Also amusing to me on this site are the two contradictory statements:
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No high fructose corn syrup!
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Ingredients: filtered water, high fructose corn syrup, white grape juice concentrate,…
The OP seems to imply what are the effects from Carbonation. I think everyone will agree Coke etc are just empty calories. So what are the effects if any?
I also agree (most)water does have taste. If you don’t believe it try drinking distilled water. Now that truly has no taste.
It didn’t kill me.
I used to drink 4-5 even six 12 ounce cans of coke a day. The biggest problem for me was Acid Reflux Disease. Caffeine and Sugar addiction are second to this, as I had to drink a coke or I would get a horrible headache until I drank another coke.
I still drink coke today, but I drink considerably less, 1 can in about a week to 10 days. Now, the only ulcers and headaches I get are from day-to-day things like work, school, my girlfriend, etc.
Hope this helps
Ficer67
Um . . . yeah. You have a good point. I will remember that, the next time I have trouble breaking some kind of addiction. :]
Actually didn’t give up caffeine. That was what made the withdrawal all the more perplexing–if not caffeine then what, exactly, was I addicted to in Mountain Dew?
Oh–I thought it tasted good.
Whether one fizzy drink or another tastes nice or gross is just that… a matter of personal taste.
To go back to the OP, just remember the slogan, “Coke adds strife.” There are several effects to be aware of:
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You are taking in large amounts of useless calories, which can contribute to being overweight and unfit. You would have to increase your amount of regular exercise proportionately for there not to be an adverse (weight gain) effect.
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You are taking in large amounts of sugar. This is undesirable in itself (because your body doesn’t need that amount, it’s an overdose).
Also, be aware that your body will burn that sugar for energy before it gets around to using up its own glycogen and fat reserves. So if you’re trying to keep your body weight down, or to lose weight, it’s not a good idea to be drinking sugary drinks or even fruit juice. I know that we tend to think of ‘pure, natural’ fruit juice as ‘good for you’, and in many contexts it is. But for people trying to lose weight, or keep their weight down, it’s very counter-productive. This was one problem I had to deal with in my own efforts to get past my weight problem and learn new behaviours, because I used to really love guzzling fresh fruit juice!
In addition, the high sugar intake can either contribute to the onset of Type 2 diabetes or exacerbate the condition of those who already have it (just Google ‘Type 2 diabetes’ for further info).
- You are taking in caffeine. Caffeine has two related effects, neither of which can in any way be considered beneficial or healthy.
One is that it fools the body into triggering an adrenaline ‘rush’. This isn’t good. The body’s fight or flight response to emergency situations is a great survival mechanism, and works very well. In emergencies, adrenalin can make your heart/lung machine speed up to deliver more energy to achieve faster response and action (such as getting out of harm’s way). But triggering this system artificially, on a regular basis, isn’t good for the system and can deplete its effectiveness. So you may find this part of your body’s natural defence systems is rather burnt out and deficient when you most need it.
Secondly, caffeine disrupts your body’s natural sleep cycle. Good sleep management is one of the simplest steps that people can take to feeling better and healthier. Ingesting a useless drug, with no known postive effects, which disrupts the body’s natural sleep cycle and prevents you from getting the benefits that sleep confers, is very counter-productive.
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You are buying into brand addiction, surrendering to mendacious advertising, and effectively saying that looking after your body and your health matters less than allowing your body to be abused to serve the wealth-augmentation desires of whoever owns these soft drinks companies. They want you to get into the habit of ingesting sweet, fizzy and useless junk so that they can have a bigger car and take nicer holidays. An alternative approach is to say to these companies, ‘Screw you’ and decide that your health matters more than their greed. You only have one body. Look after it and it looks after you. Shove junk into it on a regular basis and the consequences are obvious.
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You may get fooled into switching to the ‘diet’ versions of these drinks. This is very much leaping from the frying pan into the fire, because the ‘diet’ versions rely on chemical nasties like aspartame for their ‘hit’ and sweetness. Do a Google search and you’ll find more than a few websites relating ‘horror’ stories about these artificial sweeteners and their side-effects. Stay well clear!
I’m still learning about all this because I’ve had to work really hard over the past year to deal with my weight problem (thank you for sharing, group hug, yada yada yada) and to find out where I was going wrong.
It may sound dull to recommend ‘moderation in all things’, but it’s actually pretty smart. The occasional indulgence is okay, and there are times to let your hair down and have fun. But you asked for the effects, and now you know.
ianzin
You are buying into brand addiction, surrendering to mendacious advertising…
I was with you, but you lost me here…
I used to drink Coke, simply because there was no alternative for me. I’m a college student with no car and on a budget. I don’t like fruit juices and the only source of beverage within 200 feet of my place is the vending machine. So, when I’m feeling particularly thirsty and my roommates and friends have stolen all beverages from the fridge (LOL), all I can do, is go grab a Coke. It has absolutely nothing to do with any brand addiction.
Let me digress a bit, talking about healthy drinks, what beverages do people recommend here as healthy and safe to be consumed twice or thrice a day? (Don’t say water :))
Caffeine. Mountain is pretty darn caffeinated - more caffeinated than Coke or Pepsi (or other cola drinks) even.
http://www.diet-coaching.com/caffe2.html <-- there’s caffeine intake information on that site.
Moutain Dew has 122mg/l or 40mg per can
What about carbonated water like Perrier??? Is that bad for you?? Is it just as good as water???
NEED ANSWER NOW!
Go to this link for the scoop on carbonated beverages. It’s a pretty legitimate summary of the evidence. Be warned, it’s a PDF file! http://www.health.state.mn.us/divs/hpcd/chp/chppages/pdfs/2002softdrinks.pdf
Basically, the carbonation doesn’t seem to be part of the risk, despite many claims that the acidity of the soda ought to disrupt body chemistry.
The big problem is that carbonated (and other) beverages replace actual nutrition, and the biggest place this is seen is where the female drinks soda instead of milk, and gets deficient in calcium as a result.
So there’s not currently any good evidence that the carbonation is inherently bad for you.
Happy now?
QtM, MD