Let me start by saying I drink a lot of soda. Sometimes 10 cans a day. I switched to the “Zero” type of sprite and cherry coke since they taste just as good, and have no calories.
I began thinking that the caffeine probably isn’t good for me, although this isn’t a concern with the Sprite, only the Coke. Also all that acid must be really hard on my teeth. So I switched to La Croix sparkling water with natural orange flavor. The ingredients in this are “Carbonated Water, natural flavor”.
The taste difference is huge, i’m giving up a lot of flavor, but it’s still enjoyable. I’m thinking it’s gotta be more hydrating and easier on my teeth, so I put up with it. Then I realized that natural flavor for an orange flavored drink could be citric acid. Exactly what i’m trying to get away from!
So my question is, am I doing myself a favor by drinking these sparkling water drinks over sprite zero? Or is it basically the same thing, or the difference too negligible to matter? Thanks guys!
I’m interested to hear the answer to this as well as I’m in a similar situation to you - I drink Coke Zero and flavoured sparkling waters, and I do wonder if one is a ‘less damaging’ choice than the other. I look forward to reading some knowledgeable replies!
I drink a LOT of La Croix. I don’t know about tooth enamel, but the link between carbonated drinks and bone loss seems to have been pinned more on caffeine than carbonation. Last time I had my bone density tested, it was normal, so it doesn’t seem to be affecting my bone density, at least.
According to the web site, La Croix is pretty much nothing more than flavored water, with the flavors being oils derived from the respective fruits. As for Sprite, LiveStrong says 35 mg of sodium, which is so low as to be completely inconsequential (if you need to restrict sodium intake, there are much easier ways to cut it out, although 10 cans would add up to 350 mg). Of course, it also has citric acid, which the OP is more concerned about. However, carbonated water is in itself acidic, capable of dissolving minerals, as in caves, and that is with much lower atmospheric CO2 concentrations.
I am drinking a Blue Sky zero-calorie stevia-sweetened soda at this very moment. A quick look at the ingredients reveals that it contains citric acid. Doesn’t answer the question about citric acid in La Croix (which I have been drinking more of lately as well), but confirms that they do put it in at least one zero-soda.
Mine also contains 12g of Erythritol. No idea what that it- is shows up as 12g of carbs, but somehow without calories. Weird.
Erythritol is a sugar alcohol (naturally occurring if you are wondering) used as a sweetener and has 0.2 calories per gram, thus your drink really has about 2.4 calories (rounded down to zero; even artificial sweeteners like aspartame contain calories but are used in small amounts). Also, you want to watch your consumption of sugar alcohols since they can produce digestive disturbances; over 50 grams of erythritol can produce nausea, although it doesn’t have laxative effects like sorbitol (responsible for the laxative effect of prunes) and can be consumed in much larger amounts.
One way you can reduce the amount of erosion of the teeth caused by the carbonation is to use a straw when consuming votre beverage du jour.
The straw allows the carbonated beverage to “bypass” the teeth.
Using a straw to drink soda might fight tooth decay
Thursday, September 15, 2005
*”A recent School of Dentistry study found that using a drinking straw might be the best way to fight cavities and soda-induced dental erosion.
Restorative dentistry professor Mohamed A. Bassiouny determined that when positioned correctly, a straw can help decrease the amount of acid from beverages, such as soft drinks, that comes in contact with the teeth. …”*
Especially since “natural” substances contain just as many multiple syllable compounds. In fact, many have so many syllables that we have to shorten them.
I really appreciate all the responses to my thread!
Another point I just discovered that has tipped it for me in favor of La Croix, is cost. Just yesterday I found that I can mix the La Croix 50/50 with tap water and theres no real difference in taste. If anything it cuts down on the carbonation, which seemed excessive to me anyway. This has cut my cost of the product in half. Doing this with Sprite Zero doesn’t work as well, it ruins the taste.
I’ve toyed with the idea of buying carbonated water in 2 liters for 69 cents each and adding lime juice. Think i’ll see how that goes. Any ideas what I could add to simulate the orange flavor tho?
Yeah, I wonder how many people know that ascorbic acid is Vitamin C, or tocopheryl acetate is Vitamin E* (some, but not all, food labels will show the common name after the chemical name, others include vitamins and minerals under a separate listing).
*The scientific name for Vitamin C is (5R)-[(1S)-1,2-dihydroxyethyl]-3,4-dihydroxyfuran-2(5H)-one and for Vitamin E it is [(2R)-2,5,7,8-Tetramethyl-2-[(4R,8R)-4,8,12-trimethyltridecyl]chroman-6-yl] acetate - now try pronouncing those, or remembering what they refer to!
I am not familiar with LaCroix but I drink a lot of sparkling water. Love the stuff, I wish I could get it every where I could get a pop - I would choose it every time.
The flavouring is not going to add significant acidity and sparkling water tends to be more lightly carbonated than pop so it should be marginally less acidic.
My wife drinks a lot of diet coke and has worried about its health effects. There is a lot of folk ‘wisdom’ warning about the dangers of artificial sweeteners but there is little evidence of other than minor issues. The major health issue with soft drinks is empty calories.
You could try Emergen-C. It is about 10 bucks for a box of 100 1000mg packets of flavored vitamin C powder. I really only use them in vodka martinis in the wintertime, but it might be worth a shot. You could play with the strawberry, tangerine, raspberry, AND the orange. Maybe they have other flavors too.
Back in the late 90’s I went from normal pop to diet. Along the way my consumption increased to where I was drinking an average of about 8 cans a day. After a year or so of this, I started getting ferocious headaches. Since I had other issues in my life, I didn’t connect them to the diet pop at first, but eventually I reached a point where the pain would hit the minute I started consuming the stuff each day.
I quit cold turkey and the headaches disappeared.
Now, many years later, I had to quit the sugar’d stuff because of Type II diabetes. I drink the Zero stuff (Cherry Coke Zero) and some diet. I don’t drink quite the amount I used to, but I will notice that if I’m getting up there toward 6-7 cans of it in a day, I will get a mild headache.
Emergen C has too much Vit C to consume more than one packet a day.
OP, Sprite has a artificial sweetener. So far, except in very high doses, this seems to be harmless. In *some *people, it appears to stimulate a desire to consume real sugar.