Ever since Coca-Cola and Dr. Pepper were invented in the 1880s, soft drinks have been a part of American culture.

Their popularity grew for 100 years until they began to be linked with America's obesity epidemic.

Although Americans have been reducing their consumption of sugary soft drinks since the 1990s, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say that about 17 percent of Americans still drink them on a daily basis.

But it isn't just their link with obesity that has had Americans cutting their soda habit. Many studies have shown that sodas, both regular and diet, can cause many health problems.

Just this week, Japanese researchers linked carbonated beverages with an increased risk of heart attack. Other studies have linked soda to metabolic syndrome and diabetes.

According to Fox, there are three common myths about sodas that should be debunked:

1. A mini-soda is a healthy snack. A Coca-Cola ad campaign promoting it as being good for you includes dieticians paid by Coke to promote the drink as a "healthy snack."

Hogwash. Soda contains no nutrients, except for sugar, which is a type of carbohydrate and is less healthy than other types of carbohydrates, says Fox.

2. A soda daily is OK. A single can of soda contains 10 teaspoons of sugar, more than the American Heart Association advises in an entire day. (They recommend no more than 9 teaspoons per day for men and 6 teaspoons for women.)

3. Soda consumption is still higher than ever. Not true. A study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that the calories consumed per day by Americans from drinking sodas have dropped from 196 in 1999 to 151 in 2009.