What happens to your body if you drink a Coke right now

http://healthbolt.net/2006/12/08/what-h ... right-now/

In The First 10 minutes: 10 teaspoons of sugar hit your system. (100% of your recommended daily intake.) You don’t immediately vomit from the overwhelming sweetness because phosphoric acid cuts the flavor allowing you to keep it down.

I think I will further curtail my consumption of such.

-ramon

Ramon...

General sentiment aside, that's absurd. There's more sugar in a couple tablespoons of strawberry preserves than there is in a can of Coke.

There is 12g sugar per serving (1T) of Smuckers strawberry preverses. There are 39g per serving (12oz) Coke. So your statement is only true if a "a couple" is four. You must eat very large toast!

-ramon

Ramon...

Yes, clearly that depends on the strawberry preserves in question, but this doesn't even pass the sniff test.

An equal amount of freshly squeezed orange juice also contains 39 grams of sugar, but you don't need phosphoric acid to keep you from vomiting up your breakfast drink, fresh from the fruit. And what's more, that 39 isn't 100% of your RDA, it's 13% of the RDA for a 2000 calorie diet. Unless you're only consuming 260 calories per day, in which case, okay, yeah, that's your carbs for the day... but you've got bigger problems.

Admittedly, I'm no nutritionist, but it doesn't take an expert to know that whoever wrote this is either making up information or parroting bad information.

To be clear, I'm not advocating drinking lots of Coke. I don't drink any, myself. All I'm saying is that this clearly isn't a reliable source, and there's no need to continue propagating information that is obviously false.

Actually drinking too much Orange or Apple juice is not healthy for you either. They contain huge amounts of sugar which brainwashed kids and parents think they are feeding something healthy to thier kids. In reality Apple juice makes your kids fat!

Basically best thing to drink is water.... All other drinks are made up of water and additives that give flavor or color! Stick to the original and you will be healthier for it.

polster wrote:Actually drinking too much Orange or Apple juice is not healthy for you either.

Absolutely!

Everything in moderation... including Coke

Dmnkly wrote:Everything in moderation...

...including moderation!

Actually, I heard many years ago that the purpose of the phosphoric acid in coke was to keep you from gagging on the sugar (not vomitting). That was back when they still used mostly sucrose in the beverage. I don't know if that is true. There are sugars, and then there are sugars. Different types of sugar are absorbed and metabolized at different rates and have different effects on the glucose and insulin levels in the body. Now that Coke is made with mostly fructose, I imagine that the net effect is similar to orange juice. However, 39 grams of refined cane sugar would certainly be difficult to ingest. Put 10 teaspoons of white sugar into a 12 oz glass of water, and I bet you have trouble swallowing it (at least I would). If you squeezed some lemon or something else acidic in it, it would be much easier to drink. Which may explain why the sugar in orange juice or jam doesn't make you gag.

Well, I don't know how tasty it would be without some kind of acid to cut it, but that strikes me more as a taste issue than a potability issue. Every pregnant woman takes a glucose challenge that puts 100 grams of pure glucose in a bottle that I think is even smaller than 12 oz, and certainly no larger. And that's just the screening test. I believe the secondary test if you fail the screening test is twice that in the same volume. In any case, the assertion that you can't drink that high of a concentration without acid to cut it is demonstrably false. And my wife drinks her tea even sweeter than that... which I find disturbing, quite frankly, but she seems to love it.

Ramon...

Dmnkly…

You continue to challenge me by name with quibbles regarding an item I linked to. I did not write the piece – address the writers (and copy us all please!) but leave me out of it.

Still, I rise to the bait!

While I vet what I link to, I assume no responsibility with how you interpret it – or how you misread it.

Yes, clearly that depends on the strawberry preserves in question

I would think that Smuckers has one of the highest sugar content of most “strawberry preserves.” By choosing a more natural product I could have further pointed out the fallacy of what you called “absurd.”

An equal amount of freshly squeezed orange juice also contains 39 grams of sugar

It’s actually a bit less but can you really compare HFCS (probably GMF) with the sugar in an orange?

but you don't need phosphoric acid to keep you from vomiting up your breakfast drink, fresh from the fruit

I’d certainly hurl if forced to eat 10t of sugar in a very short time. I’d prefer a shot of whisky to the acid, but I’d go projectile either way.

And what's more, that 39 isn't 100% of your RDA, it's 13% of the RDA for a 2000 calorie diet. Unless you're only consuming 260 calories per day

There is no RDA for refined sugars due to the fact they have perhaps, no nutritional value. The US guideline (recommended daily intake) is no more than 40g for a 2000 calorie diet.

whoever wrote this is either making up information or parroting bad information

I think you are more guilty of this than those who wrote the article.

Every pregnant woman takes a glucose challenge that puts 100 grams of pure glucose

Glucose is not a refined sugar (or HFCS).

And my wife drinks her tea even sweeter than that

Assuming that your “that” refers to Coke (not the Hypoglycemia test solutions referred to in the same paragraph) your wife would have to find a way to dissolve five teaspoons of sugar in her six ounce cup of tea. Even using a simple syrup this is absurd.

-ramon

The variant of HFCS used in soft drinks is usually about 55% fructose/40% glucose. Orange juice is about 50/50 fructose/glucose.

Apple juice is about a 2:1 fructose/glucose ratio, with about 10% being sucrose (so around 60/30/10). Apple juice off the shelf also contains almost exactly 39g of sugars per 12oz. And yes, apple juice is pretty sweet. But I don't gag drinking it.

The sweetener in apple juice is basically HFCS and then some. And yet I bet you (the general you, not anyone in particular) would rather give your kids apple juice than a sprite (38 grams per 12oz, no phosphoric acid, no caffeine).

HFCS is just a certain mixture of fructose/glucose/sucrose/etc. Yes, the different sugars are metabolized differently, but it's not like they're added crack cocaine to the corn syrup.

As to the whole genetically modified thing, well, I don't find it to be much different from selective breeding, and I'm perfectly happy eating kobe beef and campari tomatoes.

Ramon...

First off, let me apologize. In posting, I came off too strong, and pointed my response partly towards you rather than squarely at the article you reference. This was unfair of me, and impolite to boot.

That said, I absolutely stand by my assertion that this claim that Coca-Cola minus phosphoric acid is both vomit-inducing and your full daily recommended intake is, in fact, absurd.

Though I am quite confident that I have consumed strawberry preserves that back up my claim, I am not in possession of said preserves at this time, and thusly will hypothetically stipulate... for the sake of argument in the here and now... that no such preserves exist.

The recommended daily intake numbers I got were from the USDA National Agriculture Library, linked to from nutrition.gov, which specified recommended daily intakes for carbohydrate in general, but listed no guideline for refined sugars, specifically, other than the suggestion that they not exceed 25% of one's total caloric intake. I consider that a reliable source.

As for the purportedly vomit-inducing qualities of 10 teaspoons of refined sugar dissolved in 12 ounces of water with no acid present, I humbly submit the following (with apologies for my late night appearance):


12 oz. of tap water and TWENTY teaspoons of Domino granulated sugar.


The resulting mixture... with fully TWICE the purported vomit-inducing potency. It is worth noting that this took no heating or special mixing to get the sugar to completely dissolve. 10-15 seconds of gentle stirring with a spoon did the trick. As such, I think you'll find that dissolving 5 tsp. of sugar into 6 oz. of tea (half the potency of this mixture) requires no alchemy... just a teaspoon and 5-10 seconds. No other ingredients were added.


Cheers!


Bottoms up! Consumed in one lift. Apologies for the poor quality photo here. It's difficult to photograph yourself in the mirror while drinking. Some entirely subjective observations: Certainly not something I'd choose to drink (other than in a stupid attempt to make a point), but far less objectionable than many other mainstream drinks I've had the misfortune to sample, not overly unpleasant, and not in any way even remotely vomit-inducing. This from somebody who, generally speaking, hates overly sweet drinks. Also, this was, without the slightest doubt, significantly less sweet tasting than my wife's tea. I'd choose a cup of this over a sip of my wife's tea anyday.


Feelin' fine!

And I still am, nearly an hour after consumption. I am feeling no noticeable effects, up or down, and the dinner I ate during the fourth quarter of the Bears game is happily digesting with no signs whatsoever that it plans on making an encore appearance. I hereby pledge that if this state changes in any way, I will honestly report tomorrow morning, or later tonight.

This is not to say that there is nobody out there who might heave after drinking this concoction (or, more importantly, one with half its potency, since that's what we're discussing). I also know people who heave if they taste onions. Heck, I know people who swear on their souls that they heave if they think about eating onions. The point is that the assertion that this is such a ridiculous amount of sugar that the body would typically react in such a violent fashion is... I'll say it again... absolutely absurd. If I must research and list, I must research and list, but I hope you'll concede that there are hordes upon hordes of snacks, drinks and dishes that contain at least as much refined sugar as a can of Coke that receive no such scrutiny, and in many cases are considered perfectly natural, tasty, wholesome treats.

The key word here is treats. As stated above, I think advocating everything in moderation is admirable, including Coca-Cola. However, I believe that going about it by using plainly false information and unevenly applied scare tactics is irresponsible, and I hate to see that type of thing propagating about the net.

Dmnkly wrote:12 oz. of tap water and TWENTY teaspoons of Domino granulated sugar.

Dmnkly,

I've seen great lengths gone to on the Internet, especially in the old wild west days of newsgroups, to prove a point but drinking twenty teaspoons of sugar ranks in the top dozen. Not quite up there with the fellow who insisted, incorrectly, you could trim your toenails with a hand held belt sander or the fellow who contended you could learn all you needed to know about veterinary surgery from a twenty page pamphlet, also incorrect, but still impressive.

Coke, projectile vomiting, sugar and phosphoric acid aside, after reading the linked article I ordered a diet coke with lunch instead of my usual full strength.

Enjoy,
Gary

Dom,

Hmmmmm. I don't know. Can you please do it again with some encoded-timestamp information on the photos? You could have easily done this over the course of a day. Also, please use HFCS next time.

But, seriously. You've had some great posts but this one is an instant classic in my book.

It is interesting to go back and read the comments on the original blog entry that Ramon links to. The author says (four days ago) that he's going to "get his sources together" and post about them. I'm not sure why he didn't have his sources together when he wrote it originally. Oh wait, yes I do: It's because he made it up.

Best,
Michael

There is lots of acid in tea, and I am almost certain they put citric acid in OGTT solution (which actually has 75 gr of glucose). At least when I took the test, the solution was lemon flavored.

In the interest of science, last night, I also dissolved 39 grams of sugar in 12oz. of cold water. I did not intend to drink it, but to taste it. I do not eat much sugar, so I am probably not a good guinea pig. I know for a fact that if I drank a whole glass of sugar water, I would indeed get sick, but then again, I if I drank a whole can of coke or orange juice, I would also get sick. I was hoping somebody with a higher tolerance for sugar would attempt the test.

Nevertheless, I was also actually surprised that the solution was not much sweeter. It was no where near as sweet as maple syrup, cotton candy, a Brach's chocolate cherry or even strawberry jam, which makes me aware of just how much sugar those things contain.

The first couple of swallows were not too bad, but after about 4-5 mouthfuls, I had enough. While it is true that I did not gag, I doubt I would have wanted to finish the whole glass, although I am sure I could have without any problem. I believe Dmnkly that his wife's tea is sweeter, but wow.

Anyhow, I added some white vinegar to the solution, and it not only flavored it (if you can call that a flavor), but it did make it taste much less sweet, and indeed made it easier to swallow. I do think the acidity made the sugar more palatable.

So, as far as I can conclude from my abbreviated test, a person (other than me) could probably drink a glass of sugar solution equivalent to a coke, without gagging or throwing up. It is just not a very pleasant or refreshing experience. However, lowering the PH of the solution actually makes the solution drinkable as a beverage.

I guess I'm having a hard time seeing the economics Coca-Cola would be using behind the decision to add a large amount of sugar to a product only to mask its presence with another added substance. Seems like too many costs when another solution is to simply remove some of the sugar.

39 grams of sugar in 12 fl oz of water is not actually that sweet. 12 fl oz = 355 ml. The density of water is about 1 g per ml so you are adding 39 grams of sugar into a (355 g + 39 g) 394 gram solution which is about a 10 brix solution. Brix is the measurement of soluble solids, usually expressed as grams of sugar per 100 grams of solution. For the record, 100% apple juice is 11.5 brix, 100% orange juice is 11.8 brix, and 100% grape juice is 16.0 brix. Sweet tea is usually around 7 brix. Maple syrup has to be a minimum of 66% sugar (66 brix) to be called maple syrup.

Since Coca Cola has 39 g of sugar in 12 fl oz (~370 g), the brix level is about 10.5. Also, phosphoric acid is used because it has a tangy taste rather than a sour taste that most other acids have (citric, malic, fumaric, etc).

Actual footage of a man who chugged a 32 oz. Big Gulp shortly before going on stage:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oc0Hj3h0nNo

(Warning: graphic content.)

Bridgestone wrote:I guess I'm having a hard time seeing the economics Coca-Cola would be using behind the decision to add a large amount of sugar to a product only to mask its presence with another added substance. Seems like too many costs when another solution is to simply remove some of the sugar.

Nobody is suggesting they are "masking" the sugar. The addition of acid just makes the sugar more palatable (and vice versa). I don't think simply reducing the amount of sugar would have the same effect. Sugar water in any concentration is just not a pleasant beverage to drink, but add a little acidic tang to it, and it tastes fine, even refreshing. You are right that Coca-Cola would probably love to be able to cut the amount of sweetener in their beverage. I read somewhere that for every nickel Coke can cut from the cost of sweetener per 12oz serving, they save $6 billion a year in the US alone.

I think the points being made in this thread about the fact that other beverages contain as much or more sugar than Coke are good. Coke is probably singled-out unfairly. However, it is true that these other beverages (like juice) contain nutrients that Coke does not.

The original article in question makes another dubious claim about phosphoric acid binding with calcium and other minerals and raising the body's metabolism. While it is true that phosphoric acid reacts with calcium. I think it has been disproven that the quantities of phosphoric acid present in soft drinks have an adverse effect on the calcium levels in the body. There was a study that linked the consumption of soft drinks to osteoporosis, which was initially blamed on the phosphoric acid in the drinks. It was later discovered that the reduced bone density in cola drinkers was simply due to the fact that people who consume soft drinks, consume fewer beverages with calcium and other minerals, and that the consumption of phosphorous actually improved bone density.

I am certainly not a bio-chemist, but I also question the notion stated in the article, "The phosphoric acid binds calcium, magnesium and zinc in your lower intestine, providing a further boost in metabolism. This is compounded by high doses of sugar and artificial sweeteners also increasing the urinary excretion of calcium." Maybe somebody with more knowledge can comment on that, but it just doesn't ring true to me. Anything that makes you pee is going to cause you to lose calcium, including water, but does that increase the body's metabolism?

Dmnkly:

I simply cannot argue with your last post ... but I will anyway!

Just kidding!

You the Man!

(I'll still stick with slightly sweetened iced tea for my non-water beverage, at least for today.)

-ramon

G Wiv wrote:Dmnkly,

I've seen great lengths gone to on the Internet, especially in the old wild west days of newsgroups, to prove a point but drinking twenty teaspoons of sugar ranks in the top dozen.

I figured I should probably throw in a postscript here, lest anybody suspect that I'm unconscious on the floor in some kind of sugar-induced coma. I'm not. I would describe the past 10 hours as perfectly normal for me in every way... aside from the part where I drank sugar solution from a measuring cup and posted it on the internet, of course.

Regarding the relative absurdity in attempting such a feat, Gary... well, I'm not certain whether I should be honored or disturbed to have achieved such distinction in your eyes. Probably both

That said, I hope the point was made that this was not at all some crazy stunt, but simply a little more sugar than you probably want to consume in one sitting. Depending on which recipe you're looking at (without going crazy about crunching numbers), I think it's roughly equivalent to a big slice of cherry pie with brown sugar crumble topping, or a french toast breakfast with maple syrup and whipped cream, both of which are frequently consumed along with a cup of coffee, if you wanted to throw the caffeine angle in there. Clearly nothing I want to make a habit of consuming, but perfectly acceptable as a once-in-a-while treat. To be clear, this much sugar water, from a culinary standpoint, is absolutely rephrehensible. I can't imagine why anybody (other than my wife, who deemed the glucose challenge solution "delicious" and "pleasantly sweet") would want to drink it under normal circumstances. But this experiment was by no means any kind of hardship. Just a lot sweeter than I typically like my beverages to be.

Ramon, again, I overstepped in tone and I apologize if I offended. Please understand that it was not meant as a personal attack, but simply continued frustration with the unfortunate epidemic of goofy medical information floating around the net. It's a point I was already sensitive about before marrying a doctor (yup, the hummingbird is an MD), and my sensitivity has only increased since. I suspect the fellow who wrote this post was simply trying to point out that Coke should be considered less of a beverage and more of a treat (I agree!), but I think he plainly went a little nutty with his facts, and this is exactly how urban legends and medical misconceptions get started.

In any case, I will continue to avoid colas as a source of refined sugar, and will instead return to killing myself with aspartame, as usual.

Final postscript, I promise

The lovely hummingbird had a gander at the linked article, and spoke a great deal using many mysterious medical terms that I don't understand one bit. She's the first to say that this is not her medical specialty (she's a pathologist), but in sum, she is quite comfortable stating that while some of the medical information contained therein is true, much if not most of it is exaggerated, misrepresented, or flat out false.

In case anyone was curious to hear a second opinion

Dmnkly wrote:In case anyone was curious to hear a second opinion

(disclaimer: I'm not a medical professional)
A lot of people write a lot of things on the internet. I don't know if one should believe them, let alone test them (on oneself no less! - what you couldn't track down Ramon? ).
That said, thanks Dmnkly (and Ramon)! This thread and you have been wonderfully entertaining

Given the total lack of references in the linked post in question - I thought it was a bunch of spew. For example, and as dv3 questions, the phosphoric acid binding metals in the lower gut is totally out of context at best.
The hummingbird is right about the gross exaggeration/misrepresentation (though I'm no Coke advocate). So she let you do this experiment, why? Oh, right - you did say you were married...

Field Report: I had not one, but two Cokes today during lunch at Katy's. I don't usually drink very many things besides water, but at Katy's it's difficult to drink anything cold excpt sugared soft drinks. I'm here to report that not only did I not vomit, but I enjoyed my lunch very much. Just another data point for those who care.

As far as I know, sugar has no emetic properties. The combination of sugar and phosphoric acid is in fact a relatively potent anti-emetic and is often used by pediatricians and other primary care physicians in treating nausea and vomiting related to viral illnes, overeating or stress...explaining the rationale behind suggesting seven up or other soft drinks in such settings. Colas are probably even more effective in this role, as cola syrup itself has long been known as an anti emetic, and is available in most pharmacies for that purpose. Ginger ale also works well...because of the stomach setteling effect of the ginger (in any form).
The original article is actually riddled with physiologic confusions , half truths and falsehoods (including the assertion that cla and heroin affect the brain in the same way) and should clearly be taken with at least a few grains of salt (though you need to be cautious here as salt in high concentrations can be very pro-emetic to most of us).

kuhdo wrote:The combination of sugar and phosphoric acid is in fact a relatively potent anti-emetic and is often used by pediatricians and other primary care physicians in treating nausea and vomiting related to viral illness

No doubt that is the basis for the old wives' tale that was cited by the blogger, that Coke added phosphoric acid to keep you from vomitting.

kuhdo wrote:As far as I know, sugar has no emetic properties. The combination of sugar and phosphoric acid is in fact a relatively potent anti-emetic and is often used by pediatricians and other primary care physicians in treating nausea and vomiting related to viral illnes, overeating or stress...explaining the rationale behind suggesting seven up or other soft drinks in such settings. Colas are probably even more effective in this role, as cola syrup itself has long been known as an anti emetic, and is available in most pharmacies for that purpose. Ginger ale also works well...because of the stomach setteling effect of the ginger (in any form).
The original article is actually riddeled with physiologic confusions , half truths and falsehoods (including the assertion that cla and heroin affect the brain in the same way) and should clearly be taken with at least a few grains of salt (though you need to be cautious here as salt in high concentrations can be very pro-emetic to most of us).

Khudo, now that you mention it, I can remember my pediatrician giving my Mom some Coke syrup to use to combat car sickness when we were kids. She gave it to us like cough syrup...non-diluted and from a spoon.

Hmm, my grandmother regarded 7Up as a miracle cure for such things but I always assumed (since a certain age, anyway) that it was just a way of justifying a treat and getting a sick kid to experience a placebo effect. Ah, the folk wisdom of 50s housewives!

Coke with crushed ice and dry toast or Saltines is a tried and true way back from the dreaded stomach-flu for many kids. Really does work for most! Coke syrup (fairly yucky tasting as I recall but lots better than cough syrup) works well too.