Is Beer or Soda Better For You?

This was not the planned blog post for this week, but after talking with someone from the gym about their soda addiction, I decided I needed to write this because there could be more of you out there.

The reasoning behind the title is that at first glance most would immediately say ‘beer’ is worse for you, but the question is why? Is it because you can buy a coke at any age? Is it because we have known alcoholics or heard about drunk drivers hurting people? I think that sugar and alcohol are both toxins and not good for you, but the advertisement of one dramatically affects the way people perceive it.

I believe that people should not drink sodas at all, and drink alcohol in moderation. Seems silly being in the health and fitness industry but below are few comparisons that may get you to see it the same way.

First, let’s start with the health benefits of these products:

Sodas have ZERO health benefits. They contain zero vitamins or minerals. Beer has some of these, but not enough to provide a substantial amount of micronutrients to stop taking your vitamins. In 2010 the American Heart Association released guidelines stating that there are benefits to having one twelve ounce beer each night. I have yet to find one that says this for sodas.

In the average lagger, there are fewer calories than in a twelve-ounce soda and most light beers have about fifty fewer calories per twelve ounce can. Beer has zero grams of sugar while sodas could have forty or more in each can. If we are counting calories and sugar, I would say someone who drinks two beers a day is much less likely to get a beer belly at the same rate as someone who drinks two sodas a day. Many times, people who may not look obese and think they are healthy do not realize that the effects of sugar and sodas on the liver are just as harmful as someone who is a heavy beer drinker. You could be dying on the inside thinking you are more healthy because you are not drinking beer and not overweight.

The second comparison of beer and sodas is a quick one:

If you need to clean the corrosion off your car battery you don’t pour beer on it first, you pour a coke on it.

The third comparison is addictive properties:

Both beer and sugary sodas have been shown to cause a release of endorphins in the brain. The more you drink of either, the more that is released. The more you drink, the more you build up a tolerance to it and the more you will need to drink in order to get the release of endorphins again. In comparison, both cause the same thing. The main difference here is the more beer you drink, the more inebriated you will become. This creates the issue of response time, bad decisions and other problems that being impaired can cause. Although both drinks are addictive in the same fashion as opioids; only one can create an inebriated state.

The fourth comparison is linked to diseases:

Someone who is an avid soda drinker would think that beer is the ‘more evil’ one of the two in this comparison, but it’s not. When I googled ‘diseases linked to alcohol’ and ‘diseases linked to sugar’ many of the same diseases appeared on both sides including liver health, heart health and kidney function.  But the major player from sugar deaths did not appear on the alcohol list at all, and that is Diabetes.

The primary fight against big soda is because, according to the American Diabetes Association, 40% of all death certificates have diabetes listed on them. This is a significant player in millions of deaths each year, and sugar has been directly linked to them. One soda a day can increase your chances of diabetes by 22% according to a European study done with 350,000 people from eight different countries.

The final comparison is warning labels:

Beer and alcohol  products are required to have a warning label on them letting everyone who drinks it know that they are drinking a product that can cause health issues and impair your senses. Sodas are not required by federal law to have this same warning label on them, but in some cities and states they have or are trying to pass laws where this will be the case. Just based of some basic research into the health benefits of sugar one could conclude that a drink that contains over three tablespoons of sugar each should include a warning label on it in every state and every country. Beer and alcohol companies do not advertise to children because of the legal drinking age and their warning label. Sodas do not have a warning label (yet) but have made a promise not to advertise to children. Seems a little strange?

In comparison, both are bad for you. People have this thought that because you can buy sodas at any age, they are safer for you. Both of these products will kill you at some point. Both will leave you worse after you start them. Both are dangerous; end of story. If you can avoid both for the rest of your life, you will live a longer healthier life.

HOWEVER WHAT YOU DECIDE TO DO IS UP TO YOU. YOU MAKE THESE DECISIONS FOR YOURSELF. BUT, IF I WERE TO ASK YOU, I WOULD EVEN SAY PLEAD WITH YOU…PLEASE DO NOT GIVE YOUR CHILDREN SODAS. DO A QUICK GOOGLE SEARCH ON A FEW STUDIES OF WHAT SODAS ARE DOING TO KIDS. YOU COULD POSSIBLY AND PROBABLY MAKE YOUR KIDS OVERWEIGHT, SICK AND UNHEALTHY BY FEEDING THEM THIS POISON.

Richard Andrews
CF-L2

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