Name: AroojKhalil
Raising awareness on Health harms of
Sugar Sweetened Beverages
What are sugar sweetened beverages:
These are drinks which are made by quite a number forms of introduced sugar like brown sugar, raw sugar, high fructose corn syrup.
Types of sugar sweetened beverages:
It consist offlavoured juice, energy drinks, non-diet soft drinks, sports drink etc.
Why people like them:
The principal elements of sugar sweetened beverages are sugar and caffeine which have addictive properties that’s why people get addicted to it. In addition, beverage companies spend billions in marketing of sugary drinks. As seeing so much marketing of a product, people truly wants to try it. After having 1 to 2 tries, people enjoy it. So, it is much possible to like them.
Impact on Human health:
So, drinking high amounts of sugar sweetened beverages can lead to various adverse health effect. Eating too much sugar can restrict your immune system cells that attack bacteria.It can vary from enamel decay to higher threat of coronary heart diseases & much more serious. Sugar sweetened beverages fall at the bottom in the list of health beverages. They provide so much calories but literally no other nutrients. So estimate from it how much they are serious to your health.
Link with Non Communicable Diseases:
Drinking sugar sweetened beverages can lead to obesity, type 2 diabetes, heart diseases, kidney diseases, type of arthritis, tooth decay & more. The calories provided by sugar sweetened beverageshave low nutritional value anddoes no longer grant the feeling of fullness. As a result, total energy intake increase which can lead to unhealthy weight gain. Ingesting too many sweetened drinks means that the body stores excess energy in the form of fat, so, drinking too much soda can play a part in the development of overweight and obesity. Research has shown that being overweight and obese whichis a risk factor of type 2 diabetesand other conditions.
What are Non-communicable diseases:
According to WHO Noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), also known as chronic diseases, having a long duration and are the result of a combination of genetic, physiological, environmental and behavioural factors.
The main type of non-communicable diseases are cardiovascular diseases such as heart attacks and stroke, cancer, chronic respiratory diseases such as asthma and diabetes. NCDs mostly affect people in low and middle income countries where more than three quarters of global NCD deaths – 31.4 million occur.
Unhealthy diets and a lack of physical activity may show upin people as raised blood pressure, increased blood glucose, elevated blood lipids and obesity. These are called metabolic risk factorsthat can lead to cardiovascular disease, the leading Non-communicable disease in terms of premature death.
Symptoms of having too much sugar:
- Blurred vision
- Thirst
- Headaches
- Fatigue
- Frequently peeing
- Trouble in concentration
- Slow healing cuts
- Stomach and intestinal problems
- Vaginal and skin infections.
Effects of Sugar Sweetened Beverages:
- Large amounts of sugar are turned into fat in liver.
- High sugar consumption leads to weight gain mainly belly fat accumulation.
- Excess intake may lead to insulin resistance which is the main feature of metabolic syndrome.
- Leading dietary cause of metabolic syndrome.
- High sugary intake cause leptin resistance. Leptin is a hormone which is produced by body fat cell causing the number of calories you eat and burn.
- Sugary drinks have strong effect on our brain, which may lead to addiction.
- The sugar and acids present in sweetened beverages are a failure for dental health.
- Awfully increased the risk of gout, a condition which cause inflammation and pain in joints.
- Also increase the risk of dementia, which is dropin brain functions.
- As discussed earlier, it lead to high risk of cancer and heart diseases.
Mitigation plan:
Cutting back on sugary drinks, When it comes to our health, it’s clear that sugary drinks should be avoided. There is a range of healthier beverages that can be consumed in their place, with water being the top option. Give a try to homemade unsweetened smoothies.
Warning label should be labelled on the sugar sweetened beverages which should state that it’s consumption lead to serious health problems. In sense, the people which really are health conscious and may suffering from any disease can trigger it.
Beverage manufacturers should make beverages with less sugar, they can make it easier for everyone to drink more healthful beverages that are less sweet. They should reduce the amount of sugar step by step so that the consumers will also get satisfaction with time.
People should make healthy drinking their personal priority, by having awareness on sugar sweetened beverages people get to know that they were doing very wrong with themselves. In that case, they have to some healthy choices for them which may be green tea, low fat milk etc.
Don’t stock sugary drinks at home, Nationwide data show that children and teens drink most of their sugary calories at home, so parents can help kids by not stocking soda, or other sugary drinks in the house and making them to have them as an occasional treat rather than a daily beverage.
Government should apply high taxes on sugar sweetened beverages. Since sugar beverages carry no nutritional value and pose health risks to a consumer, many public health advocates have argued that it is logical to tax them like cigarettes and alcohol. So increasing the tax will make people to not buy them because of much cost or buying very less just to meet their satisfaction.
Government should make a policy for the awareness on the effects of sugar sweetened beverages. Health professionals should come who educate the public on it through seminars, face to face, television, internet or other media, which is an important strategy in reducing the consumption.
Limit the production of sugar sweetened beverages, will be helpful because when there is less or no product, then the consumer will also not buy it or buy it less.
Reference:
https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/healthy-drinks/beverages-public-health-concerns/
https://www.chronicle.co.zw/consume-little-sugar-fatty-foods/amp/
https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/liquid-sugar-calories#blood-sugar