If caffeine robbed your body of calcium, most of my coworkers would be pools of jelly at their desks!
The myth (and it IS a myth) that soda robs your body of calcium generally gives the reason as phosphoric acid, not caffeine.
Here ya go from Snopes.com - Cokelore:
Quote:
Claim: The acids in Coca-Cola make it harmful to drink.
Status: False.
Example: [Collected on the Internet, 2001]
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.
I also have to add (again!) that my father actually was a 'soda pop chef'
i.e. a chemist who started out at Coca-Cola in the late 50's before he moved on to another beverage company here on the West Coast...he retired in 1993 so he knows what's up. Dad doesn't 'do' the Internet but he runs between being amused and ticked off about the rumors about soda pop. Granted - of course regular pop has quite a lot of sugar in it...but we drank diet sodas pretty exclusively growing up, as that was his area of expertise - concocting diet drinks. (I still think my dad's version of diet chocolate soda beats the PANTS off of Canfield's any day, although I don't know if the company he retired from even makes chocolate soda anymore or if they do, they might have changed the formula...). We literally had CASES of diet pop in our garage! In fact we sold it on the corner in the summer...
Whenever Dad hears the stuff about artificial sweeteners being hazardous or acids causing osteoperosis or what have you (he also attended med school at UNC-Chapel Hill and was a medical intern in the U.S. Army so there ya go...) his reaction has been "do you really think I would give you girls and your mom POISON? Or something that I thought would hurt you?" It kind of yanks his chain to say the least...
And from the Coke official site (as was stated when this was posted on another thread - Coca-Cola has staff and legal folk who verify that this is TRUE information, and they have every right to dispel any myths or rumors floating on the Net).
Quote:
All our soft drinks are wholesome beverages manufactured in compliance with the U.S. Federal Food Laws, the laws of all U.S. states, and the laws of nearly 200 countries throughout the world where our products are marketed.
Unfortunately, the incredible power of the Internet is sometimes used to spread false information about the ingredients in our products. There are several baseless rumors circulating on the Internet claiming that ingredients in our products can cause health problems. We've gathered some of those rumors here so that you can easily get the facts about these false claims.
Rumor: The acidity of cola drinks is strong enough to dissolve teeth and bones.
Our Response: Almost all foods naturally contain a small amount of acid, including fruit juices, buttermilk, and soft drinks. In fact, cranberries, lemons and limes are examples of fruits that are more acidic than Coca-Cola. Acids, such as phosphoric and citric acid, add a pleasant tartness to a beverage. Phosphoric acid provides phosphorus which is an essential element of bones and tissues. None of these foods are acidic enough to harm our body tissues -- our own natural stomach acid is stronger.
Soaking something in a soft drink or rubbing something with a cloth soaked in a soft drink is not at all like drinking a soft drink. People don't hold soft drinks in their mouths for long periods of time, nor rub their teeth with fabric soaked in soft drinks, so it doesn't make sense to extend these possible affects to normal use of the product. Because our teeth are constantly bathed by saliva, which helps buffer the effects of acids from foods and beverages, the effect on tooth enamel is greatly reduced. In fact, the acids in most foods are neutralized to a large degree by the saliva in the mouth long before they reach the stomach.
Rumor: Phosphoric acid in Coca-Cola leads to osteoporosis.
Our Response: Phosphoric acid has been recognized as safe for use as a food additive by the health authorities in every country where Coca-Cola is sold.
And in fact, cola actually contains very little phosphorous -- only about 2% of total dietary phosphorus in the U.S. The vast majority -- 98% -- of dietary phosphorus in the U.S. comes from high-protein foods like meats, cheeses, nuts and grains. Further, among female teens, milk drinkers consume over four times more phosphorus than non-milk drinkers, regardless of soda consumption. The main causes of osteoporosis include insufficient calcium intake, hormonal changes and a lack of weight-bearing physical activity. The U.S. National Institutes of Health Consensus Development Conference on osteoporosis has also recently (2000) concurred that dietary phosphorus is not an important factor in osteoporosis for individuals consuming a balanced diet.
The National Osteoporosis Foundation recommends the following lifestyle strategies: a balanced diet rich in calcium and vitamin D, weight-bearing exercise, and a healthy lifestyle without smoking or excessive alcohol use.
Rumor: Caffeine in soft drinks is addictive.
Our Response: Caffeine is not addictive. Caffeine has had a long history in the food supply, consumed as long ago as 2700 B.C. Scientific evaluation of caffeine's physiological effects in light of the criteria for drug dependence clearly shows that caffeine is not similar to the use of drugs of abuse or dependence. It is true that some symptoms of withdrawal can be experienced by some people if caffeine consumption is stopped abruptly. When done gradually over a reasonable time period, most people do not even experience these symptoms. More importantly, the amount of caffeine in typical soft drinks is minimal. The amount in most cola beverages is about 1/3 of the caffeine in same amount of coffee and 1/2 of the amount found in tea.
Rumor: Caramel coloring produces genetic effects and causes cancer.
Our Response: Caramel color is a safe ingredient. Caramel color is made by heating sugar and other carbohydrates under controlled conditions. The FDA has declared caramel color to be a safe food ingredient. All ingredients used in soft drinks have been thoroughly tested and are recognized as safe for use by the health authorities of the countries in which they are sold.
So there ya go - and with that, I'm going to the fridge and cracking open another ice-cold can of Diet Coke and pouring it over ice in my favorite tall glass. ahhh the pause that refreshes!
Suzanne 3FC , 08-27-2004 08:08 PM
funniegrrl , 08-27-2004 09:00 PM
I didnt expect to check back and find so many responses to my question. I want to thank you all collectively in this post! You all have some good suggestions. I never thought of cutting up oranges or putting strawberries in my water. I will definitely try that. I'll look for some of the brands you mentioned of water here. Im in the Bay area so I'm thinking Ive seen them somewhere. Safeway perhaps?
Jennifer 3FC , 08-29-2004 10:38 AM
Aquareggie , 08-31-2004 01:49 PM
