Cell_Ryda

Just wondering, i drink water all of the time. But like any sane human it gets boring, i was wondering if coke now and then (and not jokes about drugs) is okay. Like will it degrade performance, make you tired or have any other ill effects on your riding/performance.

EatMyA**

no, coke is fine now and then even a can a day will give you no ill effects. I too drink water almost exclusively. if you are worried about getting fat off of it, why don't you just drink it with your meals? That will give a lower insulin spike.

I was staying at a girlfriends house for a week and she would serve diet coke with all the meals. I started getting stomach pains something fierce, and eventually started to get migranes as well that would last all day. She however had no problems with it. Go figure.

I won't touch the stuff anymore.

Cell_Ryda

Not to worried about getting fat, just wondering if caffine or the fake sugar could have a direct effect on my perfromance, you know kinda stuff up my body clock or something along the lines. I find i need something, i went cold turkey from coke for 4.5 months and then went hard back onto it. I think i should have maybe stepped down slowly from it.

gMoneyYo :)

Well I drink chocolate milk, and diet coke... thats it, and am extremely sensitive to caffeine. I just treat the coke like coffee.

And don't worry about the "fake sugar"..
https://pt.wkhealth.com/pt/re/anon/ab...195628!8091!-1

"..according to the current literature, the possible risk of artificial sweeteners to induce cancer seems to be negligible."

alanf

I have to say that I always get a kick out of "scientific" articles that claim that there is no health risk to various synthetic foods of which soft drinks and in particular artificial sweeteners are mentioned.

For the most part the effects of these particular things is generally long term and may crop up in different people in different ways.

Each human being is a separate DNA with it's own code of food needs depending on lifestyle, the state of their physiology which their parents passed on to them and the foods or environment that they lived in. Some people are OK short term with just about any garbage you shove into them. The problems don't generally show up for long periods of time and it may not be obvious that the long term usage of a particular food (even though you gave it up at some point) has come back to haunt you.

I have a friend in particular that is overweight and drinks Diet Pepsi like it's water. Six cans a day. He has (amoungst other issues) MS so bad he can hardly walk. Walking up or down steps is a torture test for him. He is just shy of a wheelchair. If you dare to suggest to him that the D. P. might be a causal factor he gets all upset and says there is no "scientific evidence" of the truth of that. He drinks the "Diet" to limit the calories cause he knows he's overweight and there are tons of studies on "calories"

I know another guy who drank "Diet Coke" like it was going out of style. Probably the same amount or more. He had a Fridge in his office. This guy committed suicide. Now I am not suggesting D.C. increases the likelihood of suicide, but before he died I was starting to study a very old medical system from India called "Ayurveda". One of the diagnostic techniques used to determine a person's state of health is to look at the tongue. Any coating on the tongue that covered up it's normal pink is a sign of some sort of internal problem.

One day I happened to notice that his tongue was actually black. He's the only person I have ever seen with a black tongue. Ayurveda specifies that a brown or black coating on the tongue indicates that the person's Gi tract has been invaded with parasites, fungal infections or has unabsorbed iron. To my mind the acidity in the Coke did damage to the lining of his innards and when it was weakened by the constant attacks, it succumbed to the infections or whatever that are constantly around the body. Your immune system normally takes care of a fantastic number of foreign bacteria fungi etc and indeed needs a lot of them in order to digest food including e. coli etc.

Soft drinks are made with water that has Carbon dioxide dissolved in it. The carbon combines with the water and creates carbonic acid. A constant drinking of this stuff changes the PH balance in your body.

I get headaches when I drink soft drinks and my theory is that the carbonated water makes it through the intestines into the blood and forms little bubbles which tend to go uphill as they are naturally lighter. They then settle in the head and cause pain... aka headaches.
"This is my theory and I'm stickin to it"

If you want a change from water, drink juices and not the types that you see in grocery stores that are made by adding water to a concentrate, because this essentially beats the goodness out of the juices. Get a juicer and make your own.

Another option is to add sweet spices like fennel or anise seed to boiled water. Yes this takes effort, but when I see my friend with MS walk, I thank my lucky stars that I do not have his food and drink addictions. BTW I know other people who have MS and do not drink soft drinks to my knowledge, so I am not suggesting MS is caused by..........

What I am saying is that consuming synthetic foods is consuming a ticking time bomb. I just avoid it and then it's one less thing to be thinking about.

Besides, how likely is it that the soft drink industry is going to do or publish a study that implicates their source of revenue as "bad" for your health.

cyclezealot

When in the US I drink far less Diet Coke. In the EU , aspartame is not allowed. Why. The sugar substitute used in the EU is Splenda.

cyclehen

The Framingham osteoporosis study (2006)showed cola consumption (but not other soft drinks) to be associated with lowered bone mineral density in older women (but not men). I drink a coke daily instead of coffee, and am thinking about stopping for the sake of my bones-- I am a white female with a light build, so I am more at risk anyway. I think if anything, the caffeine and sugar boost in my morning coke probably enhances my athletic performance-- at least it wakes me up and gets me on the road. So, giving it up is a diffficult choice for me. I wouldn't start a cola habit if I had it to do over again.

DataJunkie

My response is simple: just about everything in moderation.
You should be fine.

z415

Ice will modify water enough to keep it from being boring.

gMoneyYo :)

APM in diet coke has a set ADI of 40 mg/kg (50 in the US). There is 180 mg in a can.
I would have to drink 5-6 L of diet coke to surpass that "safe" limit.

The ADI is based off of the all of the best scientific literature at the time. If the FDA were truly worried about APM they wouldn't say that drinking 5 or 6 liters of Diet Coke is "acceptable."

Aspartame's effects have turned into conspiracy theory. If you want to believe those theories over the Annuals of Oncology and many other scientific journals that's fine.
But don't scare people with the idea that something that everyone in developed world (whether they know it or not) consumes daily, is killing them.

People already have to deal with the fact that the Sun hands out one-way tickets to cancer for free.

palookabutt

There may be no confirmed link with cancer, but there have a number of published articles that suggest a link between artificial sweeteners and headaches (see, e.g., Van den Eeden et al., "Aspartame Ingestion and Headaches", Neurology, vol. 44, no. 10, 1994; Bigal and Krymchantowski, "Migraine Triggered by Sucralose—A Case Report", Headache: the Journal of Head and Face Pain, Vol. 46, No. 3, 2006; Tsakirisa et al., "The effect of aspartame metabolites on human erythrocyte membrane acetylcholinesterase activity", Pharmacological Research,Vol. 53, No. 1, 2006). The main take-home point here is that the jury is still out for some afflictions.

Personally I try to stay away from sodas -- diet or otherwise -- since IMO they're an over-priced alternative to tap water. If I get bored with water, I'll spice it up with a splash of lemon juice or lime juice.

Or, if I'm going to squander the money anyway, I'll substitute a nice Shiraz.

alanf

OK I'll bite, what's an ADI ? I Googled it and no joy. And while you're at it what is APM ?

Unless you made a typo I read that D. C. has 180 mg in a can and the ADI (Android Daily Intake) is 40mg so an Android can consume 2/9 ths of a can per day.

And also if one was to drink more than 5 or 6 litres Diet Coke what did the FDA find would happen?

I go back to my statement that the makers of soft drinks are not likely to participate in studies at all as they are not likely to take a chance.

As far as the FDA, that is interesting that they would be willing to go out on a limb and make any kind of recommendations, as governments are getting gun-shy about that sort of thing after getting burned in the courts.
That is the clincher, "the best scientific literature at the time" So you left out all the scientific literature that was published after their decision..... hmmmmmmm. This kinda suggests that until someone does a study to prove something then it is automatically safe.

So would you like to explain the exact studies on which the FDA made such recommendations? Maybe give a link.

See science is kind of a BS system when it comes to health/body/nutrition. If no one has studied something then you can just say that "There is no scientific evidence" and you are right. Sorta makes it sound like everything that has not been studied is not true. So who's gonna lay out the dough to prove something scientifically?

gMoneyYo :)

AMP is aspartame. ADI is acceptable daily intake.
I don't know how much you know about science, and how it works..

Chemist and food scientist at FDA put reasonable limit on food and drink consumed.
If you exceed this limit, you explode.

Soft drink manufacturers do not have to participate in anything. It's science, not politics.
Research published in journals hasn't been touched. Sorry.

"..until someone does a study to prove something then it is automatically safe." It's the opposite.

"See science is kind of a BS system when it comes to health/body/nutrition." I take offense to that statement.

Sorry I'm a physiology/biochem major, have done internships at NIH and HHMI, and am not allowed to argue with Canadians.

You may continue on your crusade to spread the conspiracy theories of your choice. Everything I'm interested in is part of a "BS system" anyway.

alanf

I am not sure where you got the Oncology part from, I didn't mention it (or neoplpasms in any form) and from looking over the thread you seem to be the only one who did. I also did not mention Aspartame, I said artificial foods and chemical sweeteners.

I can picture some researcher in the FDA coming to work in the morning and looking at his in-tray.... Oh no ! not another 5 to 6 litres of Diet Coke again. Here I am a physiology/biochem major, who has done internships at NIH and HHMI and look where it got me...... If I ever get outta this job I'll just put some lemon or lime juice in my water... I wanna move to Canada.... : )

My opinion is similar to palookabutt .

I do not consume artificial sweeteners and most of the people I know have a similar opinion. You can do the science on yourself, if you choose. I only eat preprepared food when I am faced with eat it or starve.

Cell_Ryda

hahahaha your brain.. it is beautiful

gMoneyYo :)

Annuals of Oncology


I choose to be an optimist.

https://www.reason.com/news/show/30228.html
https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php..._risks_of_Alar

There was hysteria in the late '80's over Alar, just because of study done on rats showed it may cause cancer. People went insane.

"..irrational, emotional public scare based on propaganda rather than facts."

The amount of Alar used in the lab tests was equal to 5000 gallons of apple juice a day.


Be reasonable.

z415

^ (2 posts up - I'm slow today...) Thank you.

Other modifications include adjusting how much ice you get, flavoring the ice (lemon juice, sugar, honey, etc.) or just shaking up some honey in your water. Works well, and is cheap.

Also learned in an Econ Development class about cheap methods to save poorer folk overseas and there was something about a fistful of sugar and a pinch of salt to fight any of those various "issues" that result in extreme dehydration. That works too.

alanf

z415
We used to do that in my hang gliding days. We'd fill or half fill (depending on how hot the day was) our camelbacks with water and then freeze it the night before, then add some water to top it off before we left to go flying. We'd have a full day in the hot sun and ice cold water.

caelric

I drink about a six pack of diet pepsi a day. The only possible ill effect is the amount of sodium, which, as I look at a can, is 35 mg, or approximately 1% of the RDA for a 2000 calorie diet. Considering that my diet is actually about 4000 calories/day due to the amount of exercise I get, I think I am doing just fine. Oh, and I have been drinking this amount of diet soda for the last 20 years, and I still happen to be just fine.

Thats about as scientific as alanf's conspdiracy theory diatribe up there.

khill

I drank 1-3 Diet Cokes a day for years......I stopped exactly a year ago, my daily headaches went away and I lost a few lbs....Haven't touched a soda since.....

z415

I recall this kid in middle school who finished 1 2L of Coke every 1 or 2 days. Not surprising that the teeth he had remaining were full of tartar.

An iced up Camelbak is wonderful for hot days. I generally use it for mtb'n, but I face the ire of other roadies and use it for the road when it is very hot. In fact, Team Garmin-Chipotle use(d) a system in which they had this frozen thing (not water, something that was light, but I am not sure what) that slipped into a special made pocket in back of the jersey to cool off the riders. Why not have that and hydration?

And y'all should seriously try the honey - orange blossom preferably - as it is really good. Only problem for me is that if I am at a long light or otherwise sitting around, I tend to drink a bit too much and the fluid sloshes in my stomach uncomfortably. Definitely works better than water in terms of performance, too. I tend to use it for days that aren't hot enough to warrant spraying yourself with water - a face full of honey water can get sticky.

alanf

A close friend of mine's wife is a Pepsi and cigarette junkie and she is just out of hospital. She is getting chemo for breast cancer I believe. She's around mid 50's.

10 Wheels

On Long Rides I get a big boost in Energy from a Coke or Pepsi. It from the Sugar and Caffeine.

caelric

Known carcinogenic of cigarettes: check

most common form of cancer for women: check

approximate age of menopause, which is associated with cancer: check.

I know, lets blame the sodas.

vantassell

What happens when you accidental swallow some air when you're eating? does that go up to your brain too? or do you burp it out?

I hate it when i get little bubbles of carbon dioxide in my blood too, it causes me a lot of problems...until i breathe out.