If you’re drinking soda, you may as well be drinking from the toilet.

Let me rephrase that: If you keep a clean throne, you might be better off drinking that water than anything from a soda fountain.

Before I give you the dirty details, you’ll definitely want to get rid of any nearby soda cups, especially if they’ve come from a convenience store or fast food soda fountain. Don’t finish them, just toss them out.

Trust me on this one.

All clear now? Good… because a new study finds that soda fountains are crawling with bacteria. Not just any bacteria, but coliform bacteria–otherwise known as the nasty little germs that grow in human and animal feces.

Researchers tested 90 soda and water samples from 30 different fast food restaurants in Virginia’s Roanoke Valley. In all, 70 percent tested positive for some form of bacteria–and many of them were resistant to one or more of 11 different antibiotics tested on them, according to the study published in the International Journal of Food Microbiology.

The researchers found 48 percent tested positive for coliform, 17 percent tested positive for Chryseobacterium meningosepticum and 11 percent tested positive for E. coli. They also found species of Klebsiella, Staphylococcus, Stenotrophomonas, Candida, and Serratia.

In plain English, that means there are lots of nasty germs living in those soda machines.

The bacteria appear to love the plastic tubes that send soda (and some of the bacteria) into your cup. Since customers don’t touch those tubes, the researchers believe restaurant workers with dirty hands are likely contaminating them–ironically, probably when they’re cleaning them.

Looks like someone’s not reading those “EMPLOYEES MUST WASH THEIR HANDS AFTER USING THE RESTROOM” signs.

The researchers tested bottled soda to use as a control group and found no contamination. But there are plenty of other reasons to avoid those, too.

Soda has been linked to tooth decay and obesity. Even diet soda can help you pack on pounds–studies have found people who drink diet sodas actually gain weight, and may be even more prone to diabetes.

Soda has also been linked to lower calcium levels, leading to bone loss and osteoporosis. I could go on, but I think most of us know this stuff isn’t very good for us.

Don’t replace soda with other canned or bottled drinks. I’ve been telling you quite a bit lately about the health benefits of coffee and tea, so considering brewing your own and enjoying them–hot or iced–throughout the day.

And if you want some fizz, stick to carbonated water.

Just don’t get it from a soda fountain!

How do you measure your meds?

Too many people use plain old kitchen spoons–the little ones we call “teaspoons” and the larger ones commonly referred to as “tablespoons.”

But these spoons rarely measure out a true teaspoon or tablespoon… and a new study finds that most people who use them either give themselves too much medicine… or too little.

Remember, dosages aren’t suggestions: If you’re on a med, your goal is to take it for the shortest period of time at the lowest effective dose.

Researchers asked 195 former cold and flu sufferers to pour a teaspoon of nighttime flu medicine into kitchen spoons of different sizes.

They didn’t do very well. When they used a medium-sized tablespoon, they gave themselves an average of 8 percent too little. When they used a larger spoon, they poured an average of 12 percent too much, according to the study in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

By the way, the researchers never identified the specific med they used, but the one in their video demonstration at the Cornell Food and Brand Lab looks like one of the many over-the-counter liquids that contain acetaminophen.

That’s a med you don’t need in most cases… and if you do find yourself taking it, you really want to make sure you use precise measurements. Acetaminophen overdose sends more than 100,000 Americans to the emergency room every year, and it’s the leading cause of acute liver failure in the United States.

Many people don’t overdose on it all at once (unless it’s a suicide attempt). Instead, people often take more than one med with acetaminophen without realizing it. Throw in some wrong measurements… and the problems can add up quick, whether you’re taking acetaminophen or any other medication.

And if you don’t overdose… you could end up with an underdose, making the med completely ineffective–yet still exposing you to the risk of side effects.

If you’re not doing so already, be sure to use a true measuring spoon or dosing syringe for your medications.

While you’re at it, don’t just question your measurements– question your meds. Remember, not all drugs are necessary, and a good doctor can help you reduce or eliminate many of your prescriptions.

But you have to be on board–I know one senior who recently told me what she thought was a horror story. She had been ill… and her doctor wouldn’t give her antibiotics.

I began to explain to her that the doctor probably didn’t think her illness was being caused by a bacterial infection, but she cut me off.

“It’s OK,” she said, trying to reassure me. “I went to another doctor and HE gave me my antibiotics.”

I wonder if she’s using a kitchen spoon or a measuring spoon for her unnecessary meds.

Little kids on powerful meds should be about as common as unicorns–and not the ones you’ll find painted on nursery walls.

But alarming new research finds that children 5 years old and under–including tykes as young as 2 years old–are being given some of the most powerful and dangerous drugs in the entire Big Pharma arsenal: antipsychotic meds that in most cases are not even approved for use in young kids.

In fact, a study published in the Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry found that the number of little kids on powerful antipsychotics has doubled in recent years.

These drugs should have no place at all in pediatrics… but the researchers found that 1 in 650 5-year-olds was being given these meds between 1999 and 2001. By 2007, that number doubled to 1 in 329. Overall, 1 in 1,300 children was given these meds from 1999 to 2001, rising to 1 in 630 by 2007, according to the study.

These are the same drugs given to adults to help control powerful psychotic disorders such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder–drugs like risperidone, which can turn an adult’s life upside down with side effects that range from digestive problems, headaches and heartburn to male breast growth, missed menstrual periods, sexual problems and more.

These are powerful medications that alter delicate brain chemistry. It’s bad enough for adults… but we have no idea what kind of damage they can do to little brains that are still growing and developing.

Tots given these meds were often diagnosed with developmental disorders, disruptive behavior disorder or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder–overused diagnoses that can often change from doctor to doctor.

You’d think putting one of these kids on a potent brain drug would be an absolute last resort for the worst cases, and only after everything else has failed.

You’d think… and you’d be wrong.

Less than half of these kids given powerful drugs for supposed mental problems received any actual mental health services or even a visit to a shrink, according to the study.

That’s not falling through the gaps–that’s a massive hole in the system, pulling in more children every single time they’re forced to swallow these needless drugs.

A new study finds yet again that antidepressants–powerful meds used by millions–don’t appear to help most forms of depression.

Don’t expect to hear about this one in the commercials.

Researchers looked at data from six studies involving 718 adults suffering from depression, and found that the benefits of these meds over a placebo for patients with mild, moderate and even severe symptoms were “nonexistent to negligible.”

That’s right–they simply don’t work for the typical depression patient. The study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that these meds may only help the minority of patients with the most severe forms of depression.

Some 27 million Americans take antidepressants. I wonder how many of them know that these dangerous and expensive drugs are unnecessary and ineffective. I’m sure their doctors haven’t told them.

This isn’t a shocking new study–but it might be news to you, because the drug industry does everything it can to hide the ineffectiveness of its biggest sellers.

But there’s a long trail of research here, and it’s all pointing in one direction. One 2008 study found that three common antidepressants were no better than placebos. A 2002 review of 38 studies found that these meds were only ever- so-slightly better than placebos.

A report last year in Wired magazine suggested that some antidepressants currently on the market would never be approved if they had to face new tests against a placebo.

But there’s one thing many antidepressants have that placebos don’t: black-box warnings.

Those are required by the FDA for drugs with the most severe side effects, and while antidepressants may not do much for depression, they’ve created some long and terrifying lists of side effects.

These drugs have been linked to suicidal behavior, especially in teens–ironic for a prescription med that’s supposed to cure depression. Side effects can also include nausea, insomnia, diarrhea and sexual side effects.

Some are even addictive.

And plenty of people who take these meds turn into real- life zombies, robbed of their personality by Big Pharma’s human chemistry set.

There’s a reason placebos are so effective when it comes to treating depression: Many people eventually heal on their own anyway. Folks get the blues, folks get over the blues.

In other cases, there are nutritional problems at the heart of the depression–especially amino acid deficiencies. Drugs can’t help your brain make more serotonin or dopamine, but a good nutritional plan can get your body working the way it should.

An astute medical doctor experienced in natural healing can help you diagnose depression–and overcome it the right way.