Birmingham has been named as one of the most hazardous cities in the United States by the American Cancer Society due to the high level of large particulate pollution (soot) that is allowed to be present due to Alabama’s lack of compliance with federal clean air and water laws.
While one cannot deny the affect of pollution in increasing asthma rates in Birmingham new research indicates that consuming excessive amounts of soft drinks increased a person’s chances of having asthma and/or COPD.
A study of 16,907 participants aged 16 years and older in South Australia between March 2008 and June 2010 led by Zumin Shi, MD, Ph.D., of the University of Adelaide published in the journal Respirology on February 7, 2012 confirms the relationship between excessive soft drink consumption and asthma and COPD.
Soft drinks were considered to be Coke, lemonade, flavored mineral water, Powerade, and Gatorade etc.
The increased risk for asthma was 26 percent and for COPD 79 percent for those who drank a quart or more of soft drinks per day versus those who consumed no soft drinks.
The haste to blame all of Birmingham’s asthma and COPD problems on pollution and smoking is belied by the fact that excessive consumption of soft drinks leads not only to obesity and related poor health conditions but has now been demonstrated to be directly related to soft drink consumption.
Like smoking, soft drink consumption is a matter of choice. A person can not drink soft drinks as a matter of their own will and thus reduce their chances of having asthma and COPD.
A comparison of asthma and COPD rates in Birmingham compared to consumption of soft drinks could provide an easy way to reduce some of Birmingham’s major health risks - asthma and obesity.
There is limited hope that such research will occur because the funds are limited and the headlong rush to declare obesity a disease that cannot be controlled by will would prevent such research from being funded. Researchers do tend to protect their income sources.
Likewise the state of Alabama's dependency on tobacco tax as an income source and the pending legislation to increase taxes may curb the 25 percent plus smoking rate in Alabama and reduce the instances of tobacco casued COPD. On the other hand smokers could just buy their tobaccco through the internet.
Journal Reference:
Zumin Shi, Eleonora Dal Grande, Anne W. Taylor, Tiffany K. Gill, Robert Adams, Gary A. Wittert. Association between soft drink consumption and asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease among adults in Australia. Respirology, 2012; 17 (2): 363 DOI: 10.1111/j.1440-1843.2011.02115.x
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