Impact of soft drinks to health and economy: a critical review

Aims

To provide information regarding the different types of soft drinks and critically reviewing their risk on the dental and general health of children and adolescents, as well as the cost associated with such drinks.

Methods

The literature was reviewed using electronic databases, Medline, Embase, Cochrane library, and was complemented by cross-referencing using published references list from reviewed articles. Search words; soft drinks, juices, carbonated drinks, sports and energy drinks, soft drink and dental diseases, soft drink and health, cost of soft drinks, soft drink advertising, sugar tax on soft drinks were used for this review. In total, 104 papers were reviewed by both authors; of these, 62 papers were found to have relevant information.

Results

The consumption of soft drinks was found to have increased dramatically over the past several decades. The greatest increase in soft drink consumption has been among children and adolescents. Some commercial soft drinks are high in sugar content and acidity. In addition, they supply energy only and are of little nutritional benefit and lack micro-nutrients, vitamins and minerals. Soft drink consumption can contribute to detrimental oral and general health. Efforts have been made by manufacturers and government agencies to reduce the potential harmful effects of sugar-containing soft drinks on teeth and general health. These include banning the sale of soft drinks in schools, restricting soft drinks advertising, modifying the composition of soft drinks and introducing tax on sugar-containing soft drinks.

Conclusions

The consumption of soft drinks with high sugar content and acidity can contribute to detrimental oral health and may also affect general health. Therefore, it is necessary to educate patients about the harmful effects of different types of soft drinks as it is not always easy for individuals to identify from drink labelling the ingredients which they contain.