Soft Drinks and Alcohol
Soft drinks and alcohol have several things in common which relate to their effect on health and nutrition. One of the biggest factors of these two drinks is their extraordinary lack of nutritional value. Both contain ‘empty calories’ – calories that have no protein, fat, vitamins/minerals or ‘good’ carbohydrates that will likely only contribute to an increase in fat deposits.
On top of this, the excess of consumption of soft drinks has been associated with obesity, type 2 diabetes, reduced bone mineral density and dental erosion/decay. Excess consumption of alcohol has been proven to alter liver metabolism and increase the risk of pancreatitis and some cancers
Of course these drinks can still be consumed in moderation with little risk of adverse effects. The problem arises when these drinks are taken in excess and become a daily habit. Soft drinks generally contain approximately 300 calories per 600ml and are packed full of high GI sugar therefore help you to pack on the pounds. Giving up soft drinks is going to go a long way to help you lose weight.
Most alcohol in itself does not contain carbohydrates (apart from beer which contains approximately 10g per stubby) but generally contains between 70 to 100 calories per standard drink. Alcohol is truly empty calories. Alcohol surprisingly is the first substance burnt by the body (before carbs, protein or fat), the problem is that the other sorts of calories you consume (i.e. carbs, protein or fat) don’t have time to be burnt so are stored as fat instead.