How much is too much soda for your kids? The truth is alarming.
It turns out the sugary soft drinks may well be helping drive the boom in childhood diabetes, as USA Today suggested. Two-thirds of kids drink at least one soda on any given day, according to a recent study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The bad news is that nearly a quarter of American children aged 12 to 19 have either Type 2 diabetes or prediabetes, according to a 2012 study in the journal Pediatrics. It doesn’t take a scientific genius to see that there may be some link between consuming massive amounts of soda and hurting your health.
“We’re not talking about people in their latter stages of life,” says Shawn McIntosh, executive director of Sugar Free Kids Maryland, which has been lobbying to require healthy vending machines on government property in that state, USA Today reports. “These are kids that haven’t yet received a high school diploma.”
If we want our kids to grow up big and strong, we need to teach them to be more active and wean them off so much sugar. Of course kids don’t care about tomorrow, so you may have to mention that diabetes can lead to heart attacks, stroke and blindness. The worst part is that the younger a person is when they get Type 2 diabetes, the greater the risk of suffering from the eye disorders that can lead to blindness.
Make no mistake, like anything, it’s fine to indulge in soda occasionally. Just make it a treat, like Halloween candy, instead of part of the daily routine. As a bonus, your kid will enjoy drinking it even more that way. McIntosh recommends once a week might be a good rule to follow, as USA Today reports.
While we’re at it, mom and dad may also have to rethink their diet soda addiction. The latest research suggests that diet soda might speed up brain aging and increase the risk for stroke, dementia and Alzheimer’s disease, as the Washington Post notes. Gulp.
A study of almost 3,000 participants over age 45 examined whether the consumption of diet and sugary beverages was linked to stroke and dementia risk over a 10-year period. Published in American Heart Association journal, the report found that those who frequently drank diet soda and the like, were more likely to suffer from cardiovascular disease, Type 2 diabetes, stroke and dementia than the ones who reached for regular soda.
