sugary

One of the keys to keeping your brain nice and plump and in proper working order is avoiding soda – and not just the sugar-sweetened kind, either. Drinking sodas, whether regular or diet, is bad for brain health, 2 recent studies show. [1]
One study showed that people who drank diet soda every day were three times more likely to have a stroke or develop dementia over 10 years compared with those who didn’t consume any diet soda.

Doctors, researchers, and health officials have been telling the public to cut back on soda consumption for years, and it appears that people have been listening. Soda no longer tops the list of Americans’ favorite beverages; it has been replaced by bottled water.

Howard County, Maryland managed to cut soda sales by 20% and fruit drink sales by 15% between January 2013 and December 2015 without levying a soda tax. The county’s methods could serve as a blueprint for other areas of the country that wish to do the same. [1]

When the soda industry funds studies into the health risks associated with consuming its products, soda always comes out looking rosy, according to researchers at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF).
 

You might love the idea of a soda tax or hate it, but for better or worse, the tax is being instituted around the country. A new analysis released by researchers at UC Berkeley shows that Berkeley’s soda tax seems to be working
Kristine Madsen and her colleagues surveyed people in low-income communities before and after the tax was voted for in 2014, making Berkeley the first California city to impose a 1 cent-per-ounce tax on sugary drinks. [1]
Madsen said:

Noting how much Americans love their sugary drinks, Virginia Tech took to studying the health-compromising beverages. What the researchers found was that cutting out just one sugary drink per day can give you a noticeable overall health boost.
The study shows that extra calories coming from these highly sweetened drinks can be a big risk factor for obesity and type 2 diabetes, as many of us probably realize. Cutting out just one per day reduces the amount of calories ingested from added sugars, making more room for more healthful drinks, like water.

Next week, the Baltimore City Council will consider a bill that will require warning labels on sugary drinks similar to those found on tobacco products. If the bill passes, it would make Baltimore the first East Coast city to require such a warning.
Source: NPR
The council held an official meeting on Tuesday where members discussed the bill, which would require warning labels on not just sugary beverages, but also advertisements, restaurant menus, and at the point of sale where sugary products are sold.

This won’t come as a surprise to most readers, but…sugar is bad for you. But if you think drinking diet soda will keep you from gaining weight and becoming diabetic, think again.
A new study published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) shows that people don’t have to be overweight to develop Type 2 diabetes. Just chugging a single sugary drink ups the risk of the disease in even lean individuals. [1]

Empty calories are a healthy person’s nemesis. With so many tasty and nutritious beverages in the world, why would anyone want to waste calories (and money) on sugary, health-compromising sodas when there are so many alternatives? Coconut water has been trending for years now, but there’s a new healthy beverage on the rise: cactus water.
Just like coconut water, cactus water made from prickly pear cactus has multiple health benefits: