By Dr. Mercola
If the thought of drinking toilet water
makes you cringe, you will probably be none too pleased to find
out that ice served at many fast food restaurants contains more
bacteria than the water found in their toilets. As reported by
the featured article:1
“Scientific tests have shown that ice from branches
of McDonald’s, Burger King, KFC, Starbucks, Cafe Rouge and
Nando’s all had higher levels of bacteria than samples of
water taken from their lavatory bowls.
Experts say it could be due to them being cleaned
more often than the ice machines... The Burger King result
suggested the cause was human contamination, likely to be
from a staff member failing to wash their hands.”
While none of the samples presented an immediate health risk,
four of them contained high enough levels to be considered a
“hygiene risk,” the laboratory warned.
And, while the study was carried out in restaurants in the
UK, the results can be expected to be about the same in the US
as the issue relates not to the water itself, but rather the
bacterial growth that can occur in the ice machine, and/or lack
of hygiene on the part of the workers.
This revelation is similar to an investigation done on
lemon wedges served in restaurants, back in 2008. At that
time, two-thirds of all restaurant lemon wedges were found to be
contaminated with disease-causing bacteria -- including fecal
bacteria. In all, 25 different, and potentially dangerous,
microorganisms were discovered on the wedges.
The fact that people are not keeling over from foodborne
pathogens en masse is proof that your body is equipped to handle
these types of infectious assaults, but that certainly does not
mean there’s no health risk.
Children, the elderly, and anyone with a poorly functioning
immune system are among the most vulnerable. Ironically,
regularly frequenting fast food restaurants and drinking lots of
sweetened beverages is, in and of itself, a factor that will
take a toll on your immune function, which could render you more
susceptible to experiencing health problems from contaminated
ice.
Are You Ready to Ditch Sweetened Drinks Yet?
I’ve been warning you of the many dangers of soda and
sweetened drinks ever since I started this site over 17 years
ago. Americans in particular get a majority of their daily
calories from sugar, primarily in the form of high fructose
corn syrup (HFCS) in soda and other sweetened beverages. Half of
the US population over the age of two consumes sugary drinks on
a daily basis,2
and this figure does not include 100% fruit juices, flavored
milk or sweetened teas, which means the figure is actually even
higher.
Fructose (and especially HFCS) has been identified as one of
the primary culprits in the meteoric rise of obesity and related
health problems—in large part due to its ability to turn on your
“fat
switch.”
The HFCS found in sweetened beverages and most processed
foods is also highly processed and has been found to be
frequently contaminated with
mercury. Add to that the fact that most HFCS is made from
genetically engineered corn, and you have a recipe for poor
health, regardless of whether you’re ingesting it from a can or
a meal...
Please note that freshly squeezed fruit juices also
contain fructose, which will have the same detrimental health
effects as HFCS when consumed in excess, but at least it’s not
processed from GE corn...
Ditching sodas and other sweetened drinks and replacing them
with pure, vitalized structured water, I believe, is one of the
most powerful actions you can take to improve your health and
lower your risk of disease and long-term chronic health
conditions.
Especially when you consider that just one can of
soda per day can add as much as
15 pounds to your weight over the course of a single year,
and increases your risk of
diabetes by 85 percent! Fructose is also a likely culprit
behind the millions of U.S. children struggling with
non-alcoholic liver disease, which is caused by a build-up
of fat within your liver cells. Fructose is in fact very hard on
your liver, in much the same way as drinking alcohol.
How Much Sugar Do You Consume Each Day?
Around 100 years ago, the average American consumed a mere 15
grams of fructose a day, primarily in the form of whole fruit.
Today, 25 percent of Americans consume more than 135 grams per
day (that's over a quarter of a pound!), largely in the form of
soda and other sweetened beverages. Just one 12-ounce regular
soda contains the equivalent of 10 teaspoons of sugar.
Similarly, one eight-ounce glass of orange juice has about eight
full teaspoons of sugar, and at least 50 percent of that sugar
is fructose.
Fructose at 15 grams a day is unlikely to do much if any harm
and may even be beneficial for some. But at nearly 10 times that
amount it becomes a MAJOR cause of obesity and nearly all
chronic degenerative diseases.
As a standard recommendation, I strongly advise keeping your
total fructose consumption below 25 grams per day, or 15 grams a
day if you are insulin resistant, obese, or have high blood
pressure,
high uric acid levels, diabetes or heart disease. To get to
that low a level, you would essentially need to eliminate
processed foods and sweetened beverages from your daily diet,
and make sure everything you put into your mouth is a whole
food. You might need to limit your whole fruit intake as well.
For a list showing the amount of fructose contained in common
fruits, please see this previous
article.
Sugary Drinks Linked to 180,000 Deaths Annually
In 2009, the American Heart Association (AHA) issued a
scientific statement3
about sugar intake and heart health, pointing out that there is
evidence for a relationship between the two. According to the
abstract:
“High intakes of dietary sugars in the setting of a
worldwide pandemic of obesity and cardiovascular disease
have heightened concerns about the adverse effects of
excessive consumption of sugars. In 2001 to 2004, the usual
intake of added sugars for Americans was 22.2 teaspoons per
day... Between 1970 and 2005, average annual availability of
sugars/added sugars increased by 19%... Soft drinks and
other sugar-sweetened beverages are the primary source of
added sugars in Americans’ diets. Excessive consumption of
sugars has been linked with several metabolic abnormalities
and adverse health conditions, as well as shortfalls of
essential nutrients...”
The postulated relationship between sugar intake and heart
disease is undeniable at this point. Hundreds of excellent
scientific articles have linked insulin and leptin resistance to
cardiovascular disease much more strongly than cholesterol, and
they are in fact at least partially responsible for cholesterol
abnormalities. For instance, insulin and leptin resistance
result in "small dense" LDL particles and a greater number of
particles, which is much more important than your total
cholesterol number for evaluating heart disease risk. Insulin
and leptin resistance in turn are directly caused by excess
fructose and other sugars in your diet.
As I reported back in April, research presented at the
American Heart Association’s Epidemiology and
Prevention/Nutrition, Physical Activity and Metabolism 2013
Scientific Sessions suggests sugary beverages alone are
responsible for about 183,000 deaths worldwide each year,
including:
- 44,000 heart disease deaths
- 133,000 diabetes deaths, and
- 6,000 cancer deaths
Among the 35 largest countries in the world, Mexico had the
highest death rates associated with sugary beverage consumption.
There, the average consumption of sugary beverages was 24 ounces
per day. The US ranked third, with an estimated 25,000 annual
deaths4
from sweetened drinks.5
(Many might have expected the US to come in first place, but
remember that American processed foods contain far more sugars
than other nations, so Americans also consume a lot of “hidden”
sugar in products other than beverages. This factor was not
addressed in this study.) Interestingly, and quite disturbingly,
the death rates associated with sweetened beverages were highest
in those under the age of 45.
What’s the Healthiest Beverage You Can Drink?
Your body requires a constant daily supply of water to fuel
all the various waste filtration systems nature has designed to
keep your body healthy and free of toxins. Your blood, your
kidneys, and your liver all require a source of good clean water
to detoxify your body from the toxic exposures you come into
contact with every day. Clearly, the most efficient way help
your body both avoid and eliminate toxins is to provide your
body with the cleanest, purest water you can find. This is
easily done by installing one or more types of water filtration
systems in your house.
A whole house water filtration system is ideal, as water
contaminants can be even more hazardous to your health when
absorbed through your skin into your blood stream, bypassing
your gastrointestinal tract. I've written a large number of
articles on the hazards of
tap water,
from fluoride to dangerous chemicals and
drugs, to
toxic disinfection byproducts and heavy metals, so having a
good filtration system in place is more of a necessity than a
luxury in most areas. There's just one water line coming into
your house, so putting a filter on this is the easiest and
simplest strategy you can implement to take control of your
health by ensuring the water and the air in your house is as
clean as possible. To learn more about different types of water
and water filtration systems, please see my
special
report on this topic.
One of my new passions is structured water as pioneered by
Victor Schauburger. Vortexing appears to be one of the best ways
to produce this and I'm currently doing some research to help
define this better.
Another option to consider is to bottle your own water from a
gravity-fed spring. This may be one of the highest quality
waters and may not require vortexing as the water is already
highly structured and full of H3O2. The web site FindaSpring.com6
can help you find natural springs in your local area. As an
added boon, most of these spring water sources are free. Just
remember to bring either clear polyethylene or glass containers
to collect the water so no unsafe chemicals can contaminate your
water, and be sure to wrap them in towels to keep them from
breaking during transport.
Ditching Sweetened Drinks Is the First Step Toward a Healthier
Life
Remember, sweetened beverages (including flavored milk
products, bottled teas, and “enhanced” water products), whether
sweetened with sugar, HFCS, naturally-occurring fructose, or
artificial sweeteners, are among the worst culprits in the
fight against obesity and related health problems, including
diabetes, heart and liver disease, just to name a few. Ditching
ALL of these types of beverages can go a long way toward
reducing your risk for chronic health problems and weight gain.
So what should you drink? Your best most cost
effective choice is to drink filtered tap water. The caveat
though is to make sure you filter your tap water.
Nothing beats pure water when it comes to serving your body’s
needs. If you really feel the urge for a carbonated beverage,
try sparkling mineral water with a squirt of fresh lime or
lemon.
If you struggle with an addiction to soda and other sweets,
try
Turbo Tapping. It's a simple and clever use of the
Emotional
Freedom Technique, designed to resolve many aspects of an
issue in a concentrated period of time.
© Copyright 1997-2013 Dr. Joseph Mercola. All Rights Reserved.