If we consider the timeline of human history, only a blink of an eye separates pure water as the only beverage from the modern explosion of sugary drinks. This sudden change has taken our bodies by surprise, creating an evolutionary paradox that is influencing global health. What does the research say? And how will our relationship with these concoctions that are so irresistible to so many evolve in the future?
A journey into the liquid time of soft drinks
Our love affair with soft drinks is shorter than we think. For about 315.000 years we humans have only drank water since weaning. Not exactly the crystal clear water that flows from modern taps: rather a natural cocktail of H2O, sediments and various bacteria. A taste adventure that today would make even the bravest of explorers shudder. 13.000 years ago he began to try the first alternative: a kind of beer very light. But then, boom! In the blink of an evolutionary eye, we found ourselves surrounded by an ocean of colorful, fizzy, calorie-laden soft drinks. Our bodies, accustomed to millennia of a zero-calorie liquid diet, found themselves like fish out of water… or rather, like a human in a sea of sugar.
The Sweet Deception of Liquid Calories
Professor Richard D. Mattes of Purdue University has put his finger on the sore point, or rather, on the can. “Liquid calories do not have strong satiating properties, do not suppress hunger and do not elicit compensatory dietary responses,” he has declared. Simply put, our bodies don’t know how to handle this tsunami of liquid sweetness. Think about it: when you drink a glass of water, your body doesn’t think, “Oh, I drank, so I can eat less.” The same goes for soft drinks, but with one crucial difference: They are full of calories that our body does not “register” as food.
Mattes, however, did not limit himself to declarations. Already in the "distant" 2000 he conducted a study that would have made Willy Wonka's eyes shine. For four weeks, he gave a group of people 450 calories of koi cbd delta 9 gummies and other gummy candies, and another group the same amount of calories in soft drinks.The result?Those who ate the sweets felt fuller and compensated by eating less during the day. Those who drank the soft drinks? Not only did they not compensate, but he actually ate slightly more.It’s like the body is saying, “Hey, I didn’t eat anything, I just drank something sweet. I’m still hungry.”
Evolution betrayed by bubbles
But why is our body so “naive” and helpless in the face of soft drinks? The answer lies in the speed with which these liquid calories pass through our digestive system. Metaphorically speaking, it is as if they were taking a highway instead of the scenic route, avoiding activating the hormones that give us the feeling of satiety. This “bug” in our biological operating system, tells us a 2007 study, made sense when all we drank was water. It allowed us to drink without losing our appetite for solid food, which was vital for survival. But now, with sugary drinks everywhere, this ancient adaptation has become a metabolic Achilles heel.
The consequences of this lack of evolution? They are visible on the scales. A study of over 50.000 women showed that increasing sugary drink consumption from one a week to one or more a day leads to consuming an average of 358 extra calories per day. On the contrary, reduce consumption leads to eating 319 fewer calories per day.
Soft drinks, why haven't we evolved?
The question arises: why haven't we evolved to better manage these liquid calories? The answer is simple and a little uncomfortable: there hasn't been any real evolutionary pressure. It sounds harsh, but the fact is that People who drink sugary drinks still live long enough to reproduce. I say this from a technical point of view, it is not a wish that they do not reproduce: I also drink soft drinks. Evolution, as we know, is not interested in our figure, but only in making us survive long enough to pass on our genes.
In any case, there is hope on the horizon. Apart from that related to the introduction of a sugar tax, I mean. Soft drink consumption is decreasing. The warning light comes from the most abnormal soft drink consumers, Americans: they have gone from about 190 liters per capita per year (yes, you read that right) in 1999 to about 150 liters today. To give you an idea, in Italy we consume 54 liters (we are the ones who drink the least soft drinks in Europe). It's a start, but there's still a long way to go. Ultimately, we are the ones who have to take matters into our own hands. Evolution has given us a brain capable of understanding these mechanisms. It's up to us to use it to make informed choices, perhaps rediscovering the taste of water. After all, it worked for our ancestors for hundreds of thousands of years. Who are we to argue with such evolutionary success?
