredients such as sugar are added to juice spritzers. As a result, they usually contain fewer calories. The higher the water content of the juice spritzer, the better the drink is for the line.

lemonades and fizzy drinks

Lemonades are soft drinks with   water-based fruit extracts, which are usually carbonated. Depending on how they are prepared, they can be sweetened to a greater or lesser extent. However, industrially manufactured products usually contain large amounts of sugar and therefore many calories.

Fizzy  drinks are carbonated soft drinks that are not only produced from natural substances. They may also contain artificial flavorings and colorings. Many “typical” soft drinks such as cola belong to the group of fizzy drinks.

ingredients of soft drinks

Many soft drinks contain a variety of ingredients, among others

• Quinine,
• caffeine  or
• phosphate

We explain what is behind the individual substances.

Quinine: bitter substance with side effects

The bitter substance quinine is used as a flavoring in some soft drinks. A certain upper limit must not be exceeded, because in high doses quinine can lead to side effects such as  headaches  and blurred vision. Such side effects usually only occur when quinine is used as a drug.

To be on the safe side, pregnant women should not consume any beverages containing quinine, as the substance may promote labor.

Caffeine and phosphate in soft drinks

Caffeine  has a stimulating effect and gets the circulation going. The stimulant can thus help to overcome minor performance lows. Anyone who takes caffeine in high doses (e.g. by taking caffeine tablets) may have physical consequences such as nervousness, headaches or  sleep disorders  .

However, such amounts are not usually ingested through caffeinated soft drinks. Children, pregnant women and people who are sensitive to caffeine should still be careful with such drinks.

Phosphate  is a mineral involved in many bodily processes. However, if there is too much phosphate in the body, it can promote bone resorption. Therefore, do not consume excessive amounts of phosphate-containing beverages. This is especially true if you suffer from kidney failure. Possibly the phosphate present in the body can then no longer be excreted in sufficient quantities.

Unhealthy Soft Drinks: Sugar Content and Calories

Many soft drinks – especially high-sugar lemonades and fizzy drinks – are unhealthy. This is primarily due to the large amount of sugar that is in the drinks. A glass of cola contains an average of nine sugar cubes – a whole liter even contains 36 sugar cubes. With so much sugar, soft drinks are of course not exactly low in calories: a liter of cola has around 430 calories – that’s about the same as a small portion of spaghetti bolognese.

Are Diet Drinks Healthier?

Diet drinks have significantly fewer calories because they contain sweeteners instead of sugar. But that doesn’t necessarily make them healthier. Studies indicate that the consumption of light soft drinks can be associated with health risks similar to those of soft drinks containing sugar. For example, a study found evidence that the daily consumption of light soft drinks can significantly increase the risk of cardiovascular disease over the long term. However, the more precise connections have not yet been explored.

Dangers of soft drinks

Unless it’s diluted juice spritzers or low-sugar lemonades, regular consumption of soft drinks is unhealthy. Due to the high sugar content, the sweet soft drinks not only make you fat, but also increase the risk of secondary diseases such as  diabetes  and cardiovascular diseases. Presumably, constant consumption also has a negative effect on our bones.

Other studies even indicate that drinking soft drinks can increase the risk of developing  cancer  . For example, drinking one soft drink a day increases the risk of prostate cancer in men by up to 40 percent. It is also assumed that the risk of  developing pancreatic cancer  increases through the consumption of soft drinks.

Make your own healthy soft drinks

Soft drinks are easy to make yourself. We present two healthy recipes:

• Healthy Lemonade: Thinly slice  an orange. Place the slices in a glass with a teaspoon of brown sugar and a sprig of rosemary and fill it halfway with ice. Then add 400 milliliters of mineral water.
• Delicious elderberry lemonade: Pour  100 milliliters of elderflower syrup into a glass and add 400 milliliters of water and the juice of one  lemon  . Then put six  raspberries  in the glass and garnish the lemonade with a sprig of lemon balm.