DANGER OF COKE & PEPSI -continued

Hey, what do we have here?
The world's first soft drink disguise as a multi-purpose cleaner? Or should it be a multi-purpose cleaner disguise as a soft drink!!!
Besides that, If you pour Coke (yes, the soda) on a slab of pork, wait a little while, you will SEE WORMS crawl out of it.

AND WE DRINK THIS STUFF! Coke & Pepsi ALARMING FACTS!!!

The average pH of soft drinks, e.g. Coke, Pepsi is pH 3.4. This acidity is strong enough to dissolve teeth and bones! Our human body stops building bones at around the age of 30. After that it'll be dissolving about 8-18% of the bones each year through the urine, depending on the acidity of the food intake (acidity does not depend on the taste of the food, but on the ratio of potassium / calcium / magnesium / etc. to phosphorus).

All the dissolved calcium compounds accumulate in the arteries, veins, skin tissue, and organs. This affects the functioning of the kidney (kidney stones). Soft drinks do not have any nutritional value (in terms of vitamins and minerals). They have higher sugar content, higher acidity, and more additives such as preservatives and colourings.

Some people like to take cold soft drinks after each meal, guess what's the impact? Our body has an optimum temperature of 37 degrees for the functioning of digestive enzymes. The temperature of cold soft drinks is much less than 37, sometimes quite close to 0. This will lower the effectiveness of the enzymes and put stress on the digestive system, digesting less food. In fact the food gets fermented. The fermented food produce bad smelling gases, decays and forms toxins, which are absorbed in the intestines, get circulated in the blood and is delivered to the whole body. This spread of toxins can lead to the development of various diseases. Think before you drink Coke or Pepsi or any another soft drink.

Have you ever thought what you drink when you drink an aerated drink? You gulp down carbon dioxide, something that no sane person in the world would advise you to do. Few months ago, there was a competition in Delhi University "Who can drink the most Coke?". The winner drank 8 bottles and died on the spot because too much carbon dioxide in the blood and not enough oxygen. From then on, the principal banned all soft drinks from the university canteen.

Someone put a broken tooth in a bottle of Pepsi and in 10 days it is dissolved! Teeth and bones are the only human organs that stay intact for years after death. Imagine what the drink must be doing to your delicate soft intestines and stomach lining! To all COKE / PEPSI LOVERS, think again the next time before you say " CHUP ".

Fast Food's Hidden Dangers

Every day, about one-quarter of American adults eat at fast-food restaurants. Cheap, tasty, and convenient, fast food is loaded with saturated fat and calories, and it's low in fiber and nutrients. Thanks in large part to fast food, half of America's adults and one-quarter of its children are obese, double the rate of a generation ago. Even some popular chicken nuggets, which many consumers consider a healthier alternative, are flavored with beef extract and contain twice as much fat, ounce for ounce, as a ham burger.

Besides the long-term health risks of a high-fat, high-calorie diet, fast-food chains have indirectly changed the way cattle are fed, slaughtered, and processed, making meatpacking the most dangerous job in America and increasing the risk of large-scale food poisoning. In his new book, Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal, Eric Schlosser describes fast food's hidden dangers.

A Lifetime of Fast Food
Although most of the health problems related to fast food aren't felt until middle age -- obesity and diabetes are at an all-time high --- the damage starts before children enter kindergarten. Hoping to shape eating habits, fast-food chains market heavily to children. About 96% of American school-aged children recognize Ronald McDonald, second only to Santa Claus. Almost every American child eats at a McDonald's® at least once a month.

Fast food runs on cheap labor, usually supplied by teenagers. Child labor laws that restrict work schedules are often ignored at fast-food chains. Although part-time employment can teach teenagers responsibility, teenage boys who work long hours are more likely to abuse drugs and get into trouhle. They also risk getting hurt: Each year about 20,000 teenagers suffer work-related injuries, about twice the adult rate.

Meatpacking Factories: Injuries and Food Poisoning
To keep meat prices low, most slaughterhouses have moved out of big cities and into small towns. Instead of hiring skilled, unionized workers, meatpacking plants frequently recruit recent immigrants who are willing to work hard for low pay on assembly lines that turn living cattle into frozen hamburger at record speed. To keep up the pace, plant workers often abuse methamphetamine. Meatpacking has become the most hazardous occupation in the US, with three times the injury rate of factory work. Each year, at least one-third of all meatpackers are injured on the job.

Concentrating cattle into large feedlots and herding them through processing assembly lines operated by poorly trained employees increase the risk of large-scale food poisoning. Manure gets mixed with meat, contaminating it with salmonella and Escherichia coli 0157:H7. Schlosser reports a US Department of Agriculture (USDA) study that found 78.6% of ground beef contained microbes spread primarily by fecal material. Because of current processing methods, each contaminated carcass is distributed to a large number of people. The typical frozen hamburger that is used in fast-food restaurants contains meat from dozens or hundreds of cattle, multiplying the risk of food poisoning.

E. coli 0157:H7 is one of the worst forms of food poisoning. Usually spread through undercooked hamburgers, it's difficult to treat. Although antibiotics kill the bacteria, they release a toxin that produces dreadful complications. About 4% of people infected with E. coli 0157:H7 develop hemolytic uremic syndrome, and about 5% of children who develop the syndrome die. E. coli 0157:H7 has become the leading cause of renal failure among American kids.

Meat also can become poisoned as it's processed into hot dogs or bologna. The US Food and Drug Administration and the USDA recently warned that children under six and pregnant women should avoid hot dogs and sandwich meats unless they're thoroughly cooked, due to the risk of Listeria monocytogenes infection. Once mixed into food, L. monocytogenes continues to multiply, despite refrigeration. Usually, it causes mild flu-like symptoms, but it can turn deadly in young children. Pregnant women are 20 times more susceptible to infection, which may lead to miscarriage or stillbirth. Each year, L. monocytogenes causes 2,500 serious illnesses and 500 deaths. As food processing is concentrated among fewer and fewer facilities, large-scale contamination becomes more likely. Last year, for example, agricultural giant Cargill recalled almost 17 million pounds of processed poultry products due to the risk of L. monocytogenes.

Jeffrey Zurlinden, RN, MS, is a Nursing Spectrum contributing writer.

Bibliography
Kilman S. Listeria outbreak in Cargill turkey poses problems for meat industry. Wall Street Journal. December 20, 2000:84.
Kulman 1. Pregnant women get no bologna -- or shark or brie. U.S. News & World Report. 2001; 1 30(4}:52.
Marcus M. Organic foods offer peace of mind -- at a price. U.S. News & World Report. 2001;130(2):48-50.
Schiosser E. Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal. New York, NY: Houghton Mifflin; 2001.
US Food and Drug Administration. FDA issues letter to industry on food containing botanical and other novel ingredients. Available at:

http://vm.cfsan.fda.gov/~lrd/tpnovel.html