Amal Al-Sibai

Saudi Gazette

 

JEDDAH — You want to stay healthy, active, have energy to run and play, and you want to grow into a strong and healthy grown up! When you get sick or something hurts you, it slows you down.



A healthy kid’s worst enemy is soda pop, soft drinks, cola, and that whole gang of unhealthy drinks.



Some kids who like the sweet, sugary taste and the tickling feeling of a cold soda may not know just how bad it is for their health.



Test your knowledge about sodas with this checklist and find out for yourself if it is okay for kids your age to be drinking those fizzy drinks.

 

• Soda has zero nutrients. That’s right: zero, 0, zip, nothing, – no vitamins or minerals or protein or any type of nutrition that is good for your body or your brain.

• One can of soda has 10 teaspoons of sugar, which is pretty bad for your health. Imagine drinking a cup of water and adding 10 teaspoons of sugar to it!
  
   


• Too much sugar leads to weight gain. Kids who carry on too much weight have several health problems: their knees hurt, they have tightness of breath, they get tired easily, and are unable to run and climb stairs and jump as well as other kids who have normal weight.
  
   


• Kids who eat (or drink) a lot of sugar are at danger of getting diabetes when they are older, and this is a serious illness.
  
   


• All that sugar in soda can cause tooth decay and cavities. If you had a cavity before, you probably already know just how painful a toothache can be.
  
   


• Calcium is the best mineral for building strong bones. Sodas contain no calcium, but they also contain a substance called phosphate that actually makes the body lose calcium from the bones. This means drinking sodas will make your bones weaker and easier to break, even from a minor fall or accident.
  
   


• Did you know that soft drinks contain acid? An acid is a strong substance that can eat at your stomach wall, which can be irritating and painful to the sensitive muscles of your stomach.
  
   


• Soft drinks have a lot of chemical flavors and colors. These unnatural chemicals have not been proven to be 100% safe for kids, and they may harm your body in ways that scientists have not yet discovered. Scientists found that some chemicals in sodas, especially diet sodas, reduce your memory, damage brain cells, and make it harder to learn at school.
  
   


• Caffeine is another chemical found in sodas, and it affects the brain, especially the brain of a small child who is still growing and learning. Almost all soft drinks have caffeine.
  
   


• Sodas cause the body to keep making too much urine and to lose water from the body. The kidneys will have to work extra hard. Over time, the kidneys may become tired and will have trouble functioning as good and efficiently as they should.
  
  
  
   

At school or at the mall, when you see other kids drinking sodas, you can tell them what you have just learned about the bad effects of sodas. Drinking sodas does not make you cool or fun to be around. Instead you can choose to drink pure water or fresh orange juice that has vitamin C or milk which has calcium to keep your bones strong and healthy. Making the right choices makes you a smart kid who knows how to take care of his/her body and stay healthy!