Sports Drinks Aren't As Healthy As People May Imagine

The fight against obesity is becoming increasingly popular. Scientists are identifying the chief culprits, which cause the gaining of excess weight, and devising methods to either replace them or to avoid them. Recently, a team of researchers at the University of Waterloo, Canada, studied the health and economic discrepancies caused by sugary drink consumption. They proposed that drinking sweetened drinks will increase the mortality rates by 63,000 and will most likely cost an extra $50 billion to the health industry, within the next 25 years.

Dr. David Hammond, associate professor in School of Public Health and Health Systems of the University of Waterloo, recommended that cutting down the daily consumption of sugary drinks is an easy and effective way of controlling weight gain as well as the occurrence of secondary health complications and diseases associated with it, e.g., cardiovascular diseases, diabetes and cancer, CBC News reported.

However, Dr. Martin Bitzan, who works at Montreal Children's Hospital, clarified that cutting down soda is not as effective a strategy against obesity, due to the fact that added sugar is not just limited to these sugary drinks. Other packaged beverages, including sports drinks and juices, contain added sugar, and drinking them is similar to consuming carbonated sugary drinks. The most dangerous thing is most people are unaware of this fact. When asked to cut down sugary drinks, they opt for the next best alternative, i.e., seemingly healthy sports drinks, according to CTV News Montreal.

"Something that is marketed as energy or sports drinks creates a positive image but in fact it is sugar plus caffeine plus a few other things," Dr. Bitzan said.

In an effort to make people more aware of this and more importantly discourage them from consuming such drinks, the lawmakers and health officials in Canada are advocating the imposition of "Sugar Tax" on each purchase of sugary drinks. Health Canada and other health organizations in the country are vehemently supporting this move and it is highly likely that soon people in Canada may have to pay extra tax if they want to drink a bottle of Cola.