The Coca Cola Conspiracy: The secret cause for the U.S. obesity epidemic

reply to post by JustSlowlyBackAway


I think that there are issues of addiction and convenience, and maybe even the low cost that may contribute more than the lack of understanding. I find that a lot of people just don't give a damn about their health, or the health of their children. This is not just an american issue either.

reply to post by LittleBlackEagle


Still the Coke company is evil

U should get Coke off campus I noticed on the first day of the new quarter that one of the Coke banners hanging on the footbridge in front of Coffman Union had disappeared. At first it seemed a radical step -- possibly to push back an unwarranted corporate signage encroachment. Then I thought that maybe the spirited action was in remembrance of the more than a dozen Guatemalan labor organizers who, like the Coke sign, were also "disappeared" or murdered in a Coke factory during the United States' corporate-led war on Central America's poor in the 1980s. In light of such a symbolically loaded gesture, students at the University should pay attention to a whole litany of similarly destructive yet largely unknown Coca-Cola initiatives. Coke is currently a leading sponsor and financial supporter of the ruthless Abacha regime in Nigeria, which has jailed members of the elected government and continues to slaughter indigenous people in the quest for corporate profit. Coke has monocultural Minute-Maid plantations in the once abundantly forested Brazil and Honduras. Coke has held 50,000 acres of Belizean rain forest with the plans to clear-cut it. A Coke bottling plant is polluting the Tiete river in Brazil and Coke is planning another bottling plant in the Sierra Do Japi environmental sanctuary -- also in Brazil. Coke reneged on the promise it made eight years ago to use recycled plastic in its bottles and now the mega-corporation ignores widespread claims that it's a major factor in the collapse of the soda bottle recycling market. Around the world Coke has aggressively pushed its unhealthy drinks to the detriment of the poorest people -- an epidemic health problem called "commerciogenic malnutrition." Coca-Cola has been cited by the Federal Trade Commission for misleading advertising. Students should be especially concerned since Coke already has a history of intimidation of critical thinkers. In Mexico the rector of the University of Queretaro was fired for defending an open-minded professor against attacks by a local Coke affiliate. In Atlanta in the late 1980s the editor of the Journal-Constitution was forced to resign after a member of the Coke board of directors criticized an article exposing grand jury investigation of Coke's criminal activity. Just recently a high school student was suspended for wearing a Pepsi T-shirt to an Orwellian "School Coke-Day." All this damning evidence, which is just the tip of the iceberg, strongly suggests that the University is eligible to terminate its Coke contract, since already Coke fails "to perform one or more of its material duties" under the exclusive beverage and sponsorship agreement. That duty is "to enhance the quality of the student experience." But Coke, through a Minneapolis-based public relations firm, is also pursuing other exclusive campus contracts across the nation. Fortunately many campuses are preventing the further loss of democratic inquiry at their schools. The supposed $28 million our school is to gain from this deal is very misleading, since more than 50 percent of that amount is in corporate subsidies such as marketing and deductions, including free use of the University's trademark for off-campus Coke promotion. The rest of the money is premised on projected sale increases to Coke's new captive audience of supposed problem solvers. Here's a noncommercial toast to free thought, health, the environment and labor: Boycott Coke and get Coke off campus! Drew Hempel,graduate student,liberal studies

Originally posted by fulllotusqigong
reply to post by daskakik

 

Thanks for the clarification. So a can of soda is like a slice of pizza. Drink a 12 pack and you've ate a whole pizza -- in terms of sodium.

Nope a can of soda is like half a slice of whole wheat bread not pizza. A twelve pack would be about half a 12" pizza so it isn't like drinking pizza. The vid in the OP is food mongering.

ETA: According to the info here on Little Ceasers A slice of their 12" pepperoni pizza has 400mg so a single slice (small one at that) is equal to 7.27 cans of coke.

reply to post by daskakik


No matter how you slice it....coke is bad for you and the environment.

reply to post by daskakik


www.healthaliciousness.com...

Yeah pizza has a lot more sodium -- about three times as much as a can of soda per slice of pizza.

Still the diet Coke types of sodium can be dangerous:

Sweeteners and health concerns Sodium cyclamate, a relatively inexpensive artificial sweetener banned by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) since 1969 and once believed to be a carcinogen, has been used in the Coca-Cola Zero versions produced in Spain, Portugal, Venezuela, Chile, and some Central American countries. It was used for a time in Mexico, before a consumer campaign led to its removal from the drink in 2008.[1] In June 2009 Venezuela ordered Coca-Cola to withdraw its Coca-Cola Zero product, as it contained more than the legal levels of sodium cyclamate.[1]

Definitely stay away from Diet Coke as well

The sodium benzoate was found to break down mitochondrial DNA in living yeast cells.[13] Research published in 2007 for the British government's Food Standards Agency suggests that sodium benzoate (E211) is linked to hyperactive behavior and decreased intelligence in children.[14] In January 2008 sodium benzoate was removed from production lines for Diet Coke sold in the UK, however it remains in other Coke products and other production locations.[15]

The stuff causes cancer

This killer is flying under consumer radar with its user friendly tag line, "as a preservative." This silent cell choker has found its way into thousands of products, even foods that are labeled as all natural. But don't be fooled. While benzoic acid is found naturally in low levels in many fruits, the sodium benzoate listed on a product's label is synthesized in a lab. Derived from a reaction of benzoic acid with sodium hydroxide, sodium benzoate is actually the sodium salt of benzoic acid. Sodium benzoate is a known carcinogenic additive which, when eaten or applied to the skin, gets transported to the liver, where it is supposed to be filtered, and expelled in urine, but the damage gets done before that process is completed. Sodium benzoate chokes out your body's nutrients at the DNA cellular level by depriving mitochondria cells of oxygen, sometimes completely shutting them down. Just as humans need oxygen to breathe, cells need oxygen to function properly and to fight off infection, including cancer. The FDA says it's safe because the amount used to preserve foods is very low, but don't ever combine it with vitamin C or E, as this causes benzene to be formed. This is dangerous. Benzene is a known carcinogen, which means it causes cancer.

reply to post by Witness2008

It isn't bad in moderation. Just like everything else. If you drink a gallon of OJ a day your may still drinking about the same amount of sugar as if it were coke.

People don't seem to understand what HFCS is. It's just sugar from malted grain. It is the same process used to turn starches in grains to sugar to be fermented in beer. The same thing that happens when you sprout legumes and this is thought to be health food.

reply to post by fulllotusqigong

That is not what the guy in the video is talking about he's trying to make you believe that the amount of salt in a coke is going to leave you thirsty because it's the same as a pizza. Nothing more than a lie.

Check the edit to my previous post. more than 7 times the sodium for 1/8 of a 12" pizza. 58 cans in a small pizza.

reply to post by daskakik


If you actually watch the science lecture he also is against drinking orange juice and fruit juice. He says eating fruit is fine in moderation - -a couple fruit a day -- because of the fiber. But fruit juice has also spiked along with the corn syrup craze -- since fruit juice is misnomered as healthy, etc.

reply to post by daskakik


The question is how much sodium compared to the amount of calories will make you thirsty and also hide the sugar. Is the amount of sodium relative to the amount of calories similar to eating a pizza? Yes it is because there's a lot more calories in a pizza. But the crucial issue is that the fructose has a very non-linear effect for the amount of calories it has -- creating much more fat per calorie and also it is poison.

reply to post by daskakik


Coke is just bad. Anything with corn syrup, artificial coloring, aspartame, or the aluminum cans the stuff comes in is bad for you. They have the human race addicted, and they will make sure those addicts get their fix no matter the cost to our planet and the inhabitants on it.

Originally posted by fulllotusqigong
reply to post by daskakik

 

Is the amount of sodium relative to the amount of calories similar to eating a pizza? Yes it is because there's a lot more calories in a pizza. But the crucial issue is that the fructose has a very non-linear effect for the amount of calories it has -- creating much more fat per calorie and also it is poison.

Wrong there are not that many more calories in pizza 210 for the info I posted. A coke has around 150 so 71% of the calories but 13.75% of the sodium.

reply to post by Witness2008


Here Coke denies depleting the water of India -- illegally

Campaigners accuse Coca-Cola CEO of not being open with investors about the potential liabilities it faces for environmental damage in water-stressed areas of India Coca-Cola is misleading investors about potential financial and criminal actions against the company in India, according to campaigners. Last month, a government-appointed committee in the State of Kerala published a report recommending that Coca-Cola pay $48 million for damage caused by its bottling plant in the village of Plachimada. The committee, which included heads of Kerala’s Agriculture, Groundwater, Health and Pollution Control Departments, said the company unlawfully depleted groundwater, polluted water resources and could face criminal charges on top of a financial penalty. However, at Coca-Cola’s AGM in Atlanta this week, CEO Muhtar Kent said accusations against the company were ‘unfounded and false.’

Coca Cola is sucking India dry of water to make evil drinks

Armed with banners demanding ‘Climate Justice Now!’ more than 2,000 villagers marched to the Coca-Cola bottling plant in Mehdiganj in northern India earlier this week calling for it to be closed down. They accuse the company of over-extracting groundwater, lowering the water tables and leaving farmers and the local community unable to dig deep enough to get to vital water supplies. Since the bottling plant was opened in 2000, water levels in the area have dropped six metres, and when a severe drought hit the region earlier this year the crops failed and livelihoods were destroyed. ‘What is more important,’ asked local activist Nandlal Master, ‘meeting the water needs of a community and farming or mass producing Coca-Cola from depleting groundwater resources? ‘The answer to us is clear, and Coca-Cola has to go,’ he said. Poor lose out The Mehdiganj dispute is just one of many taking place all over India. In fact two Coca-Cola plants have already been closed down after local opposition over water supplies. However, not all such disputes are as simple as ‘corporate giant versus local community’. What they do have in common, according to Tom Palakudiyil of Water Aid, is that it is ultimately the poor who lose out. ‘What we have seen happening with Coca-Cola has been happening all over the country, largely between the well-to-do and the not-so-well-to-do. ‘The richer side is able to acquire powerful pumps and extract more and more water with no limits. ‘In the case of big corporations like Coca-Cola, or other big industries that have a lot of power over the local government, they are able to get their pipelines to bypass the villages altogether,’ said Palakudiyil.

reply to post by Witness2008


A lot of corporations are like that so it isn't just a coke thing. Also it isn't going to make your body fall apart if you drink a couple of cans a week.

reply to post by daskakik

Effect of Coca Cola on your body In The First 10 minutes: 10 teaspoons of sugar hit your system. (100% of your recommended daily intake.) You don’t immediately vomit from the overwhelming sweetness because phosphoric acid cuts the flavor allowing you to keep it down. 20 minutes: First effect of coca cola on your body. Your blood sugar spikes, causing an insulin burst. Your liver responds to this by turning any sugar it can get its hands on into fat. (Theres plenty of that at this particular moment)

40 minutes: Caffeine absorption is complete. Your pupils dialate, your blood pressure rises, as a response your livers dumps more sugar into your bloodstream. The adenosine receptors in your brain are now blocked preventing drowsiness. Your body ups your dopamine production stimulating the pleasure centers of your brain. This effect of coca cola is physically the same way heroin works, by the way.

I guess doing heroin a couple times a week isn't so bad either

reply to post by fulllotusqigong

Strawman arguement. Coffee and tea also contain caffine. Is having a couple of cups a week also like using heroin? I've seen people making lemonade with such huge amounts of sugar that would make coke seem bland. So even if coke vanished people would still be consuming the very same things that they find in their cans.

Originally posted by antar
I have to add that this report steers away from the real reason behind the obesity problem globally. It is not longer just the US, it is everywhere people eat genetically modified foods.

I agree with antar, it's in the food.

reply to post by daskakik


Right. Corn syrup is in everything -- as the science lecture points out. Coke is just the most blatant example of corn syrup being used -- for economic reasons. Corn syrup is by far the cheapest sweetner and by far the deadliest. The corn syrup processers and associations claim corn syrup is the same as sugar -- not if it is HFCS. It's the fructose that is poison without the fiber. So because corn syrup is so sweet -- there is a lot more of it used and it's more deadly than sugar.

List of products with HFCS

reply to post by fulllotusqigong


But the fructose is increased so that it is in the same ratio as natural cane sugar. If it is sweeter why would more be used? Doesn't make sense. There is no fiber in sugar. Not even organic sugar.

reply to post by daskakik


The biggest danger is the monopolization that every soda drinker contributes to. A monopoly with the power to instigate health problems in this country (unabated), strong arm foreign governments and slash and burn rain forest.

Greedy corporations have manged to cheapen the world. They invest in our weaknesses.

reply to post by daskakik





So there's the rate of increase of HFCS intake in the U.S. and the rate of obesity intake -- lining up exactly.

Health foods with HFCS