Soft drinks branded ‘evil’ in new study

We are all drinking far more soft drinks than we used to, according to a new study undertaken by Bangor University. Many of us are now having one to two cans a day and as reported in last weeks article on Medical Specialists News; we are increasingly using sports drinks such as Lucozade whilst engaging in sports activities or visiting the gym. In fact, it is no surprise to learn that our consumption of soft drinks has more than doubled since 1985 from 10 gallons per person a year to more than 25 gallons.

Now we all know that soft drinks aren’t necessarily good for you but could they be more dangerous than we thought and in many more ways than we thought. In fact, are they that dangerous that they should carry a health warning?

That may sound a little alarming but not to Dr Hans-Peter Kubis, the man behind the Bangor University study. Dr Kubis stated, “Having seen all the medical evidence, I don’t touch soft drinks now; I think drinks with added sugar are frankly evil.”

Even moderate consumption of one can a day or just two a week may alter our metabolism so that we pile on weight. The research at Bangor University and also published in the European Journal of nutrition reported that soft drinks actually alter our metabolism so that our muscles use sugar for energy instead of burning fat. It seems that exposure to liquid sugar not only results in weight gain but that it also changes our metabolism and genes within our muscles perhaps permanently, leaving us less able to cope with rises in blood sugar. This in turn increases the risk of type 2 diabetes.

This research into soft drinks carried out at Bangor University is nothing new; in fact it is one in a long line of studies that have looked into the dangers of soft drinks. A study in March published in the American Heart Association’s journal, warned that men who drank one standard 12 oz can of sweetened beverage a day have a 20% higher risk of heart disease.

Perhaps most disturbing is the effect these sugary drinks are having on children. Four years ago, researchers at University College London’s Health Behaviour Research Centre, discovered a powerful and lucrative effect that sugary soft drinks have on youngsters. The study of 346 children aged around 11, found drinking soft drinks makes them want to drink more often even when they’re not actually thirsty and that their preference is for more sugary drinks.

Perhaps Dr Kubis highlighted the extent of the problem when acknowledging that he needed to do a much larger trial. His main problem was that he had difficulty in finding young people who had not previously been exposed to a lot of soft drinks.

High intake of alcohol mixed with energy drinks can lead to unsafe sex

Energy drinks such as Monster or Red Bull have long been a staple in the diet of many young people, especially students. Either as a quick ‘pick-me-up’, or used as a mixer with spirits such as Vodka, it seems their demand is as high as ever.

However, a new study to emerge from the University of Buffalo, has seemingly found that the increase in casual and risky sex (i.e. without the use of a condom or other contraception), could possibly be connected to the high consumption of caffeinated energy drinks that are being mixed with alcohol.

Study author Kathleen E. Miller was inspired to conduct some research after noting the rather blasé ‘hook-up’ culture on numerous college sites across America, with many students indulging in casual sex with multiple partners. Also she had witnessed a 16-year family friend break out in sudden shakes and jitters due to an excessive Red Bull consumption.

For her study, Miller enlisted 648 subjects from introductory-level courses at at unnamed public university. The age span of participants ranged from 18 to 40 years of age, but 60% of the 648 people were under the age of 21, and 47.5% of the total subjects were comprised of women.
The study’s results have been published in the print edition of Journal of Caffeine Research. Some of the key findings were that 29.3% said they had consumed energy drinks in the previous month, and at the most latest sexual encounter, 45.1% reported it was ‘casual’, 24.8% admitted to being drunk and 43.6% revealed they had not bothered to use a condom.

This irresponsible attitude amongst drinkers is a dangerous trend that shows no sign of improving. They will be putting themselves at risk of catching a sexually transmitted infection (STI) such as Chlamydia, which is one of the most common sexually transmitted infections, with 186,753 people in England testing positive for this during 2010. Up to 70% of people do not experience any symptoms of infection and it can cause infertility in both men and women. The only way of checking if you have a chlamydia infection is to take a chlamydia test such as the Clamelle test kit, available from just £24.85 at Medical Specialists Pharmacy.

Genital herpes is another common STI, highly prevalent in people aged between 20 to 24 years. In 2008, it was reported that roughly 29,000 people attended a sexual health clinic in the UK with a first clinical attack of genital herpes. An effective medication for this is Valtrex, which is an antiviral drug that contains valaciclovir. It slows the growth and spread of the herpes virus so that the body can fight off the infection.

Miller commented on the results from her study, saying, “Mixing energy drinks with alcohol can lead to unintentional over drinking, because the caffeine makes it harder to assess your own level of intoxication. AmEDs (energy drinks) have stronger priming effects than alcohol alone. In other words, they increase the craving for another drink, so that you end up drinking more overall.”

She further added that while mixing AmEDs and alcohol will not necessarily lead to casual sexual encounters, it does increase the chances of them occurring. But there was some good news to counter the bad. Miller continued, “Regardless of their AmED use, participants in the study were more likely to use a condom during sex with a casual partner than during sex with a steady partner, consistent with previous research.”

Sports drinks are good for you, truth or myth?

Sports drinks such as Lucozade, Powerade and Gatorade that claim to increase energy levels and to help you exercise better have been called into question by researchers from Oxford and Harvard Universities.

They warn that rather than being beneficial to our health, such drinks contain large amounts of sugar and calories which encourage weight gain. They also go on to accuse these companies of convincing gym-goers that they are on the verge of dehydration, and that the human thirst mechanism is not a reliable indicator for detecting and responding to dehydration.

The sports drinks market rose 10% in Britain last year to £1 billion and it is little wonder because such marketing giants as Coca-Cola, GlaxoSmithKline and Pepsico are behind these products.

This has seen them using athletes and footballers such as Wayne Rooney, Alan Shearer and Daley Thompson to endorse their products. On top of this an investigation by the British Medical Journal has found that these companies use sponsored scientists who have gone on to develop a whole area of science dedicated to hydration. These same scientists advise influential sports medicine organisations.

The advice from these organisations has filtered down to everyday health advice and has spread fear about the dangers of dehydration. The researchers warned that despite such claims there is a worrying lack of evidence to support most of these claims.

A spokesman for GlaxoSmithKline, the makers of Lucozade, said: “more than 40 years of research and 85 peer reviewed studies have supported the development of Lucozade sport and all our claims are based on scientific evidence that has been reviewed by the European Food Safety Authority”.

Likewise Coca-Cola, who makes Powerade, said sports drinks have a wealth of scientific research that can be relied on.