(Pretend these ice cubes are your teeth floating in Coke…yum….)
I had a high school friend who was inordinately fond (as most high schoolers are) of junk food and soda (which we call “pop” in Minne-SOHta). However, in college, I heard that he’d given up Coke. This was strange enough that I had to inquire why.
He told me that he was now working at a popular barbecue joint in the Twin Cities called Rudy’s.
“You know what the grill looks like at the end of the night?”
Actually, I was a vegetarian at the time, so I said, “No.”
He went on to tell me that it looked like several brontosauruses (brontosaurii?) had been cooked and melted on it.
“It used to take me hours to clean the _($*#%*% thing,” he said. That is, until someone tipped him off on a secret formula was that so corrosive that it would blast of all the burned meat and melted fat in a jiffy.
The secret corrosive? Coca Cola. Coke. COKE.
“If it does that to the grill, imagine what it does to your teeth.”
Oh please, I’ve already been there (see earlier post on my and my dad’s perfect choppers). Not to mention that in my junior scientist mode, I’d already done that experiment where you stick your baby teeth in a glass of Coke and watch it slowly dissolve. My father had carefully saved all our baby teeth and he was slightly annoyed that I’d given up so many in the name of science.
Coke (and other soft drinks) also drain calcium from your body. That’s why they call them “soft” drinks–like soft water. The law of thermodynamics makes it so a mass in a greater concentrations (e.g., the calcium in your body) will move to one of lesser concentration–this is also why distilled water is not a good drinking choice, it similarly can leach minerals from your body. Also, not to get into a huge scientific discussion, but sodas contain phosphates that further displace calcium.
If you’re worried about fertility and health, I’d cut down on the sodas. It’s hard enough to keep up with all the nutrients you need, no less imbibing something that drains it. If you’re feeling tempted, just picture that late-night grill at Rudy’s, all that blood and flesh–that could be your insides on Coke!
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