Sodas, flavored carbonated and non-carbonated drinks are usually high in fructose corn syrup. These drinks have a high amount of sugar in them. Children who drink sodas and flavored carbonated drinks are taking in more calories than their body needs and can lead to obesity in childhood or in adulthood.
Many sodas and carbonated and non-carbonated flavored drinks also contain some caffeine. Caffeine is a stimulant that children do not need in their bodies and causes dehydration.
These drinks do not provide nutrition for your child and for many children who drink these regularly, it is replacing water and milk. Water and milk are healthy drinks that provide nutrition for the body.
If children are offered these drinks regularly, they can easily become habits that children will carry forward through their teenage years and into adulthood. It is best to allow these drinks only once in a while. Help your child learn that sugary drinks are not part of a healthy diet and are okay only once in a while.
Would you let your child put 13 teaspoons of sugar into something they were going to drink?
A can of soda can have as much as 11-13 teaspoons of added sugar.
It is especially important to look at the serving size on the nutrition label. So if you quickly read that a beverage bottle says 80 calories, you may need to look again. For example, if the serving size sates 2.5 servings/bottle, you need to do the math. In this case, if you drink the bottle, the beverage actually contains 200 calories.
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