The 7 Most Sugar Filled Drinks

I gave up even diet soda for Lent this year. (40 days). I lost three pounds.. Between the carbonation and chemicals in packaged beverages, water is really the best drink for our body. I even now try to avoid the flavored waters.

TheMorbidMe said:
It is amazing to see how our kids just pop those cans as if it where water... [...]

Huh ... just where are our kids getting these drinks? Mom and Dad allowing and buying?

If you really want to lose weight, begin drinking a mixture of 1 part water & 3 parts sweetened Koolade. Gradually decrease Koolade & increase water, a little at a time until you're only drinking water (or until it's BARELY flavored with water). Eat ANY TIME YOU FEEL A LITTLE HUNGER PANG but get FULL on vegetables or anything without calories. For "dessert", eat as much Jello with fresh berries as you can eat. This works !!!

I actually only drink one drink on the list, Fanta Orange. That is the only soda or sugar filled beverage I drink, except for green tea. Water is 10X better and you can add low-cal flavors to water to give it a little taste if it's too boring. I like crystal light and they are only 5-10 cals per serving. You can't beat that! ( :

No offence, but a lot of the "research" demonizing high fructose corn syrup assumes that you don't know the difference between HFCS and pure fructose. The composition of HFCS is about the same as table sugar- the HFCS in soda is about 55% fructose and 45% glucose. From junkfoodscience.blogspot.com

"Some don’t believe we should eat anything made by Big Food, so they’ve embraced fructose mythology by very carefully choosing their words and designing their studies so that you’ll think their findings for fructose are referring to HFCS. Their studies use pure fructose or inordinately high percentages of fructose sweeteners — up to 30% of calories, which is three to four times the amount in our daily diets! — to suggest something ominous. But we never eat fructose that way. “Fructose is always found in about a 50% ratio to glucose,” explained John S. White, Ph.D., a fructose researcher with White Technical Research Group, Argenta, IL. “The percentage is what’s important, not the total amount of fructose in grams. The sugars have a buffering effect on one another and don’t act independently. You don’t see malabsorption problems unless you study unrealistic percentages of fructose, [problems] which disappear at around a 50% intake.” And in fact, no studies on HFCS as normally consumed, just like other sweeteners, has shown it’s harmful. "

Splenda is an indegestible molecule. Sucralose- the product of the reaction between sucrose and chlorine ions- mimicks the shape of a disaccharide. It is not broken down by the body, and is disposed of in the usual way.

Being a type 2 diabetic I need to count carbs. I am supposed to have about 45 carbs per meal and 15 carbs in snacks three times a day. One can of soda has the carbs of one meal for me. I drink one can of diet soda a day. If I am going to have bad carbs I will have them in the form of chocolate. I have always preferred whole fruit over juice and only took up diet sodas after my diabetes eliminated my daily gin and tonic.

Amanda said:
Er, actually, according to the math, it would be around 20 teaspoons[...]
Then Jim said:
I'm sorry :-( Hard to believe that math was my best subject. Yet another late night post. Anyway - at least I know you're reading it...

Well, if the numbers given are correct (85.8 grams in a can & 4 grams in a teaspoon as stated), Then the original statement that there are almost 21.5 teaspoons of sugar in a 20oz bottle of Fanta seems correct. 85.8 divided by 4 = 21.45 in my book. But the difference between "around 20" and "almost 21.5" is minor anyway. The important part being that either of those amounts is way too much sugar. My main drink is water, no ice, sometimes with a twist of lemon. Besides that I have an occasional glass of red wine and a rare cup of coffee.

Someone please tell me where I can find unsweetened cranberry juice.

Bralee, I was truly addicted to caffiene two years ago. I would have a Dr.Pepper during lunch,dinner,a snack,and in the middle of the night sometimes twice. If I went a few hours withou it I would crave it so bad that when I would finally drink it, each end of my mouth would uncontrollably turn downwards for a few seconds. Over one year I went from 130 to 155lbs and my kidneys began to hurt. I was never a big eater nor a sweet eater so I knew that it was the sodas. It was hard but I had to phase out the sodas by drinking diet(which gave me headaches)then I eased to flavor water,and now plain water and I only drink flavor water with my dinner. Now I am 133lbs after a year away from sodas. I suggest that you phase the Dew gradually out of your daily consumption.

Anne- I was in sav-a-center the other day and I found a rather large bottle of cranberry juice concentrate(it was oceanspray brand), but it said 100% all natural unsweetened cranberry juice.It was almost six dollars for the bottle. I believe I saw it in an health food store a couple of months ago too, not sure which one though.

Regarding the dangers of artificial sweeteners:
No data? Not true! I was a guinnea pig. I used to eat some form of artifical sweetener on a daily basis back in 2003 (although not in a drink)
Then, I had routine blood tests that revealed a high levels of toxicity in my liver. My doctor said, "No problem, almost everyone has that, even I do."
I didn't buy it. I went off artificial sweeteners. It was the ONLY change I made. Three months later, I had new blood tests and my "bilirubin" was completely normal. Artificial sweeteners are TOXIC.

Unsweetened cranberry juice: I find it at Mother's Market (in California) and at Whole Foods (nationwide).
It doesn't taste very good, which just goes to show how much sugar is in the other kind.

The Faddist said:
Graham,[ Spare us the rhetoric. We've already had the "diet soda will give you cancer" discussion a few threads back and your side didn't fare so well because... well, because there's no facts behind your side.

Sugar isn't inherently evil, and aspartame has no ill effects. The "greedy" big businesses don't want you sick or dead, they want you alive so you can buy more of their product so they can make more money. That's a side of corporate greed you seldom hear about.]

Um, like the cigarette companies want us alive; in other words, to the extent that we can buy their products, of course. I agree that there is no evidence that saccharine causes cancer in people, but aspertame does cause problems in sufficient amounts. It certainly did in me! I recommend reading this article, especially the part titled "Dangers in Aspertame" half way down the page. Personally, I prefer Splenda (Sucralose) or plain old saccharine (Sweet n' Low). And one regular soft drink a day can add 10 pounds a year to your weight according to studies. Multiply that by whatever.

Oops. Here's the link I left out:

http://www.womentowomen.com/nutritionandweightloss/splenda.asp

Thanks ex-caffadict. We don't have sav-a-center where I am but I can check the heath food stores. I have already checked the normal grocery stores. A couple of years ago recurring UTI's are what got me started on drinking primarily water. I was practicallly living on antibiotics. Of course one of the Dr's recommendations was to drink cranberry juice, but because of the calories I didn't do it. He also said I needed to empty my bladder at least every 2 hrs and to drink at least 2 qts water/day. With that much water, I didn't have room for much else. So I got used to nothing but water and am quite happy with that now.

Bralee....caffeine withdrawal absolutely causes headaches. Many years ago I used to drink coffee regularly, but only 1 cup per day. When I stopped drinking it, I absolutely had the headaches. I had been warned by a friend that the headaches would come, but that they would pass in time and they did. Since I got those headaches even though I was only a 1 cup/day person, I can imagine what you must have had.

Laura, clinical laboratory work was my profession for over 30 years. I have never seen artificial sweeteners cause an elevated bilirubin test. In my laboratory we used to test ourselves frequently for all sorts of things. There were several HEAVY diet soda drinkers in the group and none of them EVER had an elevated bilirubin test. A "high level of toxicity" revealed by a blood test is NOT something that "almost everybody has" as your Dr stated. SMALL elevations can sometimes mean nothing, but a high elevation is something else. If you really had a high level showing, I don't believe it could have been from artificial sweeteners. The laboratory could have made an error (it does happen unfortunately) or maybe someone used the wrong description for your result. Laboratory results also fluctuate just by the nature of the way the tests are done. The exact same blood sample can give different results on different runs. But they usually are in the same range. You could have had a result that was slightly elevated that on a second run might have shown a high normal result.

Also maybe your body reacts different from the norm to artificial sweetener. If you really changed nothing else in your life (alcohol, etc, consumption for example) then I would question the accuracy of that blood test if in fact it showed a "high level of toxicity". From my experience in testing my lab cohorts, those who had been partying heavy would sometimes show elevated bilirubin tests (they were not the heavy diet soda drinkers). Please don't think that I'm assuming that's what you were doing. I'm just trying to give as much info as possible.

Thanks for the info on unsweetened cranberry juice. I figured it wouldn't taste very good, but I would add Splenda (toxicity issue aside) to it. Believe it or not, I like to eat raw cranberries and would do that if I could find them all year long.

I drink neither regular sodas or diet sodas. Water , and, admttedly, wine are my beverages of choice, but oh my G-d! Those stats are amazing. No wonder we have so many hyper kids and crazy cavity-filled adults.

Soda is not the only place you find outrageous amounts of sugar. A big gooey piece of carrot cake with icing can easily also have 20 teaspoons. And an analysis I did of Emeril's famous Banana Cream Pie clocked in at over 1000 calories and 105 grams of carb ~ most from sugar!
My clients try to cut back and when they really need the sweet thing use sugar subs.

Marlene Koch RD and author of low-sugar cookbooks
www.marlenekoch.com

I bought some Lipton Green Tea, thinking it would be a good alternative, and I was shocked. One 16.9fl.oz bottle
(the same size as a bottle of water) has, according to the label, 21g of sugar PER serving and supposedly there are two servings per bottle....that is 42g!! Who drinks only half a bottle!!?? Needless to say, I'm sticking to my water.

on oprah she had her doctor on there one day and he said that over time artificial sweeteners cause anal leakage and that regular sugar is better for us because its natural.im not sure what anal leakage is but im sure i dont want any of that going on.

Anal leakage is when undigestible liquids or dissolved food products "leak" out of the anus. That was the problem with Olean. I'm pretty sure it can happen with natural liquid undigestibles too. I mean, that's what happens with solid undigestibles, lol!

I am still drinking orange soda because I love it. Even though it has the most, I still love it

I am so glad that i never drank any of the drinks mentioned, the only one i did drink once was sunkist cause i wanted to see what the big thing about it was, and it was nothing. At one time for 1 year i stopped drinking soda altogether, and drank nothing but water and wala, i lost over 10 pounds maybe a little more. Drink Healthy live longer love longer...................

oh i also heard that diet sodas are worse for u than regualar soda. so u figure it out. allllll sugar even the fake sugar will kill ya

yes we all no how bad these drinks are and how much sugar is in them.I have a three year old and i dont allow him to drown his body with these drinks.on the other hand i enjoy starbucks and soda almost everyday and im 5"7 and 130 pounds.those are the only empty calories i allow in my system.so it shouldnt matter whats on the label as much as the responsibility of the person who is buying these things.just like cigarettes and booze its not the product its the people who chose use these products and how they use them.

All this info seems to coincide with the statistics that we Americans are getting sicker from our habits of over-abundance of sugar, chemicals, fats in our foods and drinks. We keep hearing about the rise in diabetes, cancer, ADHD, autism, etc, etc. It is time for all of us to wake up and go to natural and organic products, and let the corporate giants know that we are aware of what they are doing to us and put the pressure on them. Their love of money is making us sick, but we DO HAVE A CHOICE, so speak up and let them know we will no longer give them their almighty dollar at the cost of our health. So squosh your own lemons and make lemonade yourself, or put your own sugar in your iced tea, make your own shakes at home or juice your own fruit. You are at their mercy drinking what they put in your food and drinks! Do the Amish kids have all these problems? Probably not, but I have not seen any studies on them. Marilu Henner, actress, said sugar is "kiddie cocaine." Thanks for reading my blog.

So, does anybody have any idea how much sugar McD's sweet tea has in it? I stay away from soda but think i am getting hooked on these. Somebody told me once some unbelievable amount, like a pound for a couple of gallons, but if that were true it would be too syrupy to drink. If anybody knows please email me at vmk0407@aol.com

I quit drinking diet drinks over five years ago. I now only drink water, Fruit 20 and Crystal Light and that is it!

The diet products and drinks especially have harmful chemicals,so why do people avoid talking about them. diet pop is the worst thing to drink and decaf coffee.

SODA, JUICE, AND DIET SODA IS BAD: WATER, GREEN TEA, ORGANIC MILK, OR GOOD BOTTLE OF VINO ROSSO IS GOOD.

Did you seriously just say "wala"?

I know, I know, this isn't Grammar Blog".

Angie said:
I am so glad that i never drank any of the drinks mentioned, the only one i did drink once was sunkist cause i wanted to see what the big thing about it was, and it was nothing. At one time for 1 year i stopped drinking soda altogether, and drank nothing but water and wala, i lost over 10 pounds maybe a little more. Drink Healthy live longer love l[...]

any drink that has carbonation in it is bad. It causes dehydration and ionizes the blood. ALL artificial sweeteners are bad. Read the book "EXCITOTOXINS: The Taste That Kills" by Russell L. Blaylock. Equal (aspartame) is one of the most toxic artificial sweeteners out there. Splenda is right behind it. Of all the artificial sweeteners, saccarin aka: Sweet N Low, is the least toxic, but it is still not safe to consume. If you need sweeteners in your drinks, but don't want calories and want something safe, try STEVIA. It is all natural and has no calories.

So, what ever happened to "Bolt", twice the sugar,twice the caffine.

I have noticed when I drink very sugary drinks they never satisfy me. Sugar can be dehydrating. And to think, some people drink packs of this stuff a day!

As for cranberry juice. I like Northland. It contains no high fructose corn syrup. They sweeten it with apple juice and it is very good. Ocean Spray has also come out with a line of cranberry juices with no sugar or artificial sugar added. Both of these cranberry juices can be found in just about any grocery store. (Publix, etc) However, they do contain a lot of natural sugar, so I would drink them in moderation but they are probably a lot better than cranberry juices with added sugar.

Different Nic said:
Did you seriously just say "wala"?[...]

When I first read it, I thought, "what the heck kind of drink is 'wala'?" I only got it when you mentioned it.

http://www.snopes.com/medical/toxins/aspartame.asp

Diet soda is perfectly safe to consume. Stop believing everything you hear!

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/phenylalanine/AN01552

Also read this article re: phenylalanine...it's SAFE TO CONSUME...unless you'd like to argue with medical professionals from the MAYO CLINIC!!!

mo pie said:
And that's why you have to drink unsweetened cranberry juice if you have a UTI. Because the sugar is bad for your UTI.

I drank tons of soda also not realizing how bad it was for my teeth and other side effects too now im going thru alot of dental work partly beacause of the soda is loaded with sugar I couldent give up soda completly so I tried coke zero its FANTASTIk tastes just like the regular one but i'm cutting back on sugar by more then 70% and watching my sugar intake very closely i'm drinking low cal teas and sodas water not for the calorie concerns for the sugar concerns but remeber everything in moderation is the key from someone who has smartened up!! P.S. also if you have teeth concerns like me watch the acid intake too citrus drinks and soda P.S. splenda is fantastic too tastes great!

Would it not be a kick in the seat of our pants if it were learned that abuse of sugar disrupts the entire endocrine system and not just the pancreas. That large numbers of people are suffering addictive behaviors and emotional disruptions simply because the abuse of sugar prevented their bodies from producing the endorphins needed to fend off depression. What is the word origin of melancholy? Is the word mel Latin for honey?

Aspartame has been linked with altzheimers disease, therefore I presume sugar in moderation would be less harmful, moderation being the key.