Dental Tips: Rethink Your Sugary Drink

Drinking beverages high in sugars and acids not only affect your oral health. Aside from tooth decay and cavities.

SSB or sugar-sweetened beverages can also result in other health risks such as obesity, diabetes and heart disease.

Sugar-sweetened beverages (SSB), also known as sugary beverages, are drinks with added sugar. They are high in kilojoules, which can lead to weight gain and obesity.

If you’re not burning kilojoules off, you can increase your risk of type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and some cancers.

So, how much sugar is in your favourite thirst-quenchers?

Soft Drinks
Coca-Cola (355 ml can) – 39 grams
Mountain Dew (355 ml can) – 47 grams

Energy Drinks
Rockstar Energy Drink (473 ml can) – 62 grams
Red Bull Energy Drink (245 ml can) – 27 grams

Fountain Drinks
7-Eleven Coca-Cola Big Gulp – 91 grams
7-Eleven Coca-Cola Super Big Gulp – 146 grams

Juice Drinks
Golden Circle Tropical Fruit (591 ml bottle) – 70 grams
Snapple Lemon Iced Tea (473 ml bottle) – 46 grams
Daily Juice Orange (591 ml bottle) – 48 grams

Milk Drinks
Nesquik Chocolate Milk (473 ml bottle) – 58 grams
Vita Soy Milk (240 ml) – 18 grams

Alcoholic Drink
Mike’s Hard Lemonade (330 ml bottle) – 30 grams

Pay attention to what you drink. Pick healthy alternatives to sugary drinks. Choose to stay healthy and live well.

Excessive sugar consumption can negatively affect your body in many ways.

Tooth Decay
The connection between sugar and tooth decay is well established. There is also substantial evidence that maintaining your intake of excess sugars at below 5% of your diet will help avoid cavities. Soft drinks are among the most common dietary sources of tooth decay-causing sugar. Sugar and acid dissolve tooth enamel.

Diabetes
Researchers believed that obesity was the primary cause of diabetes, not sugar. However, new research has shown that sugar contributes to diabetes, beyond simply the calories that it contains. An increase of one can of soda per day was associated with a 1.1% increase in diabetes prevalence.

Impaired Learning & Memory
A diet high in sugar can impair the ability to learn and remember. It dulls the brain’s mechanism for knowing when to stop eating. Sugar-heavy and processed diets can increase the risk of depression. This is particularly concerning given high levels of consumption of high-fructose corn syrup. A diet rich in omega-3 can reduce the damage.

Asthma
In a 2012 Australian study, children who drank more than half a litre of soft drinks per day were significantly more likely to suffer from asthma or COPD. The greater the consumption of soft drinks, the more likely an individual is to suffer from one of these respiratory conditions.

Obesity
It is seen, more often than not, that people who become addicted to sugar cannot stop their consumption. An excess amount of sugar can adversely affect hormones and the brain.

Kidney Problems
The high levels of phosphoric acid in soft drinks have been connected to kidney stones and other renal problems, and diet cola is most likely to have adverse effects on kidney function. Sugar overload can damage your kidney’s filtration system. Diabetes is one of the main causes of kidney failure.

Bone Degeneration
Soda contains high levels of phosphate. Consuming more phosphate than calcium can have a deleterious effect on bone health.

Cut Back On Your Sugar!
Drink water instead of sugar-sweetened beverages. Water is an essential nutrient for active people. It is important to replace the water you lose when you sweat. So, instead of drinking energy drinks after working out, drink water!

Keep It Handy

• Keep a water bottle on hand.
• Add fresh lemon, lime, or orange slices to add some natural flavour to your water.
• Drink water when you’re thirsty.
• Replace energy drinks with water. This helps you cut back slowly on sugar-sweetened beverages.

Smiles in Hoppers Crossing!

At Sayers Dental Aesthetics & Implants, we believe everyone deserves high-quality dentistry, and we are here to help you achieve this.

Sayers Dental Aesthetics & Implants is a multi-surgery practice caring for the oral health needs of the communities.

Our focus remains on providing patients with exceptional General, Orthodontics and Implant dentistry.

We have a particular interest in implants, orthodontics, and smile rejuvenation via veneers, crowns, and bridges. We are also expert at dealing with unexpected dental emergencies we all dread.

Call (03) 9749 1178 or visit us at 1/483 Sayers Road in Hoppers Crossing.

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