How bad is soda pop? Are soft drinks bad to the bone? Should you can it or keep it in your diet?
Take this "Pop Quiz" to find out. Grab a piece of paper, a pencil, and don't cheat. Score your test before peeking at the answers, okay?!!
1. Americans now consume more of their sugar in soft drinks than in any other form. True or False?
2. Average per capita soda consumption is estimated at four cans per day. True or False?
3. Average per capita soda consumption dwarfs ....


by Rachel Albert-Matesz. B.A.,

How bad is soda pop? Are soft drinks bad to the bone? Should you can it or keep it in your diet?
Take this "Pop Quiz" to find out. Grab a piece of paper, a pencil, and don't cheat. Score your test before peeking at the answers, okay?!!

1. Americans now consume more of their sugar in soft drinks than in any other form. True or False?
2. Average per capita soda consumption is estimated at four cans per day. True or False?
3. Average per capita soda consumption dwarfs the estimated per capita consumption of milk? True or False?
4. Each 12-ounce can of soda contains nine teaspoons of sugar.
5. Sugar has been shown to suppress the immune system and has been linked to cancer, heart disease, diabetes, hypoglycemia, gout, kidney hypertrophy, retinopathy, obesity, hyperactivity, learning disability, viral, bacterial, fungal, and yeast infections, peptic ulcer, hiatal hernias, gallstones, Crohn's disease, shortened life span, and depression. True or False?
6. Soda pop provides empty calories. True or False?
7. Most brands of soda pop are sweetened with high fructose corn syrup. True or False?
8. High fructose corn syrup has been shown to be more harmful than sugar. True or False?
9. Fruit juices contain more fructose than soft drinks. True or False?
10. High fructose corn syrup comes from fruit. True or False?
11. Phosphorus is a vital component required for bone development. True or False?
12. The ratio of calcium to phosphorus in your body is critical to bone health. True or False?
13. The combination of sugary and/or carbonated beverages and a magnesium deficient diet can lower your body's calcium and phosphorus levels, which can weaken your bones. True or False?
14. High fructose sweeteners can suppress magnesium levels and trigger the release of calcium from the bones into the blood to buffer the acidity (created by the sugar). True or False?
15. Phosphoric acid, which is used as a preservative in canned sodas, is harmless. True or False?
16. Diet sodas are a healthy alternative to sweetened soda pop. True or False?
17. Some researchers have found evidence that the synthetic amino acids in aspartame (phenylalanine and aspartic acid), and the methanol in which they are bound, are potent neurotoxins.
True or False?
18. Some of the mysterious symptoms of Desert Storm Syndrome may have been caused by the copious consumption of artificially sweetened beverages which sat in the dessert sun for days, weeks, or months, and were consumed after their ingredients had broken down into formaldehyde and other toxic substances. True or False?
19. You can find "healthy" soda pop in health food stores. True or False?
20. You can safely count the soda you drink as part of your required minimum 8 (8-ounce) glasses of water per day. True or False?

HOW DID YOU DO?
1. True.
2. False. Average soda consumption is 6 cans per person, per day in America! If you don?t drink that much, you may be wonder who?s been drinking yours!!
3. True. Average per capita consumption of milk is (25 gallons), coffee (20 gallons), beer (30 gallons), bottled water (13 gallons), and fruit juice (9 gallons). Soda consumption tops all of those!
4. True.
5. True.
6. True. Soda provides calorie unaccompanied by useful vitamins, minerals, fiber, protein, or phytonutrients.
7. True.
8. True.
9. False! Fresh fruits contain less fructose than products sweetened with high fructose corn syrup.
10. False. HFCS is usually derived from corn, via high-tech processing.
11. True,.
12. True.
13. True.
14. True.
15. False. Phosphoric acid can cause your body to break down bone calcium and release it into your blood.
16. False. Symptoms which have been correlated to consumption of diet sodas include dehydration (if made with caffeine), weight gain, dizziness, gradual loss of vision, headaches, depression, slurred speech, loss of memory, fibromyalgia -type symptoms, vertigo, anxiety attacks, chronic fatigue, heart palpitations, clinical diabetes, seizures, brain, uterine and ovarian tumors, says Dr. Russell Blaylock, author of Excitotoxins: The Taste That Kills.
17. True.
18. True.
19. False. There is no such thing as "healthy" soda pop, although manufacturers may try to convince you otherwise! Don't believe them even if you find the products in "health food" stores!
20. False. No other beverage can replace water.

SCORING THIS QUIZ:

* Start out with a perfect score of 100%. If you didn?t miss any questions, you get an A !
* For every question you missed, subtract 5 points.
* If you missed 1 question, you receive a 95%. Two missed questions yields a 90% (still an A). Three wrong answers yields an 85% (B ), and so on.
* If you missed 4 or more questions, check out Lick the Sugar Habit by Nancy Appleton. If you drink diet pop, check out Excitotoxins the Taste That Kills by Russell Blaylock, then do a web search for information on Aspartame, Nutrasweet?, and other artificial sweeteners.



Rachel Albert-Matesz, a freelance food & health writer, healthy cooking coach, cooking instructor, and personal chef based in in Phoenix, AZ. For info about her classes, services and The Garden of Eating A Produce-Dominated Diet & Cookbook (Planetary Press, 2004), visit http://www.thegardenofeatingdiet.com/ or email her at: chefrachel@thegardenofeatingdiet.com.