A nutrition expert has identified a beverage she advises all her clients to avoid.
Sarah Carolides, who studied at the University of Cambridge, is recognized as a leading authority in the UK on functional medicine and nutrition. Her guidance is worth paying attention to.
One piece of advice Sarah consistently gives her clients is to consume plenty of water.
“I will get so many clients that come to me and they literally have like, one glass of water a day,” she mentioned to UNILAD.
“They might have a few coffees and teas, but there’s just no water.”
If you’re uncertain about the benefits of increasing your water intake, Sarah has provided some insights.
She elaborated: “Your energy goes up, your skin improves. You sleep better. Absolutely everything starts to move when you get your hydration right.”
With this perspective, Sarah often encourages her clients — some of whom are celebrities — to aim for three liters of water a day for a week.
While ample water consumption is recommended, what should be avoided, according to Sarah?
It may not surprise you that when asked, the nutrition expert quickly pointed to Diet Coke.
Explaining her reasoning, Sarah, who serves as the Head of Nutrition at Zooki, stated: “The second ingredient of Diet Coke is called phosphoric acid, and that gets straight into your bloodstream and causes the pH of the blood to drop because it’s acidic.
“The blood then has to make it more alkaline again, so there is evidence that it interferes with calcium absorption, because calcium is a big fat alkaline molecule.”
Further detailing the science, she added: “The blood gets that back, stops it going into the bones to neutralize that acid that’s just come in from those fizzy drinks.”
In simpler terms, Diet Coke is believed to increase blood acidity, potentially impacting bone density and calcium absorption.
This viewpoint is supported by a 2006 study published in the National Library of Medicine, which found that cola consumption was linked to significantly lower bone mineral density (BMD) at the hip joint and hip bone in women.
Similar outcomes were found for diet cola.
“No significant relations between noncola carbonated beverage consumption and BMD were observed,” the study noted.
It’s important to note that not all carbonated drinks contain phosphoric acid, which contributes to their tangy taste.
This ingredient is usually found in dark-colored soft drinks like cola.
Sarah suggested that CBD-infused beverages from TRIP might be a healthier option instead of drinks like Diet Coke.