A few years ago, the health nazis in this country decided that carbonated soft drinks like Coke and Pepsi were bad for children, and were contributing to obesity and health problems like diabetes and heart problems. They have even suggested that these soft drinks should be taxed at a high rate to discourage their use.
This caused many parents to switch their children from soft drinks to fruit juices. After all, the juices are "natural" and possibly even "organic" (two of the most misused and meaningless words in the English language). The thinking was that these natural juices must be healthier than soft drinks.
Now we learn that might not be true at all. Doctors and health officials now say the juices may actually be less healthy and contribute to the same health problems. It seems that the juices have just as much sugar as the soft drinks, and have even more calories.
Here are the figures for popular juices and soft drinks:
Orange juice...............112 calories
Apple juice...............114 calories
Grape juice...............152 calories
Coke...............97 calories
Pepsi...............100 calories
Now the same people who demonized soft drinks are trying to do the same to juices. At this rate, it won't be long before they restrict our children to nothing but water (and then they'll probably try to find something wrong with that).
I think the so-called health officials are looking at the problem the wrong way. They want us to believe there are good and bad foods, but I'm not at all sure I believe that. The problem is not what you consume (as long as you get the minimum requirement of vitamins and minerals), but how much is consumed.
For example, look at the French diet. It is very high in fats and sugar and other things our health officials say are bad, and yet that don't have near the obesity and health problems. Why? Because they consume these things in moderation. They don't feel like they need two or three portions of something just because it tastes good, while here in America we supersize it and then ask for more.
The point is that neither juices or soft drinks are inherently bad for children or anyone else, as long as they are consumed in moderation. Eat what you want to eat -- just don't be a pig about it.
The problem is the corn syrup (fructose) that's in soda. The body doesn't know what the hell to do with it, so it's immediately stored as fat. And it does interfere with the pancreatic system, which leads to diabetes. Not to mention that soda is so extremely sweet that the companies put an additive in there to keep you from puking it right back up. And my husband went to a bottling plant a few years ago and was told that the cans have a special lining to keep the soda from eating through it.
ReplyDeleteThis is not necessarily a comment on the legislative aspect, just that soda doesn't have anything redeeming about it - unlike all that delicious French food.
I gave up soda a while ago and my stomach thanks me.
The fruit juices also contain fructose, according to the article liked to in my post.
ReplyDeletePersonally I think soft drinks were better when made with cane sugar (as Dublin Dr Pepper still is). But that was not possible once we decided to make an enemy of Cuba.
I still think soft drinks are OK taken in moderation. The problem seems to be that Americans seem incapable of doing anything in moderation.
There ya go. If it was cane sugar, then it wouldn't be a problem. I think some of the Mexican sodas are made with sugar. Us being in Texas, you can find them in the regular grocery store.
ReplyDeleteAs for juice, it's much better to eat the actual piece of fruit.