A can of soda contains an average of 39 grams of sugar. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 49 percent of adults in the United States consume at least one ordinary soda or other sweetened beverage each day, resulting in a significant amount of calories, sugar, and weight gain per year.

While sugar-sweetened or high-fructose corn syrup soda has its own set of dangers, including an increased risk of diabetes and tooth decay, diet soda isn't much better. In fact, studies show that diet soda drinkers are more likely to gain weight and therefore a larger waistline.

1. Tooth decay 
Soda which is full of sugar coats your teeth and gums. In reality, numerous studies have demonstrated how harmful soda can be to your teeth; if left in soda for long enough, human teeth would dissolve. Unfortunately, dental enamel can't be regrown after it's eroded, despite what some toothpaste firms claim - once it's gone, it's gone for good.

2. Hair loss
Soda intake is a major contributor to the rise in diabetes diagnoses, which can lead to hormonal changes that raise your chances of hair loss. Furthermore, studies show that diabetes is a common predisposing factor for alopecia and thyroid disease, both of which can contribute to hair loss. If eliminating soda from your diet and treating diabetes doesn’t help restore your mane, hair transplant can be a good option. 

3. Obesity 
It should come as no surprise that soda consumption has been connected to obesity. While this may be attributed in part to the high-calorie foods that frequently accompany sodas and fizzy beverages, a single can of soda contains 140 calories and is nearly likely to leave you hungry. If you drink a Coke with every meal for 30 days, you could gain more than three pounds by the end of the month. Related: This is the one beverage that is even more harmful for you than soda.

4. Joint pain 
Those nagging aches and pains could be getting worse every time you add a sugary Coke to your shopping cart. According to the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, women who routinely consume sugar-sweetened soda have a higher risk of rheumatoid arthritis, thus now is the best time to eliminate soda from your diet.

5. Kidney problems 
Kidney stones are the result of an accumulation of minerals in the kidneys over time, which finally pass through the urethra, and are often referred to as the most painful pain this side of childbirth. Unfortunately, those who consume a lot of soda are more likely to develop kidney stones; both excessive sugar consumption and dehydration are linked to an increased risk of kidney stones, and soda contributes to both.

6. Diabetes 
If you think that switching to diet soda will help stabilize blood sugar, you’re wrong. Type 2 diabetes has been related to both normal and diet soda. Soda causes your body to convert sugar into fat in your liver. Over the course of six months, fat deposits in your liver may have expanded by as much as 150 percent, raising your diabetes risk factor. Artificial sweeteners, according to a study published in the Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine, may actually boost your desires for real sugar, putting you at risk for diabetes.

7. Excess belly fat  
Soda's refined sugar is quickly absorbed, generating a surge in blood sugar. This spike in blood sugar prompts the release of insulin, which can quickly transform that sugar into fat - especially those pounds around your waist. Fortunately, eliminating soda from your diet can help you lose belly fat by saving you thousands of calories and hundreds of thousands of grams of sugar per year.

8. Heart failure 
By quitting soda today, you may keep your heart healthy and live a long life. Drinking sweetened sodas may contribute to heart failure, according to the British Medical Journal, and heart failure is linked to diabetes, obesity, and uncontrolled blood pressure, all of which have been linked to the regular intake of sodas and other sugary drinks.

9. Receding gums 
If you notice that your gum line is receding quicker than your hair, it's possible that your soda consumption is to blame. Sugars, preservatives, and artificial colorings present in most sodas can get stuck between your teeth. Bacteria feed on the trapped particles, causing degeneration, infection, and the breakdown of gum tissue, which is practically impossible to recover if the area isn't adequately cleaned. Giving up soda now can help you avoid receding gums and maintain your smile healthy and bright as you get older.

10. Heart disease 
If you want to keep your cardiovascular system in good shape as you age, now is the moment to give up soda for good. According to a study published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine, soda drinkers have a higher risk of stroke, heart attack, or death from vascular disease than non-drinkers. In fact, even after controlling for other risk factors for CVD such as smoking, lack of exercise, and poor diet, soda drinkers were more likely to be affected by CVD than non-drinkers.

11. Behavioral problems 
BPA, a chemical used to harden plastics that has been proved to contaminate anything that comes into touch with it, is commonly found in the plastic bottles soda arrives in. Researchers from Columbia University, the National Center for Environmental Health, and the CDC have discovered a relationship between BPA exposure and an increased risk of behavioral health difficulties in children.

12. Unhealthy eating habits
Soda use is directly connected to poor eating habits. Sugar, according to researchers at the University of Bordeaux, can be as addictive as illicit substances, since it activates the same reward areas in the brain as amphetamines and opiates. Unfortunately, this implies that a single soda can have a snowball effect, meaning that one drink makes you want more and more, quickly escalating to out-of-control sugar consumption. Soda is also frequently provided with less-than-healthy meals, such as fast food, generating difficult-to-break food associations. 

13. Stroke 
With each sip of soda, your chance of stroke increases. Soda is directly responsible for increased fat deposits in the body, some of which can lead to artery hardening, especially those near the brain, raising the risk of stroke. Putting down that can of soda and replacing it with water or unsweetened tea is the quickest and easiest method to enhance your vascular health today.

14. Colorectal cancer 
All those bright hues in your Coke could be putting you at risk for cancer. The ammonia-based caramel coloring found in some colas and other non-clear sodas like root beer has been demonstrated to induce cancer in animals. Clear sodas, on the other hand, aren't immune to the dangers of sugar, preservatives, and artificial flavors, all of which can greatly increase your risk of cancer, particularly colorectal cancer.

15. High cholesterol 
By eliminating sodas from your diet now, you can commit to lower cholesterol and a longer life. A single can of soda contains more sugar than you need in a day, according to a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, and a sugar-rich diet has been linked to high levels of LDL, or "bad" cholesterol, and low levels of HDL, or "good" cholesterol. When combined with the sugars that sneak their way into your diet through other meals, each drink of soda puts your health at danger.

16. Gut issues 
The bacteria that live in your intestines can have an impact on everything: from your digestive health to your mental stability, thus gut health is critical to your overall health. Sugar in soda provides food for the bad bacteria while giving little sustenance for the good bacteria that keep you healthy. According to a study published by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, after being exposed to artificial sweeteners in soda, your gut bacteria may react negatively and cause metabolic changes, putting you at risk for obesity, cognitive impairment, and digestive stress, among other health issues.