Is Coca-Cola / Coke Unhealthy?

in moderation no it is not. Just like nearly everything else.

depends...

I am not talking because of sugar.... i heard it has other unhealthy components...

Any product that is carbonated is extremely unhealthy, as it contains carbon dioxide, which is meant to be exhaled and excreted, rather than ingested or inhaled.

So. Yes. Coca Cola is bad for you.

If that is the case then well a whole lot of stuff is bad for you, like vegetables.

All products with High Fructose corn syrup are evil

depends, but I would say yes it's unhealthy...

it has Cafein and some Acids...

and it is still the first company in the world, over Microsoft.

Coca-Cola

Eeek acids, really?
Like more acid than say a vinegar based dressing or hell a nice lemon?

depends in the volume intake

My dentist told me that if you took a tooth and left it in a glass of soda (whatever kind) overnight, that in the morning the tooth would be nearly gone. I don't know if it's true or not.

The next time one of my kids loses a tooth, I'm gonna try it.

absolute myth.
Hell try it with some other items like a small chicken bone, or even a piece of hamburger.

It will clean battery acid.. probably a good sign that it isn't good for you

But that would mean... my dentist is a.... LIAR??

I still wanna try it... so I can tell him I want my money back. :D

do it then, cause yes he is a liar.

Aspartame bad.

i don't think its totally bad for you. just don't drink too much of it.

It can rip the paint off a car in a matter of hours ......

But it sure does taste nice when there is some rum involved

stick the dirtest penny you can find in a glass of coke overnight, in the morning it will look brand new. I can't think thats very good for you, but I drink it anyways

Claim: A tooth left in a glass of Coca-Cola will dissolve overnight.

Status: False.

Origins: I
I'm melting . . . don't know of anyone who hasn't heard the rumor that too much Coca-Cola rots your innards, and the proof of this can be determined by dropping a baby tooth into a glass of it, then going back the next morning to find most of it eaten away. If Coca-Cola can dissolve a tooth overnight, imagine what it must be doing to your teeth, not to mention your stomach and digestive tract!

All such claims ignore a few salient points:

* Coca-Cola will not dissolve a tooth (or a nail, or a penny, or a piece of meat) overnight.


* Coca-Cola contains acids (such as citric acid and phosphoric acid) which will eventually dissolve items such as teeth (given enough time), but so do plenty of other substances we commonly ingest (such as orange juice). The concentration of acid in these products is so low that our digestive systems are easily capable of coping with it with no harm to us.

* The idea that any substance which can dissolve teeth must therefore damage our teeth if we drink it is nonsensical. We don't hold drinks in our mouths for days at a time ? any liquids we drink simply wash over our teeth very briefly, and our teeth are further protected by their enamel coating and the ameliorating effects of saliva.

Vince Staten describes the legendary version of this tale:

Perhaps you've heard the story. It goes something like this: At Harvard they left a fly in a Coke overnight and the next morning, the fly had been completely dissolved. The name of the university changes and so does the item to be soaked overnight, but the result is always the same: Coke eats it. The lesson is that if it does that to a fly, just think of what it does to your stomach.

To test this theory I swatted two flies: a test fly and a control fly. I put the test fly in a cup of Coke and let it soak for twenty-four hours. I put the control fly in a cup of Roto-Rooter drain cleaner and let it soak an equal length of time.

When I returned to the Coke fly the next day, I discovered, to my surprise, the fly floating around, unscathed. The Roto-Rooter fly, on the other hand, was dissolved down to a couple of tiny fly bits. The Roto-Rooter had also eaten through the bottom of the plastic cup.

Frederick Allen discusses the origins of this rumor in his book on Coca-Cola:

In the fall of 1950, a Cornell University professor named Clive M. McCay testified before a select committee in the U.S. House of Representatives that the sugar in Coke caused cavities. And, he said, the phosphoric acid was a dangerous additive. Giving a vivid account that instantly became part of the national folklore, Dr. McCay described how a tooth left in a glass of Coca-Cola would soften and begin to dissolve in a period of two days.

Coca-Cola's top chemist, Orville May, explained to Hobbs [then president of Coca-Cola] and the company's other executives that anything containing sugar and phosphoric acid ? fresh orange juice, for example ? would dissolve teeth over a period of time. The point was people did not hold food and beverages in their mouths for days on end. They swallowed, and their saliva washed away the sugar and acid before lasting damage was done. Otherwise the whole country would be toothless.

Mark Pendergrast tackles the same subject:

McCay made headlines with his allegations that Coke would eat away the marble steps of the Capitol Building and soften teeth placed in a glass of the beverage. "The molar teeth of rats were dissolved down to the gum line," McCay told the politicians, when "given nothing to drink except cola beverages for a period of six months."

In response, Coca-Cola's head chemist, Orville May, testified that McCay offered a "distorted picture" intended to frighten unsuspecting consumers. May pointed out that the .055 percent level of phosphoric acid was far below the 1.09 percent acid content of an orange and that McCay's studies ignored the neutralizing effect of saliva. Finally, he noted that orange juice or lemonade would also dissolve ten-penny nails and eat holes in the Capitol steps.

We have to agree with Vince Staten's conclusion:

I think there are two lessons here: Don't believe all those Coke stories you hear. And don't, for any reason, let a fly drink Roto-Rooter.

Barbara "truth fairy" Mikkelson

Last updated: 27 February 2001

Try this and show your proof. Also please use a test sample as well and put another dirty penny in lets say a glass of water.

Again will not work. Worst case is you end up with a sticky spot on your car.

Claim: The acids in Coca-Cola make it harmful to drink.

Status: False.

Example: [Collected on the Internet, 2001]

http://www.snopes.com/cokelore/acid.asp

1. In many states the highway patrol carries two gallons of Coke in the truck to remove blood from the highway after a car accident.

2. You can put a T-bone steak in a bowl of coke and it will be gone in two days.

3. To clean a toilet: Pour a can of Coca-Cola into the toilet bowl . . . Let the "real thing" sit for one hour, then flush clean.

4. The citric acid in Coke removes stains from vitreous china.

5. To remove rust spots from chrome car bumpers: Rub the bumper with a crumpled-up piece of Reynolds Wrap aluminum foil dipped in Coca-Cola.

6. To clean corrosion from car battery terminals: Pour a can of Coca-Cola over the terminals to bubble away the corrosion.

7. To loosen a rusted bolt: Applying a cloth soaked in Coca-Cola to the rusted bolt for several minutes.

8. To bake a moist ham: Empty a can of Coca-Cola into the baking pan;rap the ham in aluminum foil, and bake. Thirty minutes before the ham is finished, remove the foil, allowing the drippings to mix with the Coke for a sumptuous brown gravy.

9. To remove grease from clothes: Empty a can of coke into a load of greasy clothes, add detergent, And run through a regular cycle. The Coca-Cola will help loosen grease stains. It will also clean road haze from your windshield.

FYI:

1. The active ingredient in Coke is phosphoric acid. It's pH is 2.8. It will dissolve a nail in about 4 days.

2. To carry Coca Cola syrup (the concentrate) the commercial truck must use the Hazardous material place cards reserved for Highly Corrosive materials.

3. The distributors of coke have been using it to clean the engines of their trucks for about 20 years! Drink up! No joke. Think what coke and other soft drinks do to your teeth on a daily basis. A tooth will dissolve in a cup of coke in 24-48 hours.


Origins: Many
of the entries above are just simple household tips involving Coca-Cola, as provided by Joey Green in his 1995 book Polish Your Furniture with Panty Hose and on his web site. That you can cook and clean with Coke is relatively meaningless from a safety standpoint ? you can use a wide array of common household substances (including water) for the same purposes; that fact alone doesn't necessarily make them dangerous to ingest. Nearly all carbonated soft drinks contain carbonic acid, which is moderately useful for tasks such as removing stains and dissolving rust deposits (although plain soda water is much better for some of these purposes than Coca-Cola or other soft drinks, as it doesn't leave a sticky sugar residue behind). Carbonic acid is relatively weak, however, and people have been drinking carbonated water for many years with no detrimental effects.

The rest of the claims offered here are specious. Coca-Cola does contain small amounts of citric acid and phosphoric acid; however, all the insinuations about the dangers these acids might pose to people who drink Coca-Cola ignore a simple concept familiar to any first-year chemistry student: concentration. Coca-Cola contains less citric acid than orange juice does, and the concentration of phosphoric acid in Coke is far too small (a mere 11 to 13 grams per gallon of syrup, or about 0.20 to 0.30 per cent of the total formula) to dissolve a steak, a tooth, or a nail overnight. (Much of the item will dissolve eventually, but after a day or two you'll still have most of the tooth, a whole nail, and one very soggy t-bone.)

Besides, the gastric acid in your stomach is much stronger than any of the acids in Coca-Cola, so the Coca-Cola is harmless.

The next time you're stopped by a highway patrolman, try asking him if he's ever scrubbed blood stains off a highway with Coca-Cola (or anything else). If you're lucky, by the time he stops laughing he'll have forgotten about the citation he was going to give you.

Last updated: 29 March 2004

All soda is not healthy or too much of it is not healthy, but coke tastes like shit. imo

Here is the link on Snopes debuking the "Tooth" urban legend

http://www.snopes.com/cokelore/tooth.asp

I remember doing this in school when I was 8 or so, the tooth had pretty much decayed after 4 days, it's not fake lol.

it's the sugar that'll get ya

It contains tons of sugar

Sure you did.
Now please repete this experment with something like a piece of bone or hell a tooth if you got one handy.

It's probably healthier now than when it had Coke in it.

YES! Coca-Cola (Coke) is bad for you



So drink PEPSI instead!

believe it or not, Diet Coke is even worse for you.

its like drinking acid.

my mum cleans with coke, i wouldnt drink cif or dettol so i dont often drink coke

Some of you all really concern me.
I need to get into the take advantage of niave people business.

well.. doctors here usually advice us not to drink coca cola or any soda for that matter on an empty stomach.. as it usually leads to ulcers.. and those with ulcers already are advised to drink other beverages aside from sodas or carbonated drinks

There is nothing healthy about it

Now ask your doctor if a glass of orange juice is ok on an empty stomach.

Thats something different.. by fact Coke DOES fuckup your teeth. They dont dissolve overnight but inflict serious issues.

It's good for you if you dilute it with captain morgan!

Coke is one of the worst products we feed our kids.

Here is the link on Snopes debuking the "Tooth" urban legend

http://www.snopes.com/cokelore/tooth.asp

I quit soda back in February and lost weight from it. Since then I've taken up Kempo and I've lost 55 pounds.

I've never felt better physically since I kicked the cola habit and began kempo.

diet RockStar!!!

You folks are missing the major issue with Coke and all soft drinks made in the USA. They DO NOT CONTAIN SUGAR. Sugar is not bad for you in small quantities, they do contain HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP. This stuff is just plain evil.

washingtonpost.com
Sweet but Not So Innocent?
High-Fructose Corn Syrup May Act More Like Fat Than Sugar in the Body

By Sally Squires
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, March 11, 2003; Page HE01

From fruit-flavored drinks to energy bars, a huge array of sweetened foods and beverages crowds grocery shelves, vending machines, restaurant menus, school lunches and kitchens. According to the latest figures from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), consumption of various sweeteners, often in calorie-dense foods and drinks, has risen in the United States from an estimated 113 pounds per person in 1966 to 147 pounds in 2001.

Last week, the World Health Organization (WHO) recommended limiting intake of added sugars found in food and drink to no more than 10 percent of daily calories, a step the WHO said could help stop the worldwide rise in obesity that is fueling the growth of such chronic diseases as type 2 diabetes. The WHO recommendation is far stricter than any that U.S. groups have produced.

But increasingly, it's not just the growing consumption of foods with added sugars that concerns some nutrition experts. What has also changed during the past four decades, the USDA figures show, is the type of sweeteners consumed -- a trend that some studies suggest may help to undermine appetite control and possibly play a role in weight gain.

In 1966, refined sugar, also known as sucrose, held the No. 1 slot, accounting for 86 percent of sweeteners used, according to the USDA. Today, sweeteners made from corn are the leader, racking up $4.5 billion in annual sales and accounting for 55 percent of the sweetener market. That switch largely reflects the steady growth of high-fructose corn syrup, which climbed from zero consumption in 1966 to 62.6 pounds per person in 2001.

While soft drinks and fruit beverages such as lemonade are the leading products containing high-fructose corn syrup, plenty of other items -- including cookies, gum, jams, jellies and baked goods -- also contain this syrup.

...

Fructose is a different story. It "appears to behave more like fat with respect to the hormones involved in body weight regulation," explains Peter Havel, associate professor of nutrition at the University of California, Davis. "Fructose doesn't stimulate insulin secretion. It doesn't increase leptin production or suppress production of ghrelin. That suggests that consuming a lot of fructose, like consuming too much fat, could contribute to weight gain." Whether it actually does do this is not known "because the studies have not been conducted," said Havel.

Another concern is the action of fructose in the liver, where it is converted into the chemical backbone of trigylcerides more efficiently than glucose. Like low-density lipoprotein -- the most damaging form of cholesterol -- elevated levels of trigylcerides are linked to an increased risk of heart disease. A University of Minnesota study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition in 2000 found that in men, but not in women, fructose "produced significantly higher [blood] levels" than did glucose. The researchers, led by J.P Bantle, concluded that "diets high in added fructose may be undesirable, particularly for men."

Other recent research suggests that fructose may alter the magnesium balance in the body. That could, in turn, accelerate bone loss, according to a USDA study published in 2000 in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition.
...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp...nguage=printer

Several people have already answered this question with the right answers:

1. High Fructose Corn Syrup is the Devil for sure. Go Google it and learn why.

2. In Diet drinks, Asparatame have been shown to produce negative effects in many animals, including residual deposits in the brain itself that produced alzheimer-like symptoms in rats far younger than should ordinarily be the case.

3. To replace Asparatame, Pepsi's people ram-rodded the chemical Sucralose (Splenda) through FDA approval in record time using heavy amounts of paid lobbying and donations to the right key figures. No one really knows what the effects of Splenda are on the brain, because no significant long-term clinical testing has been performed in large numbers.

Moderation is always key for sure, none of you should be drinking more than one regular or diet 12oz. drink a day.

yeah.. it maybe unhealthy and all, but it is still coke, i can't quit drinking it..

if you want proof try it yourself, I've done it before and it works.

i drink it every day! and yes. its terrible for you