You may have seen this image making the rounds on social media lately – a powerful reminder of soda’s impact on your health:

But one thing it neglects to mention happens within the first 30 seconds of drinking pop: It damages the enamel covering your teeth. Enamel. The hardest tissue in the human body. The one tissue your body has no way of making more of.

Zoom into a Tooth by Weird_Weird_Science

As enamel is worn away and the more delicate dentin is exposed, the teeth become sensitive and more vulnerable to decay. Research has shown that among heavy soda drinkers, the damage can be as severe as that wreaked by meth and crack.

Of course, soda is merely among the worst offenders. All similarly sugary and acidic drinks are the issue: fruit juice and juice-based drinks, sports drinks, energy drinks, sweetened teas, flavored waters. So even as soda consumption has finally started to go down, enamel erosion continues to be a big problem.

According to research published earlier this year, nearly 80% of adults show some sign of it. Most cases are mild, but 15% had signs of moderate to severe erosion. As we noted before, this is one reason why tooth decay is eventually an issue for virtually all adults.

Along with sugary and acidic snacks, sweetened beverages are a terror for teeth – a fact most recently confirmed in a study published right at the start of this month. This meta-analysis of past studies found that the more sugary, acidic products you consume, the more erosion. They also found that milk and yogurt “had a protective effect.”

And that only makes sense. For one, dairy has also been shown to have a neutral or alkalinizing effect in the mouth. Cheese, especially, may help prevent cavities, according to research published in General Dentistry. It also provides something those other products inherently lack: the nutritional building blocks for remineralizing teeth and bone, keeping them strong and resilient.

There’s a choice that, consciously or not, each of us makes repeatedly each day: Do we give our body what it needs to do its job or do we confound it by throwing up roadblocks to optimal health? Do we support the body’s self-regulating, self-healing capacities or undermine them?

Give your body the nutrition it needs, it knows what to do.