Drinking Soda Has Far More Serious Health Risks Than You May Realize: Numerous studies have shown the negative health effects of drinking soda on your waistline and your teeth.  Drinking soda however, has far more serious health risks than many of us may realize.  Regular consumption of sugary drinks is linked to numerous health problems including diabetes, heart disease, asthma, COPD and obesity.  So what are the risks and how much soda is too much?  Lets take a look:

1. Soda can cause a decline in kidney function.  In an 11 year-long Harvard Medical School study, including 3,318 women, researchers found that diet cola is linked with a two-fold increased risk for kidney decline. 
2. Soda increases diabetes risk.  High levels of sugar in soda places a lot of stress on your pancreas, potentially leaving it unable to keep up with the body's need for insulin.  Drinking one or two sugary drinks per day increases your risk for type 2 diabetes by 25%.
3. Soda cans are lined with BPA.  Soda cans are coated with the endocrine disrupter bisphenoal A (BPA), which has been linked to everything from heart disease to obesity to reproductive problems.
4. Soda dehydrates you.  Caffeine is a diuretic.  Diuretics promote the production of urine, causing you to urinate more frequently.  When the body's cells are dehydrated they have difficulty absorbing nutrients, and it also makes it more difficult for the body to eliminate waste. 
5. Caramel coloring in soda is linked to cancer.  The artificial brown coloring in colas is a chemical process, it is not made from caramelized sugar.  It is made by reacting sugars with ammonia and sulfites under high pressure and temperatures.  These chemical reactions result in the formation of 2-methylimidazole (2-MI) and 4 methylimidazole (4-MI), which in government-conducted studies caused lung, liver, or thyroid cancer or leukemia. Dr. Nehal N. Mehta, director of Inflammatory Risk Cardiology at the University of Pennsylvania states that there is a link between vascular problems and caramel-containing products.
6. Soda is high in calories.  A 20 ounce can of Coca Cola contains 17 teaspoons of sugar and 240 calories, empty calories devoid of any nutritional value.  It would take the average adult over one hour of walking to burn off the 240 calories in a 20-ounce soda.
7. Soda contains artificial sweeteners.  While many people opt for artificial sugar to lower caloric intake the tradeoff for your health isn't so sweet.  Artificial sugars are linked to numerous illness and diseases including cancer.
8. Drinking more than one soda daily, increases your risk for heart disease and metabolic syndrome.  According to Ravi Dhingra, M.D., lead author of the study and an instructor in Medicine at Harvard Medical School states “If you are drinking one or more soft drinks a day, you may be increasing your risk of developing metabolic risk factors for heart disease."  The Framingham study included nearly 9,000 individuals, over a four year period. Researchers found that individuals consuming one or more sodas a day had a 48 % increased risk of metabolic syndrome compared to those consuming less than one soft drink daily.