This place needs some more liveliness.

So, after running across a few opinions over the internet, I got a little curious on the factual position of one of them.

Now, I'm an avid soda drinker. On some occasions (I'm lying- MOST occasions) I typical indulge myself to two or so cans a day. So it was only natural for me to look into some of the dietary benefits/issues of the kind.

When I did my search, I found myself rather confused and even disappointed at the amount of hatred and disgust given to not only soda, but most beverages in general.
Of course, I knew none of these 'warnings' were completely factual from the beginning, but that's not really my question.

My question is: Do you think that the media demonizes such things as snacks and soft drinks? Do they do it for a particular reason? Why?

Please give your opinions.

My opinion:
Yes, I do think that media constantly does this, and I find it to be rather obvious. Sometimes I even find myself offended by the amount of hypocritical things I come across on the matter.

And even in many of the 'articles' I've read through, the writer would use pictures of certain foods and beverages to do his bidding to an extent.
These pictures would contain an aforementioned item overflowing and spilling down it's sides with grease and fat; an utter mess that was really nothing more than a pig's slop.
But I can say that the only thing that really disgusted me more than the images themselves were the amount of people actually falling for such propaganda.

Nope. Soft drinks are actually bad for you, you'll be unhappy to know. This is because refined sugar is bad for you (the reason fruits get away with containing fructose is because the fibre's beneficial). Sugar weakens the immune system, causes inflammation in the body and increases the risk for serious health conditions such as metabolic syndrome, diabetes, heart disease and cancer. Also, because soft drinks mix it in with sodium, it makes you fat as fuck. This isn't just my opinion, it's also medical fact. Google Scholar it if you don't believe the media.

I'm not a massive fan of mainstream media, but they've gotten it right on this one.

It seems that you researched the topic but were unhappy with what you found because it goes against what you're doing. This isn't how a logical person acts.

Switch to water, bro.

You mentioned snacks in your question. Snacks is quite an encompassing term - did you have any specific snacks in mind?

Well no. Typically I'm going to continue drinking my soda and juice. Mainly because it's my personal preference. However, I do know that it is unhealthy to an extent, yes. I wouldn't eveN dare trying to prove otherwise, because I know I'd lose. But I still emphasize the idea that a lot of opinions go to a degree of over exaggeration when it comes to the topic.

Oh, and for the snacks. Just the usual idea that comes to kind for a subject such as this*

Soft drinks are extremely unhealthy - a 395ml can of coke has 40g of sugar, that's 10% sugar! Soft drinks cause damage to your teeth, throat, stomach and are the leading cause of diabetes in the USA.

Soda is one of the worst things in existence today. Please give it up and drink water - it's cheaper too so you can afford some better food and don't have to snack.

On a sidenote, don't ever buy stuff from vending machines, they are a huge rip off - and don't ever buy chocolate bars, chips, soft drinks, etc. They are absolutely terrible for you.

This is not a topic that is out of reach of regular people, go look at the ingredients list on some snacks and soda and see for yourself.

As I've said, I'm not looking for opinions on what I drink. And I personally couldn't care about sugar intake and other facts, as the most I can bare in terms of water is Perrier anyways.
However, aside from this, my question is for opinions on if the media over exaggerates health effects in general.

Our posts (quite obviously) imply that since soft drinks are so bad, no, the media isn't exaggerating.

Soda is indeed bad, but smoking is bad too. You can get fat for eating to many snacks but you could get skinny for not eating so well. My point is that what if media says is bad, people will always do it because it just taste good and they prefer a plate of burgers than a plate of salad. I know there's vegetarians out there but I'm talking about you and the people who are used to these way of "nutrition". Water is the all I say, your body is 70% water therefore you need drink water everyday. Let say, you drink one can of soda, drink one or two bottle of water. You ate some snacks? drink water afterward. I don't tend to eat snacks often or drink soda, I prefer juice/water and healthy balanced food. I do visit wendy's and have some snacks once in a while but I don't do it everyday, I need to mantain a "healthy" way of nutrition but you could break it once in a while , good day!

I don't believe the media are over exaggerating. I mean, they over exaggerate a lot of stuff, but for this particular topic, no way. Basically, I see many people walking around town either sipping a can of coke or munching on a burger (which we already know are bad for you to an extent) and it gets me thinking that maybe the media actually need to raise more awareness of the health effects that these snacks cause.
However, like p0w stated, it's important to maintain a healthy way of nutrition which involves having the 'odd' snack once in a while. The only problem is that many people don't know how to moderate themselves, which could be another matter that needs raising awareness, but that's a different topic..

It's true how bad some of this stuff is, Especially the sugar content in juice boxs (the small ones). Get into the habit of reading the Ingredients and Nutrition Info or whatever on the back of the product.

The thing is, Don't sit around and drink coke and eat fatty snacks all day. I eat pretty bad, but I run/jog a lot and walk everywhere... EVERYWHERE, and do regular work outs 2/3 a week, it may not be enough for some people, but it's enough for me.

Everything is bad for you. Stand in the sun for 3 hours and find out. Sit in the darkness for an extended period of time, You'll lose melanin, Don't eat for 12 hours, Drink a lot of water, I mean a lot. Drink A litre of milk within 2 minutes, The point is In Moderation You'll be fine.

I believe it has a lot to do with which soda you're drinking. It's not the soda that's bad, as long as you keep the ingredients natural.
What's wrong with soda today is that the media treats it like crap, and as a result, most people believe that soda is bad for you, and therefore most companies choose to make cheap, sugary sodas with no nutritional value.

My point it, while media might be right about soda being bad, they also changed the people's view of snacks and soda, they might have made soda worse than it was before.

And why do they do it? It sells. Mothers go crazy about that kinda stuff.
But then, again i'm gonna have to question private media's trustworthyness. If money comes first and truth later, then what's the point of a news channel?
Yeah, talking to you, Fox News

Not English, mind the grammar.