EFFECTS OF SOFT DRINKS TO YOUR BODY

What is a soft drink?

A Soft Drink or a fizzy is a nonalcoholic, flavored, carbonated beverage, usually commercially prepared and sold in bottles or cans.

A carbonated drink is a drink that bubbles and fizzes with carbon dioxide gas. This involves pumping carbon dioxide into the drink at high pressure, then sealing the container. Since the solubility of carbon dioxide is less at lower pressure, the dissolved gas escapes as bubbles when the container is opened and the pressure is relieved. Although the ingredients in carbonated drinks are deemed safe by the Food and Drug Administration, these beverages may cause side effects to your body, especially if you consume them regularly. Knowing about the possible side effects of carbonated drinks can help you make informed nutrition choices.

BELCHING

Carbonated beverages contain dissolved carbon dioxide, which becomes a gas when it warms to body temperature in your stomach. Consuming carbonated soft drinks may cause repeated belching as your stomach stretches from the accumulation of carbon dioxide gas. Food and stomach acid may come up your food pipe as you belch, causing heartburn and a sour taste in your mouth.

INCREASED RISK OF OBESITY

Consuming sugar-sweetened, carbonated drinks adds calories to your diet, which may increase your risk of overweight and obesity. Overweight and obesity are significant risk factors for the development of type 2 diabetes, heart disease and osteoarthritis.

POOR NUTRITION

Consumption of carbonated soft drinks can adversely affect your overall nutrient intake. Drinking these beverages may reduce your consumption of proteins, starch, dietary fiber and vitamin B-2, also known as riboflavin. People who drink carbonated beverages also tend to eat less fruit and drink less fruit juice compared to those who do not drink sodas.

 TOOTH DECAY

Regular and diet carbonated soft drinks can harm your teeth. Your mouth contains bacteria that feed on sugar producing chemicals that can break down the hard enamel of your teeth. A cavity forms when erosion of the enamel exposes the soft, inner core of your tooth. When you drink sweetened, carbonated soda, the sugar remains in your mouth, promoting the processes that lead to tooth decay. The acid in these carbonated drinks further increase the likelihood of developing cavities, because these chemicals also slowly erode the enamel of your teeth.

INCREASED RISK OF CANCER

There have been many studies that have looked at the links between various types of cancer and fizzy drink consumption. They suggest:

·         Drinking just two sugary soft drinks a week increases the amount of insulin the pancreas produces and can double the risk of developing cancer.

·         Drinking just one fizzy drink a day could increase a man’s chance of developing prostate cancer by around 40 per cent.

·         Drinking just one-and-a-half cans a day can increase a girl's breast cancer risky per cent.

·         Some chemicals that are used to color soft drinks can cause cancer.

 

RISK OF HEART DISEASE

Scientists in America found a strong link between the proportion of daily calories from foods laden with added sugars (like fizzy drinks) and death rates from cardiovascular disease. They claimed that drinking three cans a day could triple our risk of heart disease.

QUICK FACTS ON MENINGITIS

What is meninges? They are the membranes that cover the spinal cord and the brain. The meninges has fluids surrounding it, when this fluid becomes infected, it causes meningitis.

Meningitis can be explained as an inflammation of the meninges.

Meningitis is caused by viral and bacterial infections.

Other causes may include:

• cancer
• chemical irritation
• fungi
• drug allergies

Viral and bacterial meningitis are contagious. They can be transmitted by coughing, sneezing, or close contact.

MENINGITIS TYPES

Viral and bacterial infections are the most common causes of meningitis. There are several other forms of meningitis. Examples include cryptococcal, which is caused by a fungal infection, and carcinomatous, which is cancer-related.

Some viruses that can cause meningitis:

• West Nile virus
• influenza
• mumps
• HIV
• measles
• herpes viruses
• Coltivirus, which causes Colorado tick fever

Viral meningitis typically goes away without treatment.

BACTERIAL MENINGITIS.

Bacterial meningitis is contagious and caused by infection from certain bacteria. It could be fatal if untreated. A high percentage of people who have this condition die, even with adequate or proper treatment.

The most common types of bacteria that cause bacterial meningitis are:

• Streptococcus pneumoniae, which is typically found in the respiratory tract, sinuses, and nasal cavity and can cause what’s called “pneumococcal meningitis”
• Neisseria meningitidis, which is spread through saliva and other respiratory fluids and causes what’s called “meningococcal meningitis”
• Haemophilus influenza, which can cause not only meningitis but infection of the blood, inflammation of the windpipe, cellulitis, and infectious arthritis
• Listeria monocytogenes, which is a foodborne bacteria

SYMPTOMS

The symptoms of viral and bacterial meningitis can be similar in the beginning. However, bacterial meningitis symptoms are usually more severe. The symptoms also vary depending on your age.

VIRAL MENINGITIS SYMPTOMS

Viral meningitis in infants may cause:

• decreased appetite
• irritability
• sleepiness
• lethargy
• a fever

In adults, viral meningitis may cause:

• headaches
• a fever
• stiff neck
• seizures
• sensitivity to bright light
• sleepiness
• lethargy
• nausea
• decreased appetite

BACTERIAL MENINGITIS SYMPTOMS.

 They may include:

• altered mental status
• nausea
• vomiting
• a sensitivity to light
• irritability
• a headache
• a fever
• a stiff neck

Seek immediate medical attention if you experience these symptoms. Bacterial meningitis can be deadly. There’s no way to know if you have bacterial or viral meningitis just by judging how you feel. Your doctor will need to perform tests to determine which type you have.

People with an immune deficiency are at higher risk of contracting meningitis. Certain disorders can make an immune system weak: HIV, AIDS, Autoimmune disorders, chemotherapy etc.

AGE

All ages are at risk for meningitis. However, certain age groups have a higher risk. Children under the age of 5 are at increased risk of viral meningitis. Infants are at higher risk of bacterial meningitis.

PREVENTION

Maintaining a healthy lifestyle, especially if you’re at increased risk, is important. This includes things like:

• getting adequate amounts of rest
• not smoking
• avoiding contact with sick people

Vaccinations can also protect against certain types of meningitis. Vaccines that can prevent meningitis include the following:

• Haemophilus influenzae type B (Hib) vaccine
• pneumococcal conjugate vaccine
• meningococcal vaccine

WHY YOU NEED TO QUIT SMOKING

Tobacco smoke is enormously harmful to your health. There’s no safe way to smoke. Replacing your cigarette with a cigar, pipe, or hookah won’t help you avoid the health risks associated with tobacco products.

Cigarettes contain about 600 ingredients. When they burn, they generate more than 7,000 chemicals, according to the American Lung Association. Many of those chemicals are poisonous and at least 70 of them can cause cancer. Many of the same ingredients are found in cigars and in tobacco used in pipes and hookahs. Cigars have a higher level of carcinogens, toxins, and tar than cigarettes.

When using a hookah pipe, you’re likely to inhale more smoke than you would from a cigarette. Hookah smoke has many toxic compounds and exposes you to more carbon monoxide than cigarettes do. Hookahs also produce more secondhand smoke. Smoking is one of the leading causes of preventable death.

NICOTINE

One of the ingredients in tobacco is a mood-altering drug called nicotine. Nicotine reaches your brain in mere seconds. It’s a central nervous system stimulant, so it makes you feel more energized for a little while. As that effect subsides, you feel tired and crave more. Nicotine is habit forming.

Smoking increases risk of macular degeneration, cataracts, and poor eyesight. It can also weaken your sense of taste and sense of smell, so food may become less enjoyable.

Your body has a stress hormone called corticosterone, which lowers the effects of nicotine. If you’re under a lot of stress, you’ll need more nicotine to get the same effect.

Physical withdrawal from smoking can impair your cognitive functioning and make you feel anxious, irritated, and depressed. Withdrawal can also cause headaches and sleep problems.

When you inhale smoke, you’re taking in substances that can damage your lungs. Over time, your lungs lose their ability to filter harmful chemicals. Coughing can’t clear out the toxins sufficiently, so these toxins get trapped in the lungs. Smokers have a higher risk of respiratory infections, colds, and flu.

In a condition called emphysema, the air sacs in your lungs are destroyed. In chronic bronchitis, the lining of the tubes of the lungs becomes inflamed. Over time, smokers are at increased risk of developing these forms of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Long-term smokers are also at increased risk of lung cancer.

Withdrawal from tobacco products can cause temporary congestion and respiratory pain as your lungs begin to clear out.

Children whose parents smoke are more prone to coughing, wheezing, and asthma attacks than children whose parents don’t. They also tend to have more ear infections. Children of smokers have higher rates of pneumonia and bronchitis.

DIGESTIVE SYSTEM

Smokers are at great risk of developing oral problems. Tobacco use can cause gum inflammation (gingivitis) or infection (periodontitis). These problems can lead to tooth decay, tooth loss, and bad breath.

Smoking also increases risk of cancer of the mouth, throat, larynx, and esophagus. Smokers have higher rates of kidney cancer and pancreatic cancer. Even cigar smokers who don’t inhale are at increased risk of mouth cancer.

Smoking also has an effect on insulin, making it more likely that you’ll develop insulin resistance. That puts you at increased risk of type 2 diabetes. When it comes to diabetes, smokers tend to develop complications at a faster rate than nonsmokers.

Smoking also depresses appetite, so you may not be getting all the nutrients your body needs. Withdrawal from tobacco products can cause nausea.

SEXUALITY

Restricted blood flow can affect a man’s ability to get an erection. Both men and women who smoke may have difficulty achieving orgasm and are at higher risk of infertility. Women who smoke may experience menopause at an earlier age than nonsmoking women. Smoking increases a woman’s risk of cervical cancer.

Smokers experience more complications of pregnancy, including miscarriage, problems with the placenta, and premature delivery.

Pregnant mothers who are exposed to secondhand smoke are also more likely to have a baby with low birth weight. Babies born to mothers who smoke while pregnant are at greater risk of low birth weight, birth defects, and sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). Newborns who breathe secondhand smoke suffer more ear infections and asthma attacks.

AUTOIMMUNE DISEASE

The immune system is the body’s way of protecting itself from infection and disease. Smoking compromises the immune system, making smokers more likely to have respiratory infections.

Smoking also causes several autoimmune diseases, including Crohn’s disease and rheumatoid arthritis. It may also play a role in periodic flare-ups of signs and symptoms of autoimmune diseases. Smoking doubles your risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis.

SMOKING AND CANCER

Smoking can cause cancer almost anywhere in your body:

·         Bladder

·         Blood (acute myeloid leukemia)

·         Cervix

·         Colon and rectum (colorectal)

·         Esophagus

·         Kidney and ureter

·         Larynx

·         Liver

·         Oropharynx (includes parts of the throat, tongue, soft palate, and the tonsils)

·         Pancreas

·         Stomach

·         Trachea, bronchus, and lung

Smoking also increases the risk of dying from cancer and other diseases in cancer patients and survivors

POWER OF HIV & AIDS

HIV (human immune-deficiency virus) is a virus that attacks the immune system, the body's natural defense system. Without a strong immune system, the body has trouble fighting off disease. HIV infects and destroys certain white blood cells called CD4+ cells. If too many CD4+ cells are destroyed, the body can no longer defend itself against infection. Having HIV does not mean you have AIDS. Even without treatment, it takes a long time for HIV to progress to AIDS-usually 10 to 12 years depending on the individual’s immune system.

MODE OF TRANSMISSION

HIV can spread only in certain body fluids from a person infected with HIV: 

·  Blood

·  Semen

·  Pre-seminal fluids

·  Rectal fluids

·  Vaginal fluids

·  Breast milk

The spread of HIV (called HIV transmission) is only possible if these fluids come in contact with a mucous membrane or damaged tissue or are directly injected into the bloodstream (from a needle or syringe). Mucous membranes are found inside the rectum, the vagina, the opening of the penis, and the mouth. 

HIV can also spread from an HIV-infected woman to her child during pregnancy, childbirth (also called labor and delivery), or breastfeeding. This spread of HIV is called mother-to-child transmission of HIV.

You can’t get HIV from casual contact with a person infected with HIV, for example from a handshake, a hug, or a closed-mouth kiss. And you can’t get HIV from contact with objects such as toilet seats, doorknobs, or dishes used by a person infected with HIV. 

KISSING

An important thing to note is that HIV is NOT spread through saliva, but through contact between broken skin, wounds, or mucous membranes and HIV-infected blood or blood-contaminated body fluids. HIV can ONLY be transmitted via kissing if both partners have sores or bleeding gums and blood from the HIV positive partner gets into the bloodstream of the negative partner through this broken or sore skin.

IS HIV AIDS?

HIV is not AIDS.

AIDS stands for Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome:

§  Acquired means you can get infected with it;

§  Immune Deficiency means a weakness in the body's system that fights diseases.

§  Syndrome means a group of health problems that make up a disease.

Being HIV-positive, or having HIV disease, is NOT the same as having AIDS. Many people are HIV-positive but don't get sick for many years. As HIV disease continues, it slowly wears down the immune system. Viruses, parasites, fungi and bacteria that usually don't cause any problems can make you very sick if your immune system is damaged. These are called "opportunistic infections".  You might not know if you are infected by HIV. Within a few weeks of being infected, some people get fever, headache, sore muscles and joints, stomach ache, swollen lymph glands, or a skin rash for one or two weeks. Most people think it's the flu. Some people have no symptoms.

The virus will multiply in your body for a few weeks or even months before your immune system responds. During this time, you won't test positive for HIV, but you can infect other people.

When your immune system responds, it starts to make antibodies. When this happens, you will test positive for HIV. It attacks the body’s defense system called the CD4 cells. One way to measure the damage to your immune system is to count your CD4 cells you have. These cells, also called "T-helper" cells, are an important part of the immune system. Healthy people have between 500 and 1,500 CD4 cells in a milliliter of blood. If you have less than 200 CD4 cells or if your CD4 percentage is less than 14%, you have AIDS.

At 200 CD4 cells, your body can’t fight infections anymore, be it bacteria, virus etc, the body will be prone to opportunistic infections. With the help of anti retroviral drugs, it can help the body build up some energy to fight infections, in other words, without anti-retroviral therapy the system will get so weak and over powered which leads to death.

PREVENTION

There's no vaccine to prevent HIV infection and no cure for AIDS. But it's possible to protect yourself and others from infection. That means educating yourself about HIV and avoiding any behavior that allows HIV-infected fluids — blood, semen, vaginal secretions and breast milk — into your body.

To help prevent the spread of HIV:

·         USE CONDOMS: If you don't know the HIV status of your partner, use a condom every time you have anal or vaginal sex. Women can use a female condom.

Use only water-based lubricants. Oil-based lubricants can weaken condoms and cause them to break. During oral sex use a non-lubricated, cut-open condom or a dental dam — a piece of medical-grade latex.

·         SHARE YOUR STATUS WITH YOUR PARTNER: It's important to tell anyone with whom you've had sex that you're HIV-positive. Your partners need to be tested and to receive medical care if they have the virus. They also need to know their HIV status so that they don't infect others.

·         USE CLEAN NEEDLES: If you use a needle to inject drugs, make sure it's sterile and don't share it. Take advantage of needle-exchange programs in your community and consider seeking help for your drug use.

·         GET MEDICAL CARE DURING PREGNANCY: If you're HIV-positive, you may pass the infection to your baby. But if you receive treatment during pregnancy, you can cut your baby's risk significantly.

AUTOIMMUNE DISEASE/DISORDER

An autoimmune disease develops when your immune system, which defends your body against disease, decides your healthy cells are foreign. As a result, your immune system attacks healthy cells. Depending on the type, an autoimmune disease can affect one or many different types of body tissue. It can also cause abnormal organ growth and changes in organ function.

There are as many as 80 types of autoimmune diseases. Many of them have similar symptoms, which makes them very difficult to diagnose. It’s also possible to have more than one at the same time. Autoimmune diseases usually fluctuate between periods of remission (little or no symptoms) and flare-ups (worsening symptoms).

Autoimmune diseases often run in families, and 75 percent of those affected are women.

WHAT CAUSES THE IMMUNE SYSTEM TO ATTACK HEALTHY CELLS?

The exact cause of autoimmune disorders is unknown. One theory is that some microorganisms (such as bacteria or viruses) or drugs may trigger changes that confuse the immune system.

Also, you may be more susceptible to developing an autoimmune disease if you have a family member with one.

SYMPTOMS

Because there are so many different types of autoimmune disease, the symptoms vary. However, common symptoms are fatigue, fever, and general malaise (feeling ill). Symptoms worsen during flare-ups and lessen during remission.

Autoimmune diseases affect many parts of the body. The most common organs and tissue affected are:

·         joints

·         muscles

·         skin

·         red blood cells

·         blood vessels

·         connective tissue

·         endocrine glands

DISGNOSIS

Ordinarily, your immune system produces antibodies (proteins that recognize and destroy specific substances) against harmful invaders in your body. These invaders include:

·         viruses

·         bacteria

·         parasites

·         fungi

When you have an autoimmune disease, your body produces antibodies against some of your own tissues. Diagnosing an autoimmune disease involves identifying the antibodies your body is producing.

The following tests are used to diagnose an autoimmune disease:

·         autoantibody tests: any of several tests that look for specific antibodies to your own tissues

·         antinuclear antibody tests: a type of autoantibody test that looks for antinuclear antibodies, which attack the nuclei of cells in your body

·         complete blood count: measures the numbers of red and white cells in your blood; when your immune system is actively fighting something, these numbers will vary from the normal

·         C-reactive protein (CRP): elevated CRP is an indication of inflammation throughout your body

·         erythrocyte sedimentation rate: this test indirectly measures how much inflammation is in your body

TREATMENT

Autoimmune diseases are chronic conditions with no cure. Treatment involves attempts to control the process of the disease and to decrease the symptoms, especially during flare-ups. The following is a list of things you can do to alleviate the symptoms of an autoimmune disease:

·         eat a balanced and healthy diet

·         exercise regularly

·         get plenty of rest

·         take vitamin supplements

·         decrease stress

·         limit sun exposure

·         avoid any known triggers of flare-ups

Medical interventions include:

·         hormone replacement therapy, if necessary

·         blood transfusions, if blood is affected

·         anti-inflammatory medication, if joints are affected

·         pain medication

·         immunosuppressive medication

PREVENTION

There is no known prevention for most autoimmune disorders, it just occurs and can re stabilize on its own after a period of time. Reoccurrence is eminent in same individual.

Self medication should be avoided due to certain researches has shown drugs aid in autoimmune disorder. Take medications ONLY prescribed by a qualified medical personnel. Tattoos can as well trigger autoimmune disorders for the skin due to chemicals used in the process.

COMMON AUTOIMMUNE DISEASES

(1)  Immune mediated or type 1- Diabetes mellitus

(2)  Multiple sclerosis

(3)  Rheumatoid arthritis

(4)  Inflammatory bowel diseases

(5)  Systemic lupus erythematosus

(6)  Psoriasis

(7)  Scleroderma

(8)  Autoimmune thyroid disease