When we wrote 6 Unexpected Reasons to Drink Less Soda, we hadn't seen this great info-graphic illustrating even more reasons to pass on pop.

Via: Term Life Insurance

Highlights from A Sip Of Soda: How Soft Drinks impact Your Health

In addition to the impact of phosphoric acid on teeth and link to osteoporosis and kidney stones, the big baddie in this analysis is sugar, including high fructose corn syrup, for it's link to obesity and obesity related diseases. Most of us know too much sugar is a bad idea, so the authors explain why soda drinkers get addicted anyway:

• "Twenty minutes after drinking a soda, your blood sugar spikes, causing an insulin burst. Your liver responds by turning any sugar into fat.

• Forty minutes later, caffeine absorption is complete. Your pupils dilate; your blood pressure rises; as a response, your liver dumps more sugar into your bloodstream. The arenosine receptors in your brain are now blocked, preventing drowsiness.

• 45 minutes later, your body ups your dopamine production, stimulating the pleasure centers of your brain. This is physically the same way heroin works, by the way."

Still Need Convincing to Cut Out Corn Syrup? Watch Sugar: The Bitter Truth

University of California School of Medicine's Robert Lustig agrees that sugar is the problem. "Toxic" is the word he uses to describe the substance.

Lustig doesn't care whether sugar is derived from sugar cane, beets, or corn. He believes fruit is great but fruit juice is no better than soda. When consumed separately from fiber and other nutrients, sugar is far worse than an empty calorie. To Lustig, it's a poison that triggers a series of disease causing mechanisms and is one of the most addictive substances on earth.

Perhaps the addictiveness of sugar is why more than 2.5 million people have viewed Lustig's video but soft drink and juice sales are still strong.

Great Tasting Water from a Berkey Filter Supports a Low Sugar Diet

With a Berkey Filter, your family can have the cleanest, best tasting water available. In our previous post, we pointed out that, despite conventional wisdom, non-water beverages such as soda, are effective a helping maintain a healthy fluid balance but they are not so helpful with a healthy diet. Depending on your Berkey offers all the benefits of water with none of the costs of sugar.

Berkey Filters and You: Help Readers Kick the Soda Habit

Have you cut sugary beverages from your diet? Please share your healthful tips, favorite low-sugar beverage recipes, and ideas with other readers by posting a comment below.