How bagged drinks harm our bodies

24-Oct-2024

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Packaged drinks entice consumers with their colorful design and pictures of fresh fruit. However, the packaging does not usually deliver what it promises: the juice cartons often only contain sugar water with flavorings. They do contain juice, but usually only in the low single-digit percentage range. The pharmacy magazine "diabetes Ratgeber" shows what these products do to our bodies and what healthy alternatives are available.

Fatty liver promotes type 2 diabetes

Depending on the manufacturer, packet drinks contain up to eleven grams of sugar per 100 milliliters of drink. With a 500-milliliter packet, we can therefore consume up to 50 grams of sugar in one go. While a half-liter bottle of juice spritzer can theoretically be closed again, you can't close a drink packet again. 50 grams of sugar is the absolute maximum recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) for adults for the whole day.

This sugar makes itself felt in many places in the body. If too much fructose ends up in the body, for example, a fatty liver can develop over time. This is because the liver processes fructose in a similar way to alcohol: it converts excess fructose into fat and stores it. A fatty liver can promote type 2 diabetes and lead to serious illnesses such as liver inflammation or cirrhosis. What you should also know is that both sweetened and sugar-free drinks do not fill you up. This is because they quickly leave the stomach. The sugar they contain still provides calories and ensures that a lot of insulin is released. Both promote weight gain.

Spice up water with berries and herbs

Glucose from sweet drinks ends up in the blood very quickly. The blood sugar shoots up, followed shortly afterwards by the insulin. This causes the blood sugar to drop again, which can lead to cravings. High insulin levels ensure that we gain weight easily. So "injecting" high blood sugar levels with insulin after sweet drinks is not a sustainable strategy.

We are better off quenching our thirst with water, advises Cordula Siegmann-Thoss, Professor of Medical Biochemistry and Pathobiochemistry of Nutrition and Head of the Nutritional Therapy course at the European University of Applied Sciences in Rheine: "Water can also be spiced up with berries, herbs or cucumber slices." It looks nice and some of the flavor is transferred to the water. Unsweetened herbal or fruit teas are also a good, calorie-free alternative.

Note: This article has been translated using a computer system without human intervention. LUMITOS offers these automatic translations to present a wider range of current news. Since this article has been translated with automatic translation, it is possible that it contains errors in vocabulary, syntax or grammar. The original article in German can be found here.

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