But what would happen to our brains and bodies if we only drank soda?

但如果我們每天都只喝可樂的話，我們的身體以及大腦會發生什麼事呢？

As the drink enters your mouth, its high acid content begins to erode the enamel on your teeth.

當飲料進到你嘴裡時，高度酸性物質會開始腐蝕你牙齒的琺瑯質。

And the microorganisms in your plaque start to feed off the sugar which can lead to cavities.

齒菌斑中的微生物會開始以這些糖份維生，進而導致蛀牙。

Finish the can and you may have consumed upwards of 46 grams of sugar.

喝完一罐可樂後你可能至少會攝取到 46 公克的糖份。

The receptors on your tongue sense this and send a message to your cerebral cortex, activating the rewards center of the brain, which says "More, please!".

你舌頭上的味蕾會感覺到甜味，然後將訊號傳遞到你的大腦皮質層，開始活躍你大腦中心的獎勵機制並釋出：「我還要更多！」的訊息。

After a week of substituting the recommended 8 daily glasses of water for cola instead, you would have consumed around 5432 extra calories.

每天用可樂取代一般建議的八杯水，持續一星期之後，你可能會吸收了 5432 卡的額外卡路里。

And this is one of the biggest health problems linked to carbonated drinks: weight gain.

而這就是碳酸飲料對於健康最大的問題之一：增加體重。

It's been estimated that 1/5 of the weight gain in the U.S. between 1977 and 2007 can be attributed to soft drinks.

據估計，美國於 1977 到 2007 年間，有五分之一的人體重增加的原因得歸咎於軟性飲料。

Furthermore, Yale researchers found that when people drink soft drinks, they also consume more calories, mainly because people don't accurately account for the added calories in their beverage.

不僅如此，耶魯大學的研究學者們發現，當人們在喝軟性飲料的時候其實會攝取更多卡路里，其主要原因是因為人們不會精確的計算他們飲料中額外的卡路里 。

On top of this, the high fructose corn syrup, which is the primary soda sweetener, is not metabolized in our bodies the same way other sugars are.

再者，作為汽水主要甜份來源的高濃度玉米糖漿，與一般糖分在我們身體內代謝的方式並不相同。

They increase liver fat upping the risk of cardiovascular disease, and don't stimulate the hormones Insulin and Leptin.

它們會增加肝脂肪、提升罹患心血管疾病的風險，而且不會刺激胰島素以及瘦素賀爾蒙。

These hormones help the body signal when we're full to prevent overeating.

這些賀爾蒙會幫助我們的身體釋放出避免我們吃過量的訊號。

The disruption of Insulin also increases the risk of diabetes.

對胰島素分泌的擾亂也會增加糖尿病的風險。

Overall research suggests that reducing the amount of sugar in drinks, could prevent 1 million cases of obesity.

總歸而言，研究建議如果降低飲料的糖分，將可以減少一百萬個肥胖案例。

So should we swap in diet drinks instead?

所以我們應該就此就都換成喝零卡飲料嗎？

Surprisingly there's still a link between artificial sweeteners and weight gain as well.

令人意外的是，人工糖份依舊與增加體重之間有一定的關聯性。

Experiments have found that the sweet taste, whether from real sugar or artificial sweeteners, enhances our appetite.

實驗已經發現不論是來自真正的糖或是人工糖份的甜味，都會增加我們的食慾。

Not to mention many diet drinkers allow themselves to eat more because they believe they've already reduced their calories, thinking: "I'm having a diet soda so I can have a large fry with my burger."

更別提許多喝零卡飲料的人都會因為覺得自己已經減少了飲料的卡路里而不小心吃了更多，想著： 「我已經在喝零卡汽水了，所以我的漢堡要配大份薯條。」

But soft drinks can also age us.

但軟性飲料甚至會讓我們變老。

Telomeres are protective caps on the end of our chromosomes, which shortened overtime.

端粒是我們染色體末端的保護帽，會隨著時間變短。

And it turns out that their rate of shortening is nearly the same in a person who drinks six hundred milliliters of soda a day as it is in a smoker.

而我們發現一天喝 600 毫升汽水的人跟吸煙者，兩者端粒縮短的速度是差不多的。

So what if you drank two liters of pop every day?

所以如果你每天喝兩公升的汽水會發生什麼事？

Well, one woman did just that for sixteen years straight, until she was hospitalized at age 31.

這個嘛，有一位女士就真的這樣做了 16 年，直到她 31 歲住進了醫院為止。

With no family history of heart problems, she suffered from arrhythmia and fainting spells, and tests found her severely deficient in potassium, as both fructose and caffeine can lead to potassium loss through urine and diarrhea.

雖然他的家族毫無心臟病病史，他卻飽受心律不整以及昏厥之苦，並在檢測後發現他的體內嚴重缺鉀。這是因為果糖與咖啡因都會透過排尿或是腹瀉而導致鉀的流失。

Luckily our bodies have an amazing ability to recover, and once she quit, her potassium levels and other complications began to rebound.

很幸運地我們的身體有很棒的復原能力，而且在他戒掉汽水之後，體內的鉀含量以及其他元素便開始回歸正常。

Need more science? Here's a playlist of our latest videos that you can binge watch.

想要瞭解更多的科學小常識嗎？這裡是我們影片的清單，你可以開始一口氣看下去。

And if you never want to miss our videos, simply go to our channel on your device's YouTube app and hit the little bell which turns on the notifications for our videos.

如果你不想要錯過我們的影片，你可以從手機裡的 YouTube 應用程式前往我們的頻道，點擊那個小鈴鐺就能打開我們影片的通知囉。

YouTube will send you a message each time we release a video.

每次我們有新影片時， YouTube 就會通知你啦！

And subscribe from our weekly science videos.

快來訂閱我們的每週科學影片吧。