Timeline: What Happens After Drinking a Coca-Cola Soda?

Even if you like soft drinks, you can tell by the taste that they are a potion of chemicals and man-made toxins. They don’t taste like anything natural, besides maybe sugar. And unfortunately, diet soda is no sound alternative. So what really happens after you drink a Coca-Cola or a similar soft drink?

Here is what could happen in your body after you drink a can of soda. In the first 10 minutes, it stops you from gagging on the 10 teaspoons of sugar by buffering the sweet stuff with phosphoric acid. Twenty minutes after consumption, your blood sugar levels jump alarmingly.

But the effects of your soda don’t stop there—with changes like increased blood pressure, blocked adenosine receptors (leading to that caffeine high), and increased dopamine production (think heroin). Further, calcium, zinc, and magnesium are depleted from the body.

One of the most prominent ingredients in soda is something called orthophosphoric acid—a compound that must be transported with specially designed cisterns due to its high acidity. The reservoirs are designed to withstand the effects of “highly corrosive materials,” and with each swig of Coke, you are putting this stuff in your body.

Read: Is Diet Soda Bad for You?

This isn’t the only scary ingredient in a can of soda. Coloring E150D, for example, is made of processed sugar and ammonium sulfate—a chemical also found in Monsanto’s best-selling herbicide Roundup and known to increase the symptoms of asthma. Another ingredient E950, also known as Acesulfame Potassium, “aggravates the heart, vascular system, and nervous system.” Other harmful ingredients include citric acid, sodium benzoate, and more.

Lest you think diet soda is any better, diet sodas contain aspartame, a genetically modified component with numerous health risks. Diet soda has been linked to increased risk of kidney problems, altered metabolism leading to heart attack and stroke, obesity, cell damage, and even depression.

Soft drink makers don’t have your health in mind when they create their beverages—even when they create those with “all the taste and none of the calories.” Their primary concern is making money. As a consumer, it’s your job to make health decisions and abandon soda for the benefits of healing beverages like natural vegetable and fruit juices, teas, and filtered water.