Soft DrinksSoft drinks are carbonated (obtained by injecting the carbon dioxide gas into the drink) as well as non-carbonated drinks that are prepared from concentrates. However these days they mostly refer to almost all cold drinks that do not have any alcoholic contents. For instance Beverages such as colas, fruit punch, lemonade, and sparkling water are some of the most popular varieties of soft drinks, whereas beverages such as milkshake, hot chocolate, milk, coffee, and tea are not considered as soft drinks.Soft drinks are known by a number of names. For example, in Brazil, the word ‘refrigerante’, meaning "cooler" is used for referring to soft drinks. In India, the term “cool drinks’, or simply ‘cold drinks’ may be used. Japanese mostly call it ‘juice’, whereas, in various regions of Australia, it is called as ‘lolly water’. Among Canadians who are English speakers, the word ‘pop’ may be used. Today soft drinks are extremely popular, and every country has a number of soft drink manufacturing industries. There are a number of multinational industries as well that are extremely popular. These are the Pepsi, Coca-Cola, Sprite, etc. Among these the most well known ones are Coca-Cola and Pepsi. Their ongoing war for supremacy over the other has been popularly termed as the ‘cola wars.’ They may be packaged in a variety of ways. For instance, In the US, they are often sold in one liter bottles, two-liter bottles, 20 and 24 fluid ounce plastic or glass bottles and even 12 ounce cans. They may be packed as a set of six-packs, twelve packs and even in cases of twenty four bottles or cans. However, In Japan, soft drinks in 1.5 liter bottles, or five hundred ml and three hundred and fifty ml cans as well as bottles are much more common. One may also find soft drinks being served as fountain drink that is carbonated drinks. No matter how popular the soft drinks may be, much has been said against these drinks by health experts. It has been said time and again that these drinks are often capable of causing obesity. Also the high acidic nature of the some of the soft drinks manufacturing industries in India has caused many of us to stop and wonder if these can really damage our organs.Demands for imposing taxes and setting strict laws for controlling their manufacture are being made all over the world. But the fact is that in spite of all this no body can really resist the refreshing, often tingling, soft drinks that can brighten up even the gloomiest! |