Monday Mix-up - Is Coca Cola really all that bad for you?

In a word: YES. But you knew that already, didn't you? I'm sure most of you have heard the urban legends about coke. There was one doing the rounds a few years back about a tooth being dissolved in a glass of coke overnight etc. Snopes picks the story apart and explains why it isn't an issue. They say that coke has the same acidity as orange juice, probably less, and both have the potential to damage teeth so it's stupid to point the finger at coke.

Ok, so if Snopes has proven that the claim was false, why am I even blogging about this? Well, here's the thing: comparing orange juice to coke is a bit like comparing an apple to a piece of cardboard that has been dipped in mercury. While orange juice may be highly acidic, there are definitely SOME benefits to drinking it whereas, drinking coke has, oh let's see, ZERO benefits.

I find the whole argument on Snopes absolutely typical of something a doctor or a scientist would say actually. No concern for health, only for what can be proven through scientific research. What I find scary is that, even a conventional nutritionist would tell you to drink a coke light rather than a glass of fruit juice! Now, I'm not one to promote fruit juice. Unless the juice is made in a blender right before your eyes, and still contains all the pulpy bits, they're not as full of goodness as you'd like to think.

HOWEVER...

To actually CHOOSE something that is man-made, in a lab, and contains absolutely nothing natural or good, over something that grows from a tree and contains a good amount of all sorts of macro and micro nutrients (in its unprocessed form) is just plain wrong. Forget calories. People are too obsessed with their body fat and not obsessed enough with their health. A glass of coke should NEVER be your first choice, period.

I'm kind of an all or nothing girl. If I know something is bad for me, that's it. It's over and it's out of my life. But I know you get people who live according to the 80/20 rule. That means that 80% of their life is clean, which gives them room to have 20% of it not so clean. If you live like that then, having a coke now and then shouldn't be TOO detrimental to your health, although it should never replace more nutritional options.

Then you get those people who live according to the "life is short and I'll do what I want until the day I die" rule. Other people who fit into this category are the "I have absolutely no clue about health and nutrition and I couldn't tell you what food is good or bad for you because it never entered my head to think about it" people. I think the former are worse than the latter only because they KNOW some things are bad for them, they just have an "I don't care" kind of attitude. The latter are simply too ignorant to consider other options. They don't know options even exist.

The people that fall into the above category are the ones that are really in danger from something that, according to Snopes, is harmless. Let's look at the damage to teeth issue first. The excuse that you'd have to hold coke in your mouth for long periods for it to damage your teeth, is a stupid one in my opinion. If you are drinking 2 or 3 litres of coke a day, that stuff is going to be touching your teeth every time you drink it.

Let's try a quick experiment: If you have a drink nearby, grab a sip and analyse the process of sipping and swallowing. How long does it stay in your mouth? If it's a particularly hot day and I'm feeling like I need some cold liquid to cool me down, I actually hold the liquid in my mouth for a second or two before I swallow it, to really feel the effects. I'm not saying this happens every time, but it happens often enough to notice it. I'd hazard a guess that I'm not alone in doing this. Not everyone grabs a coke and pours it straight down their gullet unless they're in a coke advert. Normal people savour every sip.

I happen to know several people who's drink of choice was always coke. Over a few years, their teeth literally started to turn black around the edges. These were professional people who looked after their teeth, brushing them every day, flossing and using mouthwash etc. The fact is, your average person can't brush their teeth after every glass of coke and, when you are drinking 3 litres a day, that is a lot of exposure to something like coke.

What I find interesting is that you seldom, if ever, see people drinking orange juice by the gallon the way that some people drink coke. Funny that... Why DO people actually include coca cola in their monthly budget and stock up on in as if the coke well is about to dry up? I see families doing their monthly shop with the whole bottom half of their trolleys taken up by 2 litres cokes! Why do they choose it over just about any other drink and why do they drink SO MUCH of it? It's simple.

Coca cola is addictive. Number one: it contains caffeine and number two: it is loaded with sugar, or high fructose corn syrup, a particularly nasty invention. Both are stimulants and both are highly addictive. Your body very quickly comes to rely on the boost that your glass of coke gives you and it struggles to do without it once you're hooked. You can even convince yourself it tastes really good, simply because you're that addicted. I used to be addicted. I drank coke every chance I got when I was a teenager and I thought I loved the taste of it. I found it very interesting that, when I stopped drinking it, and the withdrawals disappeared, I suddenly couldn't even stand the smell of it, let alone the taste. Speaking of the withdrawals, they are highly unpleasant with symptoms such as headaches, nausea, fatigue, loss of concentration and an inability to focus, irritability, constipation, depression, muscle pain and stiffness, flu-like symptoms and insomnia (ironically).

Does that sound like something that is doing your body any good? Here's what happens to your body when you drink a coke:

• 10 teaspoons of sugar hit your system within the first 10 minutes. In case you were wondering, this is 100% of your recommended daily intake. The only reason you don’t vomit as a result of the overwhelming sweetness is because phosphoric acid cuts the flavour.
• Within 20 minutes, your blood sugar spikes, and your liver responds to the resulting insulin burst by turning massive amounts of sugar into fat 
• Within 40 minutes, your body has absorbed all the caffeine; You can tell because your pupils dilate, your blood pressure rises, and your liver dumps more sugar into your bloodstream. 
• Around 45 minutes after drinking a coke, your body increases dopamine production, which stimulates the pleasure centres of your brain - a physically identical response to that of heroin, by the way. 
• After 60 minutes, you’ll start to have a sugar crash and you'll be craving another coke, or something else sweet to give you a boost, and the whole cycle will start again.

Scary, isn't it? But why stop there? Here's another downside to drinking lots of coca cola. The carbonation itself is really bad for you. It causes calcium loss in your bones and this is how:

• The carbonation irritates the stomach 
• The stomach “cures” the irritation the only way it knows how. It adds the only antacid at its disposal: calcium, which it gets from your blood 
• The blood, which is now low on calcium, replenishes its supply from the bones. It has to because, if it didn't, muscular and brain function would be severely impaired. So your bones become weakened over time. 

Unfortunately, that's not all though. Coke contains phosphoric acid (and that's not the same as the carbonation, which is just carbon dioxide mixed with the water). Snopes will tell you it contains very little phosphoric acid. But again, if you are addicted and drinking 3 litres a day, small amounts add up fast. Phosphoric acid also causes your bones to soften and become weak and brittle. So, between the carbonation and the phosphoric acid, you are probably on your way to getting osteoporosis. A big problem is that people choose coke as their drink of choice. In other words, drinks that COULD be replacing some of the calcium loss, like water and milk, are being completely eclipsed by coke, making the effects of coke even worse.

Snopes will tell you that your stomach lining is pretty tough stuff. True story. It is. And that's why coke probably won't damage your stomach. Here's what they DON'T mention:

• Mechanical damage to cells is a huge risk factor for cancer.
• All soft drinks cause acid reflux (stomach acid rising up past the oesophageal valve). It's worse when the body is horizontal (as in sleeping), however, given the sheer volume of coke people drink, it's becoming an issue at any time of the day. Any time you drink a gassy drink, you are going to start burping, and that is going to release acid into your oesophagus. The research doesn’t tell us how much is too much. We DO know that most of us are far, far, far past the limit. 
• Stomach acid is pretty strong stuff as I said. The stomach lining is built to withstand a lot of stuff like coke. But that lining doesn't extend into the oesophagus. That means the lower oesophagus is getting damaged by acid pretty much every time you drink a coke and experience acid reflux. That's going to result in mechanical damage to the cells, which is going to increase cell mutations and that means you at a much greater risk of getting cancer. Oesophageal cancer was very rare two generations ago. Now, it’s extremely common. 

Don't be fooled into thinking that coke zero or coke light are the better option. They aren't for all the reasons set out in the above paragraphs. Sugar replacements like aspartame aren't any better for you than high fructose corn syrup. Aspartame has been linked to numerous diseases and health problems. You should also take into account the fact that whether it's coke, coke light or coke zero, they all contain food dyes and other chemical additives that are known carcinogens, in other words, they cause cancer.

A main ingredient in coke and other soft drinks is tap water. What's wrong with that? A lot, actually if you follow the link. Tap water can contain any number of chemicals including chlorine, trihalomethanes, lead, cadmium, and various organic pollutants.

There is not ONE thing in a coke that is actually good for you and plenty of things that are bad. But, if you still think it's worth it for the kick, please just try and do it in moderation, and for heaven's sake, don't let your kids near it! If it's bad for you, it's only going to be worse for a developing body. You are setting them up for all sorts of future problems.

We are already battling so many environmental toxins that are almost impossible to avoid. Why would you voluntarily add to those by pouring toxins into your body?