Sugar is literally killing us: The stunning fatality rates behind our soda addiction

[marmar]

(Salon) Pop. Soda. However you call it, the beverage can mean big trouble, according to a revised estimate of a 2013 study on the negative impact of sugary drinks.

Worldwide, sugary drinks are responsible for 184,000 deaths each year, with 25,000 of those deaths in America, according to the study published in the journal Circulation. This is larger than the estimate two years ago of 180,000 deaths in the same time frame. Researchers counted deaths from diabetes, heart disease, and cancer that are linked to sweetened soda, fruit drink, sports/energy drink, and iced tea consumption. The researchers found 133,000 annual deaths happen at the hands of type 2 diabetes, 45,000 deaths are due to cardiovascular disease, and 6,450 deaths are linked to cancer.

Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian, senior author of the study and dean of Tufts University’s Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, told Live Science that this means people ought to consume less sugary beverages. Though not all humans have access to healthy foods, lowering one’s sugary drink intake can make a difference.

“Many countries in the world have a significant number of deaths occurring from a single dietary factor, sugar-sweetened beverages,” Dr. Mozaffarian said. “It should be a global priority to substantially reduce or eliminate sugar-sweetened beverages from the diet. Some population dietary changes, such as increasing fruits and vegetables, can be challenging due to agriculture, costs, storage, and other complexities. This is not complicated. There are no health benefits from sugar-sweetened beverages, and the potential impact of reducing consumption is saving tens of thousands of deaths each year.” ...............(more)

http://www.salon.com/2015/07/05/heres_how_many_deaths_sugary_drinks_cause_each_year_partner/

[pipoman]

1. I'm sorry, my incredulity is difficult to contain...

sugary drinks are responsible for 184,000 deaths each year

No, bad choices in diet are responsible. I've nevet met a soda junkie health food nut....

[Marr]

9. Yeah, I agree it's not so easy to single out soda.

We have, for the most part, truly horrendous diets in this country. People demand incredibly tasty foods, and their idea of a single portion size is about 300% too big anyway. Soda makes it very easy to consume incredible amounts of calories, but then, your average fast food/restaurant meal is a calorie-dense lump of fat and salt, even if you drink water.

[AZ Progressive]

18. There's a difference between sugary drinks and sugary food

Sugary drinks tend to have a LOT MORE sugar than sugary foods.

Source: http://www.sugarstacks.com

[pipoman]

31. My point is that the same people who overindulge in soda

Are usually washing down donuts and hohos with it for breakfast, bags of chips and other sodium bombs at lunch, and burgers and fries at dinner...bad diet choices over years lead to all sorts of health problems..it is a bit like blaming animal farts for global climate change to the exclusion of coal fired generators...imo....the tip of a very dirty iceberg...

[d_r]

53. theres no sugar in that coke

that is misleading picture, it is high fructose corn syrup

[Reter]

59. I never knew ice cream had much sugar (if any)

Thanks, I'll cut down a lot.

[thesquanderer]

19. sugary beverages are linked to type 2 diabetes

Last edited Mon Jul 6, 2015, 01:37 AM - Edit history (1)

Not sugar in general... sugary beverages. The reasoning is probably that it's not merely the amount of sugar that is the problem, but rather, consuming that much of it that fast, which really can only happen if you drink it. That's not to say that sugar in general doesn't have health consequences, but the soft drinks are pretty much the only ways you can overwhelm your system with that much sugar that quickly, and that seems to cause the most severe health impact.

Some info here:

http://www.diabetes.org/food-and-fitness/food/what-can-i-eat/understanding-carbohydrates/sugar-and-desserts.html

The Hype About Sugar

The myth that sugar causes diabetes is commonly accepted by many people. This is a complicated issue. Eating sugar has nothing to do with developing type 1 diabetes. Type 1 is caused by genetics and other unknown factors that trigger the disease.

One of the biggest risk factors for type 2 diabetes is being overweight, and a diet high in calories from any source contributes to weight gain. However, research has shown that drinking sugary drinks is linked to type 2 diabetes, and the American Diabetes Association recommends that people limit their intake of sugar-sweetened beverages to help prevent diabetes.

[jtuck004]

24. That's a little like blaming rape victims - what the sweets industry has done is an assault...

on innocent people. The motive is profit, and they really don't care how many they kill.

Big Sugar's Sweet Little Lies
How the industry kept scientists from asking: Does sugar kill?

ON A BRISK SPRING Tuesday in 1976, a pair of executives from the Sugar Association stepped up to the podium of a Chicago ballroom to accept the Oscar of the public relations world, the Silver Anvil award for excellence in "the forging of public opinion." The trade group had recently pulled off one of the greatest turnarounds in PR history. For nearly a decade, the sugar industry had been buffeted by crisis after crisis as the media and the public soured on sugar and scientists began to view it as a likely cause of obesity, diabetes, and heart disease. Industry ads claiming that eating sugar helped you lose weight had been called out by the Federal Trade Commission, and the Food and Drug Administration had launched a review of whether sugar was even safe to eat.

Consumption had declined 12 percent in just two years, and producers could see where that trend might lead. As John "JW" Tatem Jr. and Jack O'Connell Jr., the Sugar Association's president and director of public relations, posed that day with their trophies, their smiles only hinted at the coup they'd just pulled off.

Their winning campaign, crafted with the help of the prestigious public relations firm Carl Byoir & Associates, had been prompted by a poll showing that consumers had come to see sugar as fattening, and that most doctors suspected it might exacerbate, if not cause, heart disease and diabetes. With an initial annual budget of nearly $800,000 ($3.4 million today) collected from the makers of Dixie Crystals, Domino, C&H, Great Western, and other sugar brands, the association recruited a stable of medical and nutritional professionals to allay the public's fears, brought snack and beverage companies into the fold, and bankrolled scientific papers that contributed to a "highly supportive" FDA ruling, which, the Silver Anvil application boasted, made it "unlikely that sugar will be subject to legislative restriction in coming years."

The story of sugar, as Tatem told it, was one of a harmless product under attack by "opportunists dedicated to exploiting the consuming public." Over the subsequent decades, it would be transformed from what the New York Times in 1977 had deemed "a villain in disguise" into a nutrient so seemingly innocuous that even the American Heart Association and the American Diabetes Association approved it as part of a healthy diet. Research on the suspected links between sugar and chronic disease largely ground to a halt by the late 1980s, and scientists came to view such pursuits as a career dead end. So effective were the Sugar Association's efforts that, to this day, no consensus exists about sugar's potential dangers. The industry's PR campaign corresponded roughly with a significant rise in Americans' consumption of "caloric sweeteners," including table sugar (sucrose) and high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS). This increase was accompanied, in turn, by a surge in the chronic diseases increasingly linked to sugar. Since 1970, obesity rates in the United States have more than doubled, while the incidence of diabetes has more than tripled. (The chart below uses sugar "availability" numbers rather than the USDA's speculative new consumption figures.)
...

http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2012/10/sugar-industry-lies-campaign

There is a dusty book on the dusty shelves of university libraries, the Proceedings of the Commission on Industrial Relations, from back around 1912-1913. One of the people there did some back-of-a-napkin calcs on the numbers of spies,thugs, guns, bullets, clubs, elected officials and opposing union help to destroy the industrial union workers. They came up with $80 million a year. I threw that in one of those inflation calculators, got:

-> 80,000,000 of 1915 dollars would be worth: $1,860,465,116.28 in 2014

Today they still hire arm-breakers, but attorneys and bank$ter/donors and politicians are much more useful. And sometimes cheaper.

As is the case with sugar, they have had a larger negative impact without ever throwing a punch, perhaps, than any club carrying army could have ever hoped to have, and for much longer.

Business is getting more for their money these days.

[Orrex]

32. I'm replying now so that I can add a zinger after your post is hidden

Last edited Mon Jul 6, 2015, 10:36 PM - Edit history (1)

On edit: [font color="red"][font size=10]ZING![/font][/font]

[jtuck004]

43. It is difficult to free fools from the chains they revere. Voltaire

And in your case you have ignorance to overcome as well.

[LanternWaste]

51. we often rationalize our own utter stupidity as some rare form of wit.

"this kind of utter stupidity can only be born in the brain of a fucking idiot..."

Much like presuming the people who suffer from too much sodas are doing it to wash down with something else just as bad. But no doubt, we often rationalize our own utter stupidity as some rare form of wit.

Regardless of who is kidding whom.

[The2ndWheel]

36. The soda bottle openings are forced into people's mouths?

Sugar is addictive, there's no question about that. We crave it, because for most of human history, there wasn't that much of it around. Now it's mass produced, and everywhere. People buy it and drink it of their own free will though.

[LanternWaste]

52. It can be both convenient and vapid to resume there is no coercion in the free market

It can be both convenient and vapid to resume there is no coercion in the free market, as it allows the small mind to find fault with the individual rather than the system.

[Amishman]

37. no, just no

at some point people have to take a little responsibility for their own actions. I know blaming corporations for everything imaginable is the cool thing to do, but people are ultimately responsible for what they choose to put into their bodies. There are plenty of times where companies deceive customers, but sugar content is not one of them. The education is out there and the packages are accurately labeled, but some people just don't care.

[jtuck004]

48. Do you work for the sugar industry, or just sell heroin? Heroin dealers, at least, hjave morals.

The sugar industry, as shown by the above article, has purposely kept info from people, and they market to children to get them hooked early.

Btw - the best way to keep control of a plantation of slaves is to convince them that their behavior is their own fault. You seem to be a natural at this. Good work, but if I were you I would find better friends. The industry you are making excuses for is as clean as the sheets worn by the Klu Klux Klan.

People do care, and they prove it all the time when they are given the correct information. But liars, and their supporters who lie for them, keep the people dying early, for profit.

[Amishman]

56. This made me remember that absurd South Park episode parodying Rob Reiner and smoking

Accusing me of being biased for a profit, comparing me to a drug dealer, and dropping racial/slavery references! Wow, no holds barred I see.

And to borrow to example you put into my head, many people don't care and still make stupid decisions even in the face of clear information. If people tended to make rational decisions, we would not have almost 20% of our population smoking tobacco.

I do not dispute that sugar can be addictive, I'll even spot you a reputable study confirming that finding
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2235907/

I simply take issue with the poster's over the top approach and conspiracy theory seeking.

I have no connection sugar, I work for a software company.

[jtuck004]

58. Maybe you shouldn't defend killers and thieves. Not carrying water for scum sucking parasites

might let you be thought of as more upstanding.

You choose the company you keep. Feel free.

I not only wouldn't stand where you are, I need to take a shower after talking about them.

[jonno99]

61. "an assault on innocent people." You started with a faulty premise.

Therefore it's hard to take the rest of it very seriously...

[Marrah_G]

2. I think it definitely has boosted type 2 diabetes, especially people who are not obese

I am morbidly obese, but i do not drink soda except on very rare occasions and do not eat much sugar. I don't have diabetes or high cholesterol. I do have some heart issues but those stem from anemia which I am now being treated for.

[BrotherIvan]

3. This is important

People need to be told of the harmfulness of sugar consumption, especially liquid sugar and high fructose which is very toxic. It is a hard habit for people to break, but the health benefits are amazing.

[cstanleytech]

16. "especially liquid sugar and high fructose which is very toxic." And you have a reputable source

that supports that "very toxic" part of your claim or is that just purely personal opinion? Dont get me wrong, I avoid products with HFCS myself but thats just my choice because I dont like the ultra sweet taste it gives to products but I have not however seen any legitimate study that proves its "highly toxic".

[SoCalDem]

4. What gets me is how every beverage just has to be MORE

water (stupidly put into plastic bottles) just HAS to be flavored..and now apparently iced tea (also put into plastic bottles ) has to be carbonated..

[olddots]

5. hardest habit I've ever kicked

and the easiest one to get strung out on .

[cui bono]

6. "sugary" drinks actually usually have high fructose corn syrup in them which makes them worse.

Not that sugar is good. But HFCS is worse than refined sugar.

Also, don't be fooled by thinking diet sodas are better for you. In many, if not most, cases they are worse. The artificial sweeteners are bad for you, most likely they cause cancer, and studies show that they actually increase your food craving so they don't help with weight loss.

I used to drink a coke a day every afternoon, maybe 2 in a day once a week. I finally kicked the habit because I got food poisoning and couldn't eat for five days. I thought this would be the perfect time to give up cokes since I hadn't had any for days but my mind kept thinking how great it would be to crack open a can and guzzle some coke down. When I tried it again I hated it. It tasted awful. I still had a 12 pack in the house so a couple months later I tried one again and it still tasted terrible. Now I only drink sparkling water with lime in it, the kind from Trader Joe's. The carbonation still does the trick for me in the afternoons, even though there's no sugar or caffeine. (I do get caffeine from nibbling 100% cacao bar with some dried blueberries though. That's what I use to keep me off sugar as much as possible.)

[Fawke Em]

8. Was about to post something similar.

The only way to get a sugared soda is to buy the imports from Mexico. American soda has HFCS.

[cui bono]

11. Yep. There's a Mexican food place near where I used to work that gets the Mexican coke.

Tasted better, although I preferred a can and that comes in bottles. But I'm so glad I'm off of it now.

[Ino]

26. Pepsi Throwback is made with sugar, not HFCS

Or I think they're now calling it "Pepsi-Cola Made With Real Sugar"

And Fitz's uses real cane sugar in all its sodas.

[cascadiance]

45. Most Costcos carry reasonably priced cases of Mexican coke now...

Yes it does taste better.

And even those who would say that we should drink diet drinks instead of sodas with either real sugar or HFCS in it should also be concerned that the artificial sweeteners in diet drinks share the same problem that HFCS has in that injesting them doesn't send the same signals to the body that drinks or eats products made with REAL sugar that they at some point are satisfied and should stop taking in more food/drink at that point. The person may not get as much calories from diet drinks, but they get more calories from other food, as they are more likely to have to have other food send their body the signals that it is satisfied than the drink itself. Therefore even drinking diet drinks won't necessarily help people lose weight. As noted in another post, in addition to contributing to diabetes, it also doesn't help people really lose weight as it messes a lot with your metabolism in harmful ways as described here.

http://drhyman.com/blog/2013/02/15/how-diet-soda-makes-you-fat-and-other-food-and-diet-industry-secrets/

And statistics showed that more forms of diabetes started happening when the industry moved towards HFCS from regular sugar in sodas too.

[thesquanderer]

17. Right about diet sodas...

http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/health/diet-soda-drinkers-greater-risk-diabetes-study-article-1.1257846

[cstanleytech]

20. One key thing though is the part where it says

"We cannot rule out that factors other than ASB (artificially sweetened beverages)... are responsible for the association with diabetes."

Which is why I am wondering what the salt difference is if any between say a a regular can of soda vs a diet version?
Not to mention what effect does sodium itself have on the artificial sweeteners? After all some things that are relatively harmless can turn out to be very deadly if mixed like vinegar but if you mix it with bleach its not so harmless.

[thesquanderer]

21. There is no salt in coke or diet coke, don't know about others (n/t)

[cstanleytech]

23. I know they use it in diet pepsi, wonder what diet sodas the women were drinking exactly. nt

[shanti]

44. i detested diet sodas

before i was Dx'd with diabetes several years ago, and was a daily regular soda drinker. now i drink diet soda (i know, it's bad too), but i like a rum and diet coke. i imagine if i stopped drinking, the soda would stop too. mostly, i just prefer arrowhead sparkling water or plain water though, or hot tea sweetened with stevia.

it's not a good idea to drink your calories!

[thesquanderer]

46. re: "it's not a good idea to drink your calories!"

That's probably about the best advice. If the only thing people drank was water, I bet that alone would go a long way to helping people's weight management. Quenching thirst doesn't need to be a source of more calories (or, in the case of diet sodas, all kinds of other junk).

[goldent]

22. "artificial sweeteners are bad for you, most likely they cause cancer"

I'd be interested in knowing if there is anything behind this statement. There is a very large amount of diet soda being consumed, so if there is a link to cancer we should be able to find it.

[Oilwellian]

50. Donald Rumsfeld and the Strange History of Aspartame

Yes, that Donald Rumsfeld, the "knowns and unknowns" guy who remarkably executed some of the worst decisions in American foreign policy and got a medal for it. I have been reading up on this strange chapter in the history of Donald Rumsfeld and have learned two things. One, the chemical additive aspartame is very potentially a cancer and brain tumor-causing substance that has no place in our food. And two, the reasons and means by which Rumsfeld helped get it approved are nefarious at best, criminal at worst. And by the way, that medal that Rumsfeld got back in 2004 was the Presidential Medal of Freedom, also awarded to Tommy Franks, George Tenet and that charming warrior L. Paul Bremer. Evidently, "Freedom" means the right to use your powerful friends in Washington to approve your company's dangerous substance for human consumption and make a fat bonus on the way out the door. So how did aspartame become legal? And more importantly, if it had been rejected multiple times over fears of brain tumors and cancer, why?

Dr. John Olney, who founded the field of neuroscience called excitotoxicity, attempted to stop the approval of aspartame with Attorney James Turner back in 1996. The FDA's own toxicologist, Dr. Adrian Gross told Congress that without a shadow of a doubt, aspartame can cause brain tumors and brain cancer and that it violated the Delaney Amendment, which forbids putting anything in food that is known to cause cancer. According to the top doctors and researchers on this issue, aspartame causes headache, memory loss, seizures, vision loss, coma and cancer. It worsens or mimics the symptoms of such diseases and conditions as fibromyalgia, MS, lupus, ADD, diabetes, Alzheimer's, chronic fatigue and depression. Further dangers highlighted is that aspartame liberates free methyl alcohol. The resulting chronic methanol poisoning affects the dopamine system of the brain causing addiction. Methanol, or wood alcohol, constitutes one third of the aspartame molecule and is classified as a severe metabolic poison and narcotic. How's that Diet Coke treating you now?

In the peer reviewed journal, Aspartame: Methanol and the Public Health, Dr. Woodrow Monte wrote: "When diet sodas and soft drinks, sweetened with aspartame, are used to replace fluid loss during exercise and physical exertion in hot climates, the intake of methanol can exceed 250 mg/day or 32 times the Environmental Protection Agency's recommended limit of consumption for this cumulative poison." The effects of aspartame are documented by the FDA's own data. In 1995 the agency was forced, under the Freedom of Information Act, to release a list of aspartame symptoms reported by thousands of victims. From 10,000 consumer complaints, the FDA compiled a list of 92 symptoms, including death. Dr. Betty Martini, the founder of Mission Possible International, works with doctors around the world in an effort to remove aspartame from food, drinks and medicine. According to Dr. Martini, aspartame has brought more complaints to the FDA than any other additive and is responsible for 75% of such complaints to that agency. More recently, the EPA found Aspartame to be a potentially dangerous chemical along with BPA, which you've no doubt heard a lot about in the news lately. Aspartame, not so much.

Martini says NutraSweet is a "deadly neurotoxic drug masquerading as an additive. It interacts with all antidepressants, L-dopa, Coumadin, hormones, insulin, all cardiac medication, and many others. It also is a chemical hyper sensitization drug so that it interacts with vaccines, other toxins, other unsafe sweeteners like Splenda which has a chlorinated base like DDT and can cause auto immune disease. It has a synergistic and additive effect with MSG. Both being excitotoxins, the aspartic acid in aspartame, and MSG, the glutamate people were found using aspartame as the placebo for MSG studies, even before it was approved. The FDA has known this for a quarter of a century and done nothing even though its against the law."

So how does Donald Rumsfeld fit in to all this? A little history:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robbie-gennet/donald-rumsfeld-and-the-s_b_805581.html

[Amishman]

54. at normal levels studies fail to show increased cancer risk

Pretty good info at Cancer.gov

[link:http://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/causes-prevention/risk/diet/artificial-sweeteners-fact-sheet|

[TBF]

34. I think the kosher version of Coke is ok too -

For Ashkenazim — Jews of Eastern European descent — corn and corn-based products are forbidden during Passover. To satisfy the sweet tooth of Jews who strictly observe Passover, Coca-Cola substituted cane sugar for corn syrup.

[SoapBox]

7. One of my two biggest peeves in food...

Sugar and sodium levels.

I swear the junk food industry is out to kill us.

(I don't drink any soda/pop, regular or "diet".)

[lpbk2713]

10. Yes ... and nitrates and nitrites.

I try to avoid them all as best I can.

[840high]

14. You are so right.

[cui bono]

12. It is amazing what they put sugar in just to get you addicted to it.

When you start looking at the ingredients it is really surprising.

[moonbeam23]

13. My ex died in 2008 from this

He drank at least one sixpack, sometimes even more, every day for at least 20 years...if i had known how bad it was i would have fought him about it...luckily, i don't care much for the "pop slop" as my mother used to say...

[PennyK]

15. Soda, shmoda...it'sin everything

As a longtime low-carber, there is so much I've given up or now make from scratch.
Sugar in ketchup, barbecue sauce, salad dressings, even cheeses.

[Feron]

60. so much this...

Soda is an efficient way to spike your insulin quickly, but there is also an overabundance of sugar in foods that don't need sugar in them. Of course the sugar is sometimes hidden by using varying names.

I think my 'favorite' find was sugar in beef glace. Why??!!

Also beware of 'low fat' foods because they are normally full of sugar.

I think that a positive step would be to stop subsidizing foods like corn and promoting healthy foods, but I know that is a pipe dream right now.

[trinidad]

25. .

I am not originally from here, but I see a lot of boredom. People have everything they need, but it's not enough. They want more. Very unhealthy.

[Android3.14]

27. We decided to drop sodas, both sweetened and artificially sweetened.

Does that mean "sugar" stopped killing us, or does it mean that we decided to stop hurting ourselves?

184,000 deaths is pretty minor compared to other causes.

I'd be more concerned with the link between obesity and food marketing.

[Vinca]

28. My husband is not fat and has type 2 diabetes.

As far back as I can remember, he has never had sugary drinks of any kind. I know they're bad for you, but a whole lot of things don't necessarily cause type 2 diabetes. I'm convinced my husband's is genetic - like his grandma's . . . the one who lived by the sea and had a diet of mostly fish and lived to be more than 100.

[Feron]

62. Type 2 does have a genetic component, however..

it's the insulin resistance prior to developing diabetes that typically causes the weight gain associated with Type 2. Typically insulin resistance takes decades before progressing into diabetes.

However you can be thin and be insulin resistant. A carb heavy diet, even when it's limited calorie, will still cause insulin resistance. In addition, someone who is a normal weight may also have a high amount of visceral fat.

Soda and juice are exceptionally insidious sugar delivery systems because there is no fiber to buttress the effects of sugar on the body. Enough sugar and insulin spikes and you are setting yourself up for possible insulin resistance, cardiovascular damage, and fatty liver disease.

In addition high sugar damages the body, but so do high insulin levels.

[A Little Weird]

29. I've tried to quit drinking pop so many times

I always end up going back to it when I start getting stressed out about something. After realizing how addictive it is for myself, I started asking other people and they say the same thing. I see so many kids hooked on it too.

[Orrex]

33. I stopped drinking soda in October 2014

Although I made no other significant change to my diet or exercise, I lost about 25 pounds over the next three months.

I'm not preachy about it, and IMO what other people people drink/eat is none of my business, but I was amazed at the impact on my weight.

Quite striking.

[GreatGazoo]

35. Sales of soda continue to fall -- lower now than in 1995

even though the population is larger.

Sales of carbonated soft drinks slid for the tenth straight year in 2014 as Pepsi and Coca Cola each posted modest declines, according to a key industry report that showed volume has now settled to levels last seen in the mid 1990s.

http://fortune.com/2015/03/26/soda-sales-drop-2014/

The message is getting through but unfortunately the snack industry hears only a call to change their packaging, to call new soda "vitamin water" (tell me that name doesn't reek of focus group), or to lobby so that they can label HFCS as some other term.

The public wants healthier options but what they get instead is mostly a shell game.

[Dr Hobbitstein]

38. Actually, Glaceau, the company who created Vitamin Water

was originally making a better-tasting, "all-natural" Gatorade. It was made with real sugar (but it was NOT overly sweet), lots of vitamins and electrolytes, and flavored with real fruit juices. You mostly only found it in stores like Wild Oats, Whole Foods, Trader Joes, et al.
A few years back, Coca-Cola bought Glaceau, and now Vitamin Water is overly sweet, uses HFCS, artificial flavors, and it no where near as good as it used to be. And of course, you can buy it EVERYWHERE now.

[GreatGazoo]

40. You're close: Glacéau is a french sounding brand created by Energy Brands and the original product

was called "Smartwater". Smartwater was simply water and electrolytes. Smartwater has no fruit juices. The same team created Vitamin Water in 2000.

When Coke was sued in 2009 for unsubstantiated health claims related Vitamin Water advertising they threw themselves under the bus:

"In 2010, a US federal district court judge rejected Coca-Cola's motion to dismiss the suit (document here), noting that Coke's lawyers had made a remarkable argument: "At oral argument defendants suggested that no consumer could reasonably be misled into thinking vitaminwater was a healthy beverage."

http://www.motherjones.com/tom-philpott/2013/01/coca-cola-vitamin-water-obesity

[Dr Hobbitstein]

41. You're right...

My memory isn't what it used to be.

[HFRN]

39. sugar doesnt kill, people do

dont take my right to bear sugar

[MisterP]

42. the Europeans I know are always thrown when we mention that the real-sugar soda's the healthy one

http://satwcomic.com/always-watch-your-drink

[hobbit709]

47. Actual suger or HFCS. Few sodas use sugar.

[Not a Fan]

49. Ridiculous. It's something else.

It's well known that diabetics are prone to heart disease. What's the connection? Does diabetes really cause heart disease? No - it doesn't. Diabetes, along with the 159 plus other autoimmune conditions, has been linked to Vitamin D3 deficiency in a medical study from 2012. The trigger for every one of them has been determined to be VD3 sensitive.

Autoimmune Disorders linked to VD3 Deficiency

Coincidentally - Heart disease has been linked to VD3 deficiency for years (just google it and read your heart out.)

So people with diabetes don't develop heart disease because they are diabetic ... they have both diabetes and heart disease because they are VD3 deficient. The thinking behind the claim that diabetes causes heart disease is completely flawed - and stupid and short sighted. If people feel either of these causes the other - they miss the external connection. And this is seen throughout the chronic care community - not just for diabetes and heart disease.

Genetics definitely plays a role here. Nearly every cell in our bodies have Vitamin D3 receptors, but it also directly and indirectly controls over 2,000 of our genes. That is POWERFUL.

Our bodies must have this powerful and unique hormone to function properly; entire body systems depend on it. Just two of VD3's primary functions are to regulate the immune system and to regulate inflammation. Think of how intimately inflammation is connected to chronic disease. Of course we get sick without it.

How could it not be critical to our health? We were forged naked in equatorial Africa. We are designed to have strong VD3 blood serum levels.

We all know families riddled with chronic disease. For some, it's cancer, others, heart disease or diabetes, or Crohn's disease, or hypothyroidism, or Celiacs, or Major Depression - or any one of many dozens of others. THIS is where genetics plays a role. If a person is VD3 deficient - genetics will determine how that expresses.

Studies have also shown that approximately 87% of all cancers are connected to VD3 deficiency..

A study a few years back showed that you needed a minimum of 8,000 IU VD3 a day to prevent cancers.

So while some people search desperately for a reason (soda pop?) and scapegoat for the increasing numbers of people with Heart Disease, Diabetes, Cancer, Alzheimer's, Autism, multiple autoimmune disorders, Major Depression and other serious mental health conditions, and on and on and on and on ... they overlook a stunning body of research that connects all of these to Vitamin D3 deficiency.

Here's a small sample.

Stop and consider our lifestyle choices. How much time do any of us spend outside in the middle of the day? In the Chicago area, your body can only make VD3 between about 11am-2pm during the summer months. That's IT. Between October and March we can't make ANY. Heart attacks shoveling snow anyone...?

A study last month said that babies born in March were more prone to lifelong incidence of chronic disease. This is (initially) because of VD3 deficient mothers, but this is not the first study to notice this.

Previous studies show that if a child of 12 moves from Minnesota to Florida - he has an increased risk of lifelong chronic disease. The reverse is also true. A child of 12 who moves from Florida to Minnesota is at a DECREASED risk of lifelong chronic disease. Modern lifestyle choices are having an impact on even these numbers though.

Incidence of cancers, heart disease and other disorders? Numbers of new cases are always greater in the spring after our long winter deficit.

Why did Autism, Alzheimer's, and children's autoimmune disorders spike to epidemic levels beginning in the 1980's? Prior to the 1980's Autism was a rare diagnosis. Cancer incidence and Heart Disease have also spiked.

They have traced Autism to 3 specific genes that are Vitamin D sensitive.

What happened in the 1980's? A (multiple) country-wide alarm was raised about the dangers of the sun. They instituted a country wide sun-scare campaign that lasts to this day. Sunscreen blocks the production of VD3 in the skin. Being careful is one thing - no VD3 at all is a death sentence.

About 2-3 months ago - Alzheimer's was officially added to the list of chronic conditions that are known to be "Latitude Sensitive" ... which screams Vitamin D3 deficiency. This adds to the list which includes MS and Schizophrenia, among others. (Both known to be VD3 sensitive.)

In August of last year, the American Academy of Neurology put out a news release confirming that Alzheimer's was strongly linked to VD3 deficiency.

If you want to investigate this further - look for one of the many meta-analysis studies that show that higher blood serum levels VD3 are linked to lower All-Cause Mortality.

BTW - Both Autism and Schizophrenia occur when the mother is VD3 deficient prenatal. The condition can exacerbate if the mother continues to "protect" her child from the sun.

Vitamin D3 experts consider deficiency to be the most critical health concern world-wide. They estimate, depending on the country, that populations are between 80-90% deficient - with many of them chronically deficient.

Any chronic condition can be improved by increasing your VD3 levels - but the extent of improvement will depend on how serious the health condition is. The VD Council recommends slightly higher levels for cancer survivors and people with chronic diseases.

While anyone will be healthier if they maintain good blood serum levels - it takes up to four years to repair Chronic Substrate VD3 Deficiency. Start today.

Could it all really be that simple? Yes - it really is. Why haven't you heard about it before? For a variety of reasons, but short story is they don't really want you to know - and the studies are still being done and the medical community is being over cautious while they figure out how to handle the dosage aspect of VD3 - because it can vary radically from person to person.

But there is enough good information to get started years ago - Some physicians are complicit in our chronic health epidemic and others are beginning to call them out on their complicity. For instance - the dermatology community and their sun-scare tactics. But there are others.

Do yourself a favor - to spite the pharmaceuticals (which are working on synthesized versions of VD3 to sell to us for insane amounts of money) - reclaim your health by monitoring your blood serum levels VD3.

If anyone wants recommendations, I will tell you what the experts recommend.

It's NOT soda pop that's killing us.

[RebelOne]

55. I never drink sodas or even fruit juices.

I only drink vegetable juice such as V-8, and I always buy sugar-free ice cream. The only sweetener I use is Splenda. I try to restrict sugar in my diet because all relatives on my mother's side have had type II diabetes. I am 76 years old and do not yet have it, but I have been told by doctors that I am pre-diabetic.

[cwydro]

57. I thank my lucky stars that my mother never allowed soda in the house when

I was growing up.

A coke at a friend's house was a real treat.

But I never developed the taste for soda. Never drink the stuff.

Wish I could say the same for alcoholic beverages lol!