Diet coke and the addiction

For the benefit of understanding more about diet coke I must take you back to 1886 when a pharmacist named John Pemberton invented Coca-Cola. The drink was intended to be a kind of all-purpose medicine and the first few drinks may have tasted awf

The phosphoric acid used in most dark colas, is added for taste and acidity. The best bone health requires a certain ratio off calcium to phosphorus, and each can of cola contain about seventy milligrams of phosphorus. NYU’s Sharron Dalton explained that phosphorus and calcium are both critical minerals for bone growth and maintenance. In healthy bones, there’s a balance of the two. Get too much phosphoric acid in the body, and calcium reserves are called in to neutralize the acid and restore the stability. Phosphoric acid doesn’t stop there. “The kidneys must bear the burden of all this work. Some studies have linked soda drinking, and the excess of minerals tumbling through the kidneys, with the formation of kidney stones.” (Krieger, 1999) Soft drinks, which contain no calcium, are replacing milk, the major source of calcium in the American diet.

But how much caffeine are we really getting every time we crack open a can? One cup of drip coffee can have about 140 milligrams of caffeine, as diet sodas usually have about 45. This means I would still be getting less caffeine from 5 cans of soda, as opposed to two eight ounce cups of coffee. Having too much caffeine is not the only drawback to soda. “In addition to the caffeine, sugar and artificial flavors in soft drinks, many health experts are concerned about phosphoric acid.”

There is nothing natural about caramel-colored carbonated water; you almost need a chemistry degree to read its ingredients. There’s no mention of vitamins and you wont get any nutritional value from the shiny can but, hey, you won’t get any of those nasty calories either. There is no sound more satisfying to my ears than the pop of a can being opened. I drink four or more cans of diet coke a day. That means that in the past 10 years, I’ve drunk about 5,000 liters of the stuff. I figure that by the time I’m 50, I will have consumed the equivalence of a swimming pool of black liquid. At best, I’m grumpy in the mornings before I’ve had my jolt. At worst, boyfriends have been sent out at all hours for cold silver and red cans. I get irritable and distracted when I don’t have a steady supply in the micro-fridge of my dorm room. I am a confirmed, unashamed diet coke addict. At the risk of being a spokeswoman for either Coke or Pepsi; I will always appreciate the incredible Joy of Cola, and the incomparable taste of the Real th

Some topics in this essay:
Sharron Dalton, Diet Coke, Nowadays Coca-Cola, Drink Association, OJ Simpson, John Pemberton, Standards Agency, Fresca Don’t, Dr Pemberton, NutraSweet Equal, diet coke, phosphoric acid, soft drinks, john pemberton, diet sodas, cans diet,