That does it...I'm switching to Pepsi.

Obviously the same is true for ANY high-sugar drinks or snacks. The liver does not have it in for Coke. Its its normal reaction to an insulin spike.

Plus after the liver gets all the sugar you get that lovely sugar-down which leaves you craving for more sugar and the whole process is restarted.

Disclamer: I F*ing love coke, but due to stuff like this have switched to sprite, which still has sugar but much less.

I ditched soft drinks years ago while at my PC.
It's coffee and/or cold water for me anymore.

On occasion (like this week) after work it's a couple of cold Yuenglings or more likely Irish Coffee.
('tis the season. fa ra ra ra ra (hic))

Mountain Dew > Coke

I wouldn't be surprised if Coke was the root cause of a whole range of cancers either.

Perhaps I should stop drinking it. Perhaps this bottle will be my last.

I prefer the caffinated goodness of Diet Mt. Dew. More 'fiene, no sugar, all the zing you could ask for. If not that, then it's a large thingy of coffee for me with Equal. That's 0 calories and a whole lotta zoom.

I love how they describe basic metabolic processes like they're really intense. And the dig at "this is the way heroine works, by the way" is just completely unnecessary. The exact same process comes from eating chocolate.

Honestly, the only people this will be "shocking" to are people who don't understand basic physiology. When you eat an orange you get way more than your daily amount of sugar. So your body stores it, and then releases it slowly. Why this is shocking, and why it has anything to do with Coke I don't really understand.

Yeah, caffeine is a stimulant. Whoopie. Dopamine causes you to feel good...big surprise.

Your body releases dopamine whenever you do something good for it: eat a food high in a particular nutrient you are lacking, have sex, drink water when thirsty. Dopamine (along with endorphins) are your bodys way of rewarding you, so you do things that keep you alive. Heroine exploits this, it doesn't CAUSE it.

Don't be tricked by extremist pseudo-science. This is almost as bad as showing that coke dissolves tissue paper (robot thing from a month ago), or the whole Killer Coke campaign (which it turned out was just a personal vendetta against one of the company's board members, and had no factual basis).

It's just an attack campaign. Believing it makes you a tool.

hello american obesity! you can eat any BigMac w/ fries or what not, but add Coke to it and say good-bye to your body!

You know what would be cool? Facts, Citations, Links to Studies, etc. Otherwise, I can also blog that eating pop rocks and drinking tea at the same time will cause your brain to decay and slowly start oozing out of your nose in a mucousy drip. Yes folks, what you thought was a booger is really a piece of your cerbellum. The amount of mis-information/made up info on the net is astounding.

This article brought my coke drinking to a stop when I read it last week.

All things in moderation, but that description is just nasty.

Isn't that why most people drink DIET soda for energy?

Dangerous Fuel? Try drinking a bunch of energy drinks and/or expressos. True it uses a boat load of chemicals instead of sugar to get you going, but why be hyper on Coke when you could be hyper AND have uncontrollable eye-twitches!

I'll just stick with Root Beer.

I'm going to laugh like hell in about 30 years when there's a huge brain cancer epidemic due to people constantly using cell phones. Not to mention "Toolbox" Cancer from having said devices in your pants. However, I will also be pissed off because dealing with the epidemic will be bankrolled by the taxpayers.

Most crap foods (candy, soda, fast food) that our country makes are horrible for us. Years ago the food industry switched to corn syrup rather than sugar because it is cheaper, though far worse for you. Drink water, and tea (minus tea with sugar).

Man, that picture of that cold can of Coke looks really good right about now...

Just drink tea.

What a load of horse****

thats why i snort cocaine for energy

Next thing you know, Gizmodo will start publishing chain letters...

Last time I had a Coke was in 1991. Mineral water is underrated. And don't buy any of that Dasani crap either (owned by Coca-Cola, BTW); this is basically filtered water from the sewer system.

Word of warning: according to comments from the author of the original article (which you don't link to) on Consumerist, his sources are websites, although he got an MD to correct some of the biochemistry. Not one scientific paper or textbook was consulted in the production of the article.

Suffice to say the science there is of a similar standard to that in the movie Armageddon: there's a background of truth but it's dramatised beyond all possiblity of reality.

eating 10 teaspoonfuls of sugar will not cause you to vomit.

and 100% of your "daily recommended intake" is based on a 2000 calorie diet, not that anything greater than 100% means you are risking a bodily nuclear explosion and harm.

this is silly. i'd like to read this guys description of crushing paper with your hand or burning ants with a magnifying glass. it'd be riveting.

Haha! Wolfrider is an idiot!

"Brain cancer" from cellphones, eh? Well, don't worry, you'll have it too. See...the same NON-IONIZING radiation that cellphones produce is vastly more powerful from sources, including cell phone towers, satellite signals, and many MANY other things, all of which strike the earth in a pretty uniform pattern (though are concentrated in cities), and don't diminish significantly over a few feet. In fact, the radiation striking me from my cellphone is hitting everyone else in the office with just about the same potency. Except for Gary, who works in a Faraday Cage (radio test engineer).

So wise up and don't buy the bullshit. Coke isn't going to kill you any faster, cellphones aren't going to give you a brain tumor, and people can't feel WiFi signals.

If these are ACTUALLY concerns of yours, you'd better move to a deserted island in the south pacific, because that's about the only way away from the "harmful" radiation you think is after you.

If you really want to have fun with the dunderheads who believe this sort of alarmist pseudo-science, send them over to the Dihydrogen Monoxide Research Division. That DHMO can be really dangerous stuff, and it's everywhere!

I lace my Coke with traces of Polonium to ensure my demise can be linked to this tasty liquid.

Yeah, this is pretty absurd. Every so often the internet circulates these missives of Doom, like a toilet at a bar on Saturday night. They frighten some people unnecessarily and honestly, worse, they make people who DO know enough already jaded at the idea that this thing they do/eat/drink is Bad For You and ignore the potential problems. We all know that drinks such as Coke (and Gatorade drinks, general junk food, even fruit juices) do happen to contain things in high concentrations that we don't just not need, but after long periods of abuse (here meaning habitual overuse), but articles such as this (or that silly powerpoint my roommate showed me years ago about using Coke to rot a tooth to nothing overnight) don't cause people to change their habits. It doesn't make any sense to change because you're afraid, only because you want to.

That being said, I've been habitually underweight severely (and with appallingly low body fat) and without crap like Coke, I probably couldn't have gotten myself to a normal BMI by now. Probably that doesn't cover the rest of you--think about about Microserfs and being a 'thin fat person'. Then get your lazy ass outside and play some Ultimate or something.

I agree with popstand.
Slow news day? Quite the non-sequitur for a gadget blog...

Think Coke is bad? There's a chemical out there that you're addicted to. Yes, YOU ARE AN ADDICT!! Withdrawl from this chemical can cause brain damage within minutes, and death comes very soon after. There are no known survivors of withdrawl from this hideously addictive substance - withdrawl is completely 100% FATAL!!

Worse, this chemical can be easily found near playgrounds, school yards, even child care centers and hospitals!!!

We NEED to organise NOW!! Write your congressman/woman to get federal funding to free us from this TERRIBLE ADDICTION!!!!

------------------

The chemical I'm referring to here is Oxygen, and of course, "withdrawl" is always fatal. :-)

You can have a lot of fun with junk science, if you know enough to not be taken in...

Steve G.

You think regular Coke is bad for you? Try doing a little research on artificial sweeteners.

Coke is it!

Perhaps he should have left out the hyperbole and just stuck with the empty calories and insulin insensitivity/diabetes route.

That was enough for me.

i prefer pepsi to begin with, but until i see someone fall over dead, due to coca cola, i wouldnt worry too much

The phosphoric acid comments that the author made don't fully deliver some of the issues with it in soft drinks in general. There has been links to phosphoric acid consumption from soft drinks to osteoporosis, bone loss, and brittle bone disease.

A friend of mine was told not to consume any more soda after a bone scan revealed she had low bone density.

And for those who want links:

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/osteoporosis/DS00128/DSEC...

This obviously has not been fully scientifically proven, but there is enough evidence there that it warrants consideration.

Andrew

Wow, so much vitriol from everyone. Sure, the "article" is over-stylized fear-mongering. But... well, Coke is bad for you. Any high-sugar soft drink is bad for you. I don't understand why in geek culture it's so "cool" to be addicted to bad foods. The whole point of being a nerd is you're "smarter" than the average person, isn't it? So why do you want to eat and drink crap, get fat, and severely increase your risk of diabetes, heart problems, liver disease, etc etc. While anyone can easily discredit the pseudoscience above, NO ONE can say that drinking soda or any other sugar-laden treat is in ANY way good for you, or that obesity is a "good thing." Not being superficial is one thing, being unhealthy is just stupid.

Sorry, I hate absolute statements... ;)

There are circumstances in which sugar laden beverages/treats can be "good for you". Look at the original purpose for sports drinks like Gatorade. They can serve a very good purpose under the appropriate circumstances; i.e. on an 80 degree day when I've just run eight miles and have six more to go.

Even Coke can be a sports drink: Coca-Cola Preferred by Top Endurance Cyclists

But I do agree with your intent. There's way too much focus on high sugar junk in everyday diets. If people spent a tenth the effort on diet and exercise as they do on following which Hollywood bimbette is or isn't wearing underwear we'd be a vastly different nation.

Man, this is getting me thirsty. BRB.

because Coke is not bad for you. soda is perfectly fine for you to drink, everyday for the rest of your life.

drinking gasoline is bad for you. See, when you drink something that is bad for you, you immediately die.

unless you don't really know what "bad for you" actually means, and you need hyperbole to make things that are not 100% good (ie, nothing) for you worse than they are.

You know, this article sort of assumes you down the whole can at once...

What? It's worse than it is?

AAAAAAAAAHH!

Best Coke replacement: Diet Rockstar.

Tastes yummy and has vitamins and rocks.

Splenda is a godsend to those of us who could never stand Nutrasweet.

Diet Energy Drinks are the best!