Is soft drink really "soft"?

The most common phrase in our college ,when some one goes to canteen is "lets have a goldcup"(goldcup is a local soft drink brand). It is probably the most sold item in our college. Does it really deserve to be a "best-seller" ?

Basically i dont prefer drinking carbonated drinks.The reason is simple: why should one consume CO2 when it is the most expelled compound from the human body. The only positive point is u are reducing the CO2 level in atmosphere thereby reducing greenhouse effect(Though it sounds good most of the CO2 which we take in is released again to the atmosphere).It sounds worse when people buy "the most expelled compound from human body" at almost 10 times the production cost!! And I am not done yet. Soft drinks are linked to lots of health related problems like obesity, diabetes, dental decay,weaker bones etc. It is also found that some soft drinks contain high levels of Carcinogen or cancer causing agents like benzene(some samples contained levels as high as 11 times the maximum allowed level during testing)
see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soft_drink for more information

But the first time(when I was about 5 years old) I tasted a soft drink I dint like its taste. This was the main reason i dint like carbonated drinks.Probably my 'taste sensors' detected these harmful effects of carbonated drink when I first tasted it!!

The main reason people give for drinking soft drinks is that they feel great specially in a hot day. I dont drink it so I cant comment on it but even chain smokers say that they feel great when they smoke!!
So the next time you are buying a soft drink just think about it!!