The Coca-Cola Experiment

By now, you should all know the perils of drinking too many soft drinks... if any at all.  The amount of sugar contained in drinks such as Coca-Cola is astronomical, and the diet versions aren't much healthier because of the sweeteners in them.

To prove this point, George Prior, a 50 year old entrepreneur from Los Angeles decided to see what would happen if he drank 10 cans of Coke a day for a month.  Before starting on this experiment, George was fit and healthy and weighed 12 stone (76 kg).

After the 30 day trial his stats were way different:  His normally healthy physique turned into a protruding pot belly and his weight went from 12 stone (76 kg) to 14 stone (88.9 kg), that's a 2 stone gain in just 30 days!  But that wasn't all; his blood pressure soared from 129/77 to 145/96 - the ideal level for blood pressure is 120/80 above this level the risk of heart disease or stroke is greatly increased.

Yet again is wasn't just the physical transformation that worried him, he feared he was becoming addicted to Coke after he experienced intense cravings.  Mr. Prior tried to maintain his normal Paleo diet which is a low carbohydrate diet which promotes eating lean meats, vegetables and nuts and berries, but he experienced severe sugar cravings that he found difficult to ignore.

"The most dramatic change was in weight: 23lb (10.4 kg) of gain over 30 days," he said, "I also seemed to develop a craving for Cokes, or other sugars, during the time I was drinking Cokes.  I'm urging people to examine the amount of sugar in their diets.  People need to be aware of the real and powerful damaging effects of sugar on their health."

Before (Left) and After (Right)

He also found that he felt full all the time and had to force himself to drink all 10 Cokes every day, he said he did the experiment in order to stir up debate and to get people talking about how much sugar they are actually consuming and how unhealthy it is.

"I would prefer not to do it again," he commented, "I don't like being this heavy."

After finishing his experiment Mr. Prior lost 5 lb (2.2 kg) in just four days.

A regular can of Coke contains 35g of sugar, the equivalent of 7 cubes of sugar.  In March, the World Health Organization (WHO) called for the recommended daily allowance of sugar to be reduced from 50g to 25 g, or from 10 to five cubes a day.  So just ONE can of Coke is more than the recommended daily allowance.

Experts warn that soft drinks contain sugar but have no nutritional value whatsoever, and Mr. Prior said that he found it hard to eat as much food because the Coke left him feeling full at lunch and dinner.  Experts also warn that soft drinks are fueling the obesity epidemic and, consequently, other serious diseases including cancer, heart disease and stroke.

New York assemblyman, Karim Camara has called for sugar-laden beverages to carry warning labels similar to those found on cigarette packets, he said that soft drinks "are the new smoking".

The general public often doesn't realize just how much sugar they consume as most of it is in a liquid form.  Soft drinks and fruit juices are basically just liquid sugar and should be consumed in moderation.  Children should not be allowed these types of drinks even though most parents deem juices to be "healthy", when really they are just flavored sugar.

I can help you improve your health.  If you would like to make an appointment with me either in person or via Skype, just send me an email to lucycarr@socialnutrition.com