What is a soda? Actually it is bubbly chemical blend of artificial flavors and colors mixed with sugar. How could that be healthy? Well it's not. It causes heart attacks. How many are you going to have today?

Actually you could make your own healthy 'soda' just by getting some carbonated water and squeezing in some lemon or lime or other natural flavor.

Soda Consumption Tied to Heart Attacks

NaturalSociety
March 13, 2012

sodaorange2 220x137 Soda Consumption Tied to Increased Coronary Heart Disease Risk

Proving once again that soda consumption leads to a massive decline in health, recent research gives people just one more reason to stay away from the sugar-laden beverages. The recent study shows how consuming only one soda or sugar-sweetened beverage per day can result in a 20 percent increased risk of coronary heart disease in men.

Heart Disease Risk Increased by 20 Percent from Soda Consumption

For 22 years, researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health tracked approximately 43,000 individuals, including dentists, pharmacists, physicians, veterinarians, and other health professionals ages 40 to 75. During this time, the participating men filled out surveys telling of their diet and other health habits. Blood samples were also collected by the researchers from over 18,000 men.

The blood sample tests showed that individuals consuming sugary beverages very often had higher higher levels of dangerous blood fats known as triglycerides and proteins linking to heart disease. The research, published in the American Heart Association’s journal Circulation,found that 12 ounces of sugar drinks such as soda, fruit drinks, or other beverages with added sugar rose the risk of heart disease by 20 percent. Heart disease risk increased with each additional sugary beverage consumed.

This research comes shortly after soft drink giants Coca-Cola and Pepsi Co. took action in removing a carcinogenic ingredient from their soft drink formulas, still insisting that the cancer-linked substance was ‘safe’. Consumer watchdog group Center for Sciences in the Public Interest has been urging the Food and Drug Administration for quite some time to ban the use of the carcinogenic ingredient used as caramel coloring, but it wasn’t until very recently the soft drink giants decided to remove it. The removal, however, wasn’t initiated to protect consumers from the harmful nature of the substances, but rather to avoid being slapped with a cancer warning label.

Needless to say, the health risks soft drinks pose to your health is not limited to coronary heart disease or the carcinogenic nature of the recently removed caramel coloring. These beverages are packed with cancer-inducing sugars, often in the form of high-fructose corn syrup, and contribute to countless health complications. With the consumption of sugary beverages comes an increased risk of diabetes, obesity, pancreatic cancer, metabolic syndrome, and DNA damage, to name a few.