Soft Drink Industry example essay topic

Importance and Effects of Health drinks and Soft drinks in 21st century Introduction: Here we are going to discuss about the relevance and effects of health drinks and soft drinks like coke. We have explained in our study the advantages and disadvantages of these drinks. What are the ingredients of these drinks? How are they affecting every age group in the 21st century? Should they be used or not and if used in what amounts. The importance of these drinks help us to peep into their world and the drinking habits developed by people.

According to a study 33% of U.S. adults that are 20 years of age or older are estimated to be overweight. Furthermore, over 58 million Americans weigh at least 20% or more than their ideal body weight. With exhaustion and high stress levels due to hectic lifestyles, many people are relying on energy drinks to give them that second wind. Whether they help to stay awake through a test that day, or revive you for a party that night, energy drinks are much appreciated, and are becoming quite popular. With energy drinks increase in popularity, and high demand, many companies have decided to come out with one. Companies such as So Be, have So Be Adrenaline Rush, Starbucks Double Shot espresso and cream, and Mountain Dews AMP energy drink.

Other popular energy drinks include, Red Bull and Rockstar. So Be Adrenaline Rush has the familiar tangy taste of a grapefruit with a light yellow color. It contains 1000 mg taurine, 500 mg d-Ribose, 250 mg L-Carnitine, 100 mg Inositol, 50 mg Guarana, and 25 mg Panel Ginseng. This drink including many others is not recommended for children, pregnant women, or persons sensitive to Caffeine.

Starbucks Double Shot espresso and cream in caramel in color, and tastes very similar to the coffee Starbucks has in the glass bottles. It is definitely a great drink to waken up with in the morning. AMP energy drink (from Mountain Dew) contains, Ginseng, Taurine, B vitamins and Guarana. It is sour and tangy and tastes like fruit snacks. Like mountain dew, AMP is a lime green color.

Red Bull is a yellow drink with a sour, tart taste. that includes, 1000 mg taurine, 600 mg, and 80 g of caffeine. The benefits you get from drinking a Red Bull include, improving your performance, concentration, and reaction speed, vigilance, emotional status. It stimulates your metabolism as well. Rockstar tastes and looks very similar to Red Bull.

However, according to the can, not only is Rockstar bigger, stronger, and faster, but one is able to party like a rock star too. It is the most healthy out of the five energy drinks, and contains the least amount of calories and sugars. Now the problems with the consumption of regular soda beverages like coca-cola and Pepsi. Americans drink more soda pop than ever before: o These popular beverages account for more than a quarter of all drinks consumed in the United States. o More than 15 billion gallons were sold in 2000. o That works out to at least one 12-ounce can per day for every man, woman and child.

Kids are heavy consumers of soft drinks, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and they are guzzling soda pop at unprecedented rates. Carbonated soda pop provides more added sugar in a typical 2-year-old toddler's diet than cookies, candies and ice cream combined. Fifty-six percent of 8-year-olds down soft drinks daily, and a third of teenage boys drink at least three cans of soda pop per day. Nearly everyone by now has heard the litany on the presumed health effects of soft drinks: o Obesity Tooth decay o Caffeine dependence o Weakened bones Obesity: One very recent, independent, peer-reviewed study demonstrates a strong link between soda consumption and childhood obesity. One previous industry-supported, unpublished study showed no link. Explanations of the mechanism by which soda may lead to obesity have not yet been proved, though the evidence for them is strong.

Many people have long assumed that soda -- high in calories and sugar, low in nutrients -- can make kids fat. Researchers found that schoolchildren who drank soft drinks consumed almost 200 more calories per day than their counterparts who didn't down soft drinks. That finding helps support the notion that we don't compensate well for calories in liquid form. Tooth Decay: Here's one health effect that even the soft drink industry admits, grudgingly, has merit. In a carefully worded statement, the NSD A says that 'there's no scientific evidence that consumption of sugars per se has any negative effect other than dental caries. ' But the association also correctly notes that soft drinks aren't the sole cause of tooth decay.

In fact, a lot of sugary foods, from fruit juices to candy and even raisins and other dried fruit, have what dentists refer to as ' properties,' which is to say they can cause tooth decay. But sugar isn't the only ingredient in soft drinks that causes tooth problems. The acids in soda pop are also notorious for etching tooth enamel in ways that can lead to cavities. 'Acid begins to dissolve tooth enamel in only 20 minutes,' notes the Ohio Dental Association in a release issued earlier this month. Caffeine Dependence: The stimulant properties and dependence potential of caffeine in soda are well documented, as are their effects on children.

The soft drink industry agrees that caffeine causes the same effects in children as adults, but officials also note that there is wide variation in how people respond to caffeine. The simple solution, the industry says, is to choose a soda pop that is caffeine-free. All big soda makers offer products with either low or no caffeine. We know that colas contain a fair amount of caffeine. It turns out to be 35 to 38 milligrams per 12-ounce can, or roughly 28 percent of the amount found in an 8-ounce cup of coffee. But few know that diet colas -- usually chosen by those who are trying to dodge calories and / or sugar -- often pack a lot more caffeine.

A 12-ounce can of Diet Coke, for example, has about 42 milligrams of caffeine -- seven more than the same amount of Coke Classic. A can of Pepsi One has about 56 milligrams of caffeine -- 18 milligrams more than both regular Pepsi and Diet Pepsi. Even harder to figure out is the caffeine distribution in other flavors of soda pop. Many brands of root beer contain no caffeine. An exception is Barq's, made by the Coca-Cola Co., which has 23 milligrams per 12-ounce can.

Sprite, 7-Up and ginger ale are caffeine-free. But Mountain Dew, the curiously named Mello Yellow, Sun Drop Regular, Jolt and diet as well as regular Sunkist orange soda all pack caffeine. Caffeine occurs naturally in kola nuts, an ingredient of cola soft drinks. But why is this drug, which is known to create physical dependence, added to other soft drinks? The industry line is that small amounts are added for taste, not for the drug's power to sustain demand for the products that contain it.

Caffeine's bitter taste, they say, enhances other flavors. 'It has been a part of almost every cola -- and pepper-type beverage -- since they were first formulated more than 100 years ago,' according to the National Soft Drink Association. Bone Weakening: Animal studies demonstrate that phosphorus, a common ingredient in soda, can deplete bones of calcium. And two recent human studies suggest that girls who drink more soda are more prone to broken bones. The industry denies that soda plays a role in bone weakening.

Animal studies -- mostly involving rats -- point to clear and consistent bone loss with the use of cola beverages. But as scientists like to point out, humans and rats are not exactly the same. Phosphorus -- which occurs naturally in some foods and is used as an additive in many others -- appears to weaken bones by promoting the loss of calcium. With less calcium available, the bones become more porous and prone to fracture.

The soft drink industry argues that the phosphoric acid in soda pop contributes only about 2 percent of the phosphorus in the typical US diet, with a 12-ounce can of soda pop averaging about 30 milligrams. There's growing concern that even a few cans of soda today can be damaging when they are consumed during the peak bone-building years of childhood and adolescence. A 1994 Harvard study of bone fractures in teenage athletes found a strong association between cola beverage consumption and bone fractures in 14-year-old girls. The girls who drank cola were about five times more likely to suffer bone fractures than girls who didn't consume soda pop.

Besides, to many researchers, the combination of rising obesity and bone weakening has the potential to synergistically undermine future health. Adolescents and kids don't think long-term. But what happens when these soft-drinking people become young or middle-aged adults and they have osteoporosis, sedentary living and obesity? By that time, switching to water, milk or fruit juice may be too little, too late. To curb this problem the only solution is to provide access to healthier drinks and snacks and prohibits soft drinks contracts in schools and eliminates school advertising and promotional events that promote unhealthy snack and beverage choices. Alternative acceptable beverages include water, unsweetened flavored waters, 100% fruit juice, 100% vegetable juice and low fat plain and flavored milk.

Conclusion: From this we can conclude that fizzy drinks and the health drinks both can be injuries to health if use in excess. Every thing that is used within its limits is useful rather then consuming it over and over. Health drinks or energy drinks have a better substitute like pure 100% juices etc... Health drinks can be used but to a proper extent. But a fizzy drink like coke has no better effects to the health rather worsens it.