6. Calories
A regular (non-diet) soda is loaded with empty calories. The point of eating is to fuel the body while providing nutrition. One twenty-ounce serving of regular soda contains almost three hundred calories—almost all of it in the form of sugar.
7. Cancer
Benzene, a known carcinogen, can form when common benzoate preservatives used in soft drinks are combined with citric/ascorbic acid. (15)
8. Childhood Obesity
There has been a great body of research dedicated to the study of the causes of child obesity, as the number of obese children in the US has tripled since the 1970s. (16) Childhood obesity is of special concern, as it sets the stage for a lifetime of illness. The consensus is that the consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages is directly associated with obesity in children. (17)