New Delhi: Controversy seems to have become the middle name for cold drinks in India.
The latest attack on fizzy drinks comes from yoga guru Baba Ramdev who said on Wednesday that soft drinks should be treated as toilet cleaners and advised Indians to drink only fruit juice and milk to keep diseases away.
While teaching yoga to hundreds of people at the Science College ground in Raipur, Ramdev told news agency IANS, "Take hot water, milk or traditional Indian juice and practice yoga everyday early morning rather than consuming cold drinks”.
"Cold drinks have no place in our society, they are basically toilet cleaners. You must get over this Western fast food and cold drinks culture,” he added.
Claiming that regular yoga practice has the potential of producing positive results even in AIDS and cancer, Ramdev called upon Indians to make yoga a household treatment to all kinds of diseases rather than becoming an addict to allopathic treatment.
"You are killing yourself by becoming an addict of allopathic medicines. Just stick to yoga for a healthy and long life," the yoga guru advised people at a three-hour practice session.
Recently, several states had banned soft drinks after the New Delhi-based Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) had reported excessive pesticide content in the colas sold in India.
The CSE report made the Left come out strongly against the Government on the cola controversy and accused it of defending MNCs.
Among the states, which came down heavily on the UPA for backing the cola giants were Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka and Kerala.
In Kerala there was a complete ban on sale and production of cola drinks.
Meanwhile, the government and judiciary in Karnataka are on a collision course over the ban on colas in educational institutions.
The Karnataka government has re-imposed the ban on carbonated soft drinks in educational institutions. The first ban on sale of soft drinks came on August 14.
State Health Minister R Ashok said that the consumption of carbonated beverages was found to result in childhood obesity, diabetes, osteoporosis and tooth cavities. He added that the government is also planning to ban all junk food from schools.
So, now it could be a battle between saving calories and breaking bones. For, apart from adding those extra kilos, colas can also put women at risk of developing an early osteoporosis, a ‘silent’ disease that makes bones prone to fracture, by making them dry and weak, a new US study claims.
The US study suggests that consuming diet, regular and decaffeinated cola could reduce bone density and increase the risk of osteoporosis in women.
Cola drinks — such as Pepsi-Cola or Coca-Cola — seem to increase that risk, according to research published in American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
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