If you are addicted to cola drinks that you are probably addicted to sugar. Sugar as you may or may not know is considered to be an empty calorie. It provides tons of calories with no nutritional value and numerous studies have proven a link between obesity and cola drinkers in the United States. In fact if you drink a cola a day you are also setting yourself up to develop a nice case of Type 2 Diabetes as the high fructose corn syrup in each eight ounce serving contains a whopping 14 tablespoons of sugar.

Let's take the most popular soft drink in the world, Coca Cola, as a nutritional example.

One eight ounce serving of Coca Cola Classic contains 140 calories, most of it from high fructose corn syrup and caffeine. That caffeine helps speed that sugar to your intestines and pancreas causing blood sugar spikes and crashes. These sugar crashes cause a craving for more cola, which provides yet another quick fix to get a sugar high. This is why so many people who drink colas often drink several a day. They are addicted to the sugar in the beverage. Many overweight individuals don't like to admit it but they consume way more cola a day than just eight ounces. Many drink at least three to four servings a day. Four servings adds an additional 560 calories to your diet a day.

Are you any better off drinking Diet Coca Cola? If you look at the ingredients on a can of Diet Coke you will see that aspartame has been added to the mix as a sugar free substitute. However this is absolutely worthless considering that the second highest ingredient in Diet Coke is still that high fructose corn syrup which speeds glucose to the pancreas and brain. This is why it is also easy to get addicted to the mood fix you get from drinking diet coke.

No matter what brand of cola you are drinking most have three ingredients that are harmful to human health.

1. Sweeteners. Sugar in soft drinks (including non-cola drinks) increases weight gain and also the incidence of dental cavities. Non-caloric sweeteners such as saccharin and aspartame can also have undesirable side-effects such as headaches, mouth ulcers and gas.

2. Caffeine. This poor man's "upper" is added specifically to cola drinks. It is a diuretic and can elevate blood pressure. It has been suggested that caffeine is linked to heart attacks, strokes and the development of rheumatoid arthritis. If you are already on a stimulant weight loss supplement you could be asking for trouble.

3. Phosphoric acid. This acid is typically only used in cola drinks, which are very acidic (low pH) compared to other soft drinks. This can increase the rate of enamel loss from teeth. Phosphates in general cause decalcification of bone tissue, accelerating the process of osteoporosis.

Obviously if you care about your health and you want to lose weight then one of your first steps should be to stop drinking cola drinks. It is estimated that you can lose 15 pounds a month simply by cutting all sugary, carbonated drinks from your diet!