Drinking water is the best way to quench your thirst. Even better it doesn’t come with all the sugar found in most fruit drinks, soft drinks, sports drinks and flavoured mineral waters.
Soft drinks, cordials, sports and energy drinks plus flavoured mineral waters often have large amounts of sugar. In fact a can of soft drink contains around 10 teaspoons of sugar.
Drinking too many sweetened drinks can cause a range of problems including tooth decay, poor appetite, picky eating, change of bowel habits and putting on excess weight. These drinks should only be consumed occasionally not every day.
Another caution with sweetened drinks is the stimulant additive-caffeine. Not only does whole type soft drinks contain large amounts of sugar but they also contain caffeine. High amounts of caffeine are found in energy drinks. There are many side-effects of caffeine consumption particularly with children. These include disturbance with sleep, bed wetting, anxiety and headaches from drinking even small quantities. Consumption by children of cola drinks and particularly energy drinks is best avoided.