son is giving up soda

[StrangerGuy]

I cringe if I have to drink even a small bottle of soda or sports drink on a daily basis. The oversweetness is simply disgusting.

 

[T_Yamamoto]

I cringe if I have to drink even a small bottle of soda or sports drink on a daily basis. The oversweetness is simply disgusting.

Its because you're old.

 

[Mixolydian]

Its because you're old.

This.

 

[KidNiki1]

if he wants to be healthier, he should just drink water.

 

[StrangerGuy]

Its because you're old.

Is 24 too old for not to poison myself with basic sugars on a daily basis?

 

[Sulaco]

So switch to diet and call it a day?

 

[chusteczka]

So switch to diet and call it a day?

Diet sodas have synthetic sweeteners that metabolize into formaldehyde that eventually causes cancer. They also actually accumulate fat.

There is nothing "diet" about a diet soda except for the replacement of natural sugar with synthetic sweeteners.

 

[cKGunslinger]

Anybody that needs 3 jobs has a history of poor decision making. No surprise that this was one of them.

Good luck

Don't you have a front-page thread about your own stupid money decisions?

 

[Matthiasa]

Edit: To make this post less off topic I prefer milk over basically everything else.

The pH is OK, but again, it has almost no buffering ability. These are separate things. It would take a much lower volume of 1M Tris@pH 7.5 to neutralize a soda than 10 mM NaOH@pH 12.

snip

Chemistry was not your strong point I take it?

 

[nanette1985]

Thanks gang for the interesting comments. BTW kid isn't a moron, but he is autistic. He lives in an alternate universe. It's my job to somehow get him through real life on his own. I'm pleased that he made a decision about drinking soda.

 

[jlee]

Problem is that you usually drink much more Gatorade than soda. A can of soda is 12 oz but a gatorade bottle is usally 20-32 oz.

Pepsi Cola and Coca-Cola Classic have 41g of sugar per 12 oz., Mountain Dew has 46g of sugar per 12 oz., Gatorade G Orange has 22g of sugar per 12 oz. of beverage and Red Bull has 40g of sugar. It is common for other soft drinks and juices to have over 40g of sugar per 12-oz. serving.

​

And a 44oz fountain drink from a gas station is bigger than a 32oz Gatorade.

 

[SparkyJJO]

Last I checked gatorade has HFCS in it unless you get the "G2" crap in which case you have the fake sweeteners that do more damage in the long run than HFCS does.

 

[Xyclone]

Gatorade has no caffeine, but plenty of sugar and high levels of electrolytes (Na, K, etc.). If he's not active, it might be even worse than Diet Soda...

It's a step in the right direction, but try to get him to drink more water.

This, water is win.

I would agree with the OP not telling him what's what, at that age with employment, he at least deserves the respect of letting him make his own decisions.

 

[zerocool84]

I'd stick to pop just because it's cheaper and you can buy it in bulk. (ex: a case of 12 vs buying one bottle of Gatorade at a time). Just need to cut down, no need to quit. To those saying water, some people like to have a "recreational" drink sometimes. If you're thirsty, drink water, if you just want to have a drink to go with a bowl of chips or whatever, then pop. Or if eating pizza or a poutine, you need to have a pop, it just goes together!

I lost 10 pounds in a few days by going from 5+ pops a day to 2, some days none. Sugar is very fattening. You don't have to quit, you just have to slow down. This goes with anything. Life is too short to go on super strict diet. My motto is, eat drink and be merry! Just don't overdo it.

What's pop?

 

[bradley]

The pH is OK, but again, it has almost no buffering ability. These are separate things. It would take a much lower volume of 1M Tris@pH 7.5 to neutralize a soda than 10 mM NaOH@pH 12.

The buffering ability of drinking water also varies dramatically between locations, despite the pH remaining fairly constant. Therefore, it's just a bad idea to draw any conclusions from drinking water titration statistics.

Interestingly enough, Gatorade has a higher mean buffering capacity than Coca-Cola.

Sorry if I wasn't more clear, I was referring to the above soda-Gatorade-like concoction suggestion by me.

Baking soda has an approximate pH of 9. Depending on the pH of the water and soda, and other additives (lemon is actually alkalizing after digestion) it could theoretically take 30+ glasses to buffer a glass of soda. Otherwise there isn't much food or drink nearing 9 pH in our daily diets, so it's nearly impossible without sheer volume to buffer all of that acid.

Therefore, acidosis weakens cellular respiration This creates an environment of diminished capacity to use oxygen to convert glucose into energy, further dropping the pH of cells. In absence of oxygen, lactic acid is fermented outside the cell in order to transfer glucose into ATP, eventually disrupting DNA and RNA cellular division.

 

[bradley]

Thanks gang for the interesting comments. BTW kid isn't a moron, but he is autistic. He lives in an alternate universe. It's my job to somehow get him through real life on his own. I'm pleased that he made a decision about drinking soda.

He's thinking about his health, which makes him smarter than the avg American. Most Americans take better care of their cars than their own bodies.

A happy compromise between Gatorade and water might even be Emergen-C.

 

[bradley]

I gave up everything except water and liquor from NYE until mid June of this year. I didn't lose a pound. Kinda pissed me off. I have stuck with it except I added beer back into the equation since I really got no benefit cutting it out.

There is some evidence that HFCS is behind the exponential increase in NASH liver disease. There is also some evidence that a half-a-dozen other things are behind it as well.
The liver and GI tract have an intrinsic regulatory system that we have barely scratched the surface of understanding. Yes Sucrose (plain old fashion sugar) is a 50-50 bond of glucose and fructose. And yes HFCS is a 50-50 mix of glucose and fructose, but I would not be in the least surprised to find out that the presentation of sucrose to the gut vs the presentation of glucose/fructose to the gut would start two different cascades of signaling in the gut neurosystem.

There is actually some argument that we should really say we have 3 different nervous systems: Central, Peripheral, and GI. We really only barely have an understanding of the layers and complexity of the Gut. Not surprising that we are barely treading water in the treatment of Diabetes.

EXCELLENT post, especially for Anandtech. I wish more people thought like you, realizing how little we actually know about the human body.

Every day we discover new functions for what were once thought to be simple organs. For instance, researchers recently have come to understand how blood pressure is greatly influenced by distal nephrons of the kidney.

 

[Mixolydian]

A happy compromise between Gatorade and water might even be Emergen-C.

Then you risk Vitamin C overdose.

 

[bradley]

Then you risk Vitamin C overdose.

I believe the Emergen-C box recommends for ages 14 and up one packet two times a day. Though I have taken far more liposomal vitamin C than 2g to no ill effects. It's more difficult to overdose on water soluble vitamins than lipid soluble.

 

[jagec]

Chemistry was not your strong point I take it?

Might want to check your math again there, Sparky.

 

[eits]

I gave up everything except water and liquor from NYE until mid June of this year. I didn't lose a pound. Kinda pissed me off. I have stuck with it except I added beer back into the equation since I really got no benefit cutting it out.

There is some evidence that HFCS is behind the exponential increase in NASH liver disease. There is also some evidence that a half-a-dozen other things are behind it as well.
The liver and GI tract have an intrinsic regulatory system that we have barely scratched the surface of understanding. Yes Sucrose (plain old fashion sugar) is a 50-50 bond of glucose and fructose. And yes HFCS is a 50-50 mix of glucose and fructose, but I would not be in the least surprised to find out that the presentation of sucrose to the gut vs the presentation of glucose/fructose to the gut would start two different cascades of signaling in the gut neurosystem.

There is actually some argument that we should really say we have 3 different nervous systems: Central, Peripheral, and GI. We really only barely have an understanding of the layers and complexity of the Gut. Not surprising that we are barely treading water in the treatment of Diabetes.

no, hfcs is not a 50/50 mix of glucose and fructose.

there are different kinds of hfcs... the two most common in everyday food and drink products in america are hfcs-55 and hfcs-42. drinks = hfcs-55 (55% fructose) and food = hfcs-42 (42% fructose).

hfcs-55 has the same sweetness level as sucrose (per amount of sucrose), which is 50/50 fructose and sucrose. however, fructose is bad for you. so, what some evidence is showing is that, over time, that extra 5% fructose adds up.

hfcs-42 is less sweet than sucrose (per amount of sucrose), so more of it needs to be used. that means more glucose is entering the body than is necessary, since it is only 42% fructose. that is also bad for the average american, who isn't going to use that glucose for muscle glycogen storage because they don't lift weights enough to need it.

overall, it causes a insulin resistance and overeating. normal portions don't make us feel full the way they used to because of the added fructose. that's part of why portion sizes have increased in america.

 

[eits]

Then you risk Vitamin C overdose.

vitamin c overdose = peeing it out + probably some diarrhea. your body can only absorb roughly 2000-2500mg of vitamin c per day.

2 per day would be a the daily limit unless the person wanted to risk getting the runs.

 

[eits]

water and iced tea are the ways to go.

 

[SparkyJJO]

water and iced tea are the ways to go.

Except my city water sucks something horrible, even after filtration it tastes funny.

I use a little spritz of lemon juice to help hide the nastiness.

 

[Matthiasa]

If you want non funny tasting water, distill it then add whatever you want to it.