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Two conspiracy theories about cola

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Re: Two conspiracy theories about cola

#71

Post by scoot »

teh_klev wrote: post #69
csydas wrote: post #4

Kind of tangential to the article but regarding phosphoric acid and its use as anti-nausea, is this why bubbly white sodas are a household cure for upset stomachs? This was a go-to for my family in the US as a kid when I had a stomach flu (saltines and 7-up), and i guess it was pretty common

As a kid in the 70's growing up in Scotland we were given Lucozade (long before the "energy drink" fad) and quite often Ferguzade (a similar product but made in Scotland) when we were ill. Both had pretty odd tastes back then, almost salty if I remember.

I don't remember Lucozade being anything _but_ a drink for recovery from illness. (Remember the yellow cellophane wrapped bottles?!) I have no idea how it attained this reputation.

These days, Lucozade Sport (in multiple flavours) has taken over, but being "isotonic", presumably has various salts.

Re: Two conspiracy theories about cola

#72

Post by ashtonkem »

csydas wrote: post #4

Kind of tangential to the article but regarding phosphoric acid and its use as anti-nausea, is this why bubbly white sodas are a household cure for upset stomachs? This was a go-to for my family in the US as a kid when I had a stomach flu (saltines and 7-up), and i guess it was pretty common

A long time ago all colas were sold as medicine. I suspect that giving kids with a upset stomach cola is a faint cultural echo of those times, with each parent teaching their kids that soda is a cure for upset stomachs even though they took out the cocaine that might do something a century ago. Interestingly in my house the drink used for this was ginger ale.

That being said, the placebo effect is strong. When I was a little kid, I was only allowed to move from bed to the couch once I’d turned the corner on my illness but wasn’t yet ready to go back to school. To this day I move to the couch when sick, and it makes me feel better even though the only plausible mechanism is my own head. I bet a lot of colas given for upset stomachs are in the same category.

Re: Two conspiracy theories about cola

#73

Post by h2odragon »

toomanybeersies wrote: post #61
h2odragon wrote: post #5

I wonder how much phosphorus in the wastewater stream can be laid at the root cause of soft drinks instead of the fertilizers usually blamed.

If I drank a can of Coke every day, that would equate to 21 g of phosphorus. Grain fields get fertilised with around 250 kg/ha of superphosphate, which contains 20 kg of phosphorus.

All the human waste gets specifically concentrated for treatment, usually; so presumably they'd be mitigating larger levels at that point. I'd assume. My experience in that field ends at leech fields and septic lagoons.

Re: Two conspiracy theories about cola

#74

Post by exporectomy »

giantg2 wrote: post #11
jrmg wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This included 8 hours of vomiting no mater how hard I willed it to stop or other remedies I tried, and it didn't work on the first dose It seems very plausible that after 8 hours vomiting would stop without intervention.

Why? One could say that about any duration, right?

Yes, whatever the duration, you'll eventually stop vomiting some time after taking the medicine. Sometimes by chance it will seem like a remarkably short time from medicine to cure compared to the duration of the sickness. This is how a lot of ineffective traditional medicines "work". For a cold or nausea, nearly everyone will experience their problem fixing itself after taking the medicine and combined with cultural beliefs, use that to convince themselves that the medicine treated the disease. Just look at the number of people online who credit some (real) medicine with some outcome despite the fact that they have no way of knowing causation. Or young people who say "I don't drink FooBar type of alcohol because it makes me vomit." after one occasion getting plastered and ending up vomiting. It's good old mind-tricks of correlation vs causation.

There's a reason real medicine requires preregistered double blind trials. It's just far too easy to get causation wrong without using rigorous scientific methods.

Re: Two conspiracy theories about cola

#75

Post by phonypc »

ncmncm wrote: post #15

There is nothing harmless about liquid fructose, or liquid sugar (which is half fructose). The people who know the most about fructose blame it for the huge public health crisis that the US (and UK, Pakistan, India, and some other countries) are suffering, manifested as insulin resistance and type #2 diabetes, "metabolic syndrome". It kills way more than COVID. Specifically: fructose is mostly processed only by the l…

>fructose absorption is delayed long enough that gut bacteria get most of it

Have a reference for this? Seems implausible, bacterial fermentation of any sugar in the intestines should result in distress, i.e. the same symptoms a lactose intolerant person would have upon drinking milk.

Re: Two conspiracy theories about cola

#76

Post by likpok »

saiya-jin wrote: post #63
smnrchrds wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Coca-colas have a pH of 2.4 to 3 [1]. Stomach acid's pH is 1.5 to 3.5 [2]. So coca-cola has acidity that is very close to that of stomach acid. Water's pH is around 7. I am no doctor, but wouldn't that suggest that drinking water will unbalance stomach's acidity worse than coca-cola will? [1] https://www.ada.org/en/~/media/ADA/Public%20Programs/Files/J... [2] https://medlineplus.gov/ency/article/003883.htm

No, it just means our body knows very well how to regulate less acidic stuff coming in, all day, everyday. One can expect in that case that digestive system is not perfectly balanced around ph of stomach in both directions, but rather overequipped for the most common case, and underequipped for the opposite.

Sure, but stomach acid is more acidic than soda.

Re: Two conspiracy theories about cola

#78

Post by throw_away »

323 wrote: post #50

Fanta contains exactly as much sugar as Cola, yet it doesn't contain phosphoric acid, nor does it cause people to throw up. Q.E.D. Also, the whole premise (sugar causing people to throw up) seems a bit weird. Think about honey, cakes, ...

Fanta & other non-colas do contain citric acid, however, as mentioned under fact #4. If willing, one could simply try the sugar water experiment explained in that same section.

I don't drink soda, so I am not willing, but I am interested as to whether I could just use any food-type acid mixed in water to ease stomach discomfort and dodge this whole sugar/hfcs/fructose/sucrose question entirely.

Re: Two conspiracy theories about cola

#79

Post by bluedino »

nemo44x wrote: post #57

Is it just me or does soda taste better out of a can than out of a plastic bottle? I’ve felt this for many years and have even tested by pouring into glasses. I like the can one better. Is this just me?

Highly scientific test:

https://youtu.be/Hzat3Sv1Vwg

Re: Two conspiracy theories about cola

#80

Post by likpok »

transfire wrote: post #68

Good analysis but the conclusion that people should drink diet cola instead is terrible. For starters just read the warning on the aide of the can.

What warning? About phenylalanine? That only applies to people with a specific dysfunction; phenylalanine is found in lots of food like meat or cheese or beans.
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