Soda is refreshing and delicious, but it is not part of a healthy, balanced diet. Most sodas are packed with sugar. In fact, a can of soda can be hiding up to 10 teaspoons of sugar! The sugar does make soft drinks delicious, but definitely not nutritious. Too much sugar in a person's diet can lead to diabetes (糖尿病), heart disease, and tooth problems. One of the biggest sugary soda problems is that drinking much can lead to weight gain and even obesity.
There are diet options available for almost every kind of pop (汽水), which means that you don't have to drink all that sugar in order to enjoy a can of soda. Many studies have been done on whether or not aspartame (甜味剂), the sugar substitute in diet soda, is bad for you. Up to now, there are still conflicting opinions on this issue. The European Food Safety Authority recently concluded that aspartame is safe for most people, even in fairly large amounts. Aspartame still might not be good for you, though. Studies have shown that people who drink diet sodas may actually gain more weight than those who drink regular soda, perhaps because, strangely enough, drinks loaded with fake sugar may actually make you want to eat more.
Maybe you've decided it's time to cut down on your soda drinking, but what should you drink instead? Water is absolutely the healthiest thing that you can drink. Your body needs water to stay hydrated (水合物) and function properly, and water contains no calories or fat. Drinking fruit juice occasionally is not a bad thing, but you should be careful what juice and how much juice you're drinking. Fruit juices can contain almost as much sugar as pop!
As with most things to do with your health, moderation is really at the base of any healthy diet. You can totally drink soda, even the sugary kind just, make sure you're not drinking too much!
