I hardly ever drink Coke, but when I do, it is preferred with a shot of good Caribbean rum in it!

As you can read here, Coke is mostly sugar. It is of virtually no nutritional value.
http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/4269/nutrition.html

Simply put there is no nutritional value to Coke. Having said that as long as you drink it in moderation... (I guess 1 to 2 cans a day) would not be that bad...

its definately not good for a lot of reasons.

1) the sugar... there is tons of it in there. This can wreak havoc on your hormone levels (especially insulin) which can also cause problems with dehydration. It is also high in calories which is not really what you want.

2) high acid content... too much acid in your blood (acidosis) can cause break down of your bones... granted you would have to drink a lot of it to make a major impact but you should do everything you can to tip things in your favor. Also when you combine the acidosis from the soda and the organic acisosi which occurs during exercise... somethign to think about.

3) dehydration: Caffeine is a diuretic which will caue you to unrinat more which can lead to dehydration... even a little dehydration goes along way with performance. There was also a study that came out several years ago that said that drinking carbonated beverages will decrease your intake of fluids... insult to injury

The biggest thing you should be worried about is proper nutrition. If you are drinking coke and then eating healthful meals that fulfill your nutritional requirements good. The danger is that it is so high in calories that you may forgo a meal and drink a soda and have a candy bar... bad.

If youare going to drink coke try diet coke. If you can't stand diet coke drink coke but in moderation... 2 is the upper limit of OK If you are drinking either of these be sure to drink lots of water throughout the day and be sure to drink enough during exercise. Finally when you rehydrate after a workout, water first... you can always have a soda later...

good luck

Swift - I'm a large consumer of Coke, well actually Pepsi. I've cut back to about 1.0L/day from 2L/day. As a nutritional supplement it sucks but when your bonking at mile 80 and still have 20 to go, well nothing tastes so good. Basically if I remember correctly a can has about 120 calories or so, diet has 1 and water none. So for pure calories coke wins and tastes better. If you consume it right before exercise in moderate amts, you won't have to worry about dehydration since your body produces ADH in response to exercise. You will want to consume large amts of water if your drinking it and not working out because it will act as a duiretic and you can become dehydrated, trust me. As a benefit it also has caffenine. I don't drink coffee so this is my coffee.

The worst thing about any SODA drink is the SODA. SODA refers to the phosphate (or is it phosphorous? help from a chemist, please?) in the drink. This leaches calcium from your body. Any time I drink a soda, I take a calcium/magnesium supplement...don't know if that makes enough difference to make up for drinking that phosphate, but, it's what I do.

Another reason caffeine doesn't cause great diuresis in athletic events, is that your renal blood flow can be decreased when you are exercising very hard. So, you are making less urine due to decreased glomerular filtration rates. This is also a reason why a little caffeine goes a long way during hard exercise...it isn't being cleared as quickly as normal.

If you are worried about damaging your kidneys during hard exercise, a little bicarb goes a long way to protect them...potassium bicarbonate is probably better than sodium bicarbonate, but, either will do. It doesn't take much...a tablespoon every once in a while, but, it doesn't work to protect the tubules unless you take it before the insult.

If you are one of those people that take Ibuprofen and work out hard...you're asking for renal damage...I'd definitely look into alkalinizing your urine (we aren't talking about alkalinizing your bloodstream...this isn't much bicarb you need to injest)with small amounts of bicarb. I just talked to a nephrologist last week that told me the number one reason young women see him for dialysis and renal transplants, is taking too much ibuprofen for menstrual cramps. It's dangerous to take this stuff and exercise too much to the point of dehydration.

OOPS! Got off subject there, didn't I?

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Quid quid latine dictum sit altum videtur
(That which is said in Latin sounds profound)

I always like hearing the medical side of these discussions from taku, cerveloguy and others. I couldn't agree more that as part of a daily dietary program, Coke is a nutritionally empty food.

Personally I use sports drinks etc. when training, but here's the dental perspective on Coke and similar soft drinks.

As a family practice dentist, these days I don't see very many people with rampant dental decay. But when I do, the first question I ask them is "what do you drink all day". Almost invariably the answer is "Coke or Pepsi or Mountain Dew". These people are not just drinking one can with a meal but typically they consume it all day long and have less than ideal oral hygiene. If you are in this category I'd suggest you schedule a dental check-up immediately and at least every 6 months following that. You should also floss your teeth daily and brush with a fluoride containing toothpaste morning and night. In fact it's not a bad idea to also brush after you've had any form of refined carbohydrate.

From a strictly dental point of view I would rather people drink diet soda except I'm not too impressed with Aspartame as an artificial sweetener. Although most people seem to tolerate it, there are many reports of people having adverse reactions to it, myself included.

For daily non-training hydration needs it's hard to beat plain water.

Richard

"but here's the dental perspective"

Thanks for the reminder. I'm due for my six month checkup this month with my dentist. But we're going to get together afterwards to talk about bikes. He's a mountain biker but wants to do his first tri this summer. He's using me as a "consultant"!

I'm not too impressed with Aspartame as an artificial sweetener. Although most people seem to tolerate it, there are many reports of people having adverse reactions to it, myself included.


It gives me migraine headaches, if I take the equivalent of two packages of Equal. I get the scintillating photomas and all of it, very bad for me.

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Quid quid latine dictum sit altum videtur
(That which is said in Latin sounds profound)

I know that this will come as shock to some of you :-) but until Xmas I was 28 years old BRITISH and had perfect teeth.

I saw my regular dentist at home over Xmas, everything appeared ok until they took 2 x-rays for files. Essentially the 2 teeth at the back had decayed completely, to the route.

Cause? she asked if I felt any pain at any time in the last 2 years, NONE, drink soda? NONE, Candy? NONE Calcium deficient? NOT

I suspect that it was all the gatorade I drank last year while training for Utah and WI, all my bike rides, runs etc etc and I do look after my teeth but I really think that the Gatorade was a real factor, may not have been the cause but I think it played a role.

Dont drink coke, rots your teeth.

Gatorade contains all simple sugars and as far as your teeth are concerned could act much like drinking other sugary soft drinks. If you drink it all day long, every day, it would be a definite risk factor.

We all consume a certain amount of sugar. As triathletes we should be aware of the sugar in fruit, food bars and other types of food we eat. I try to read the labels on all the food I eat to make an informed decision on what it is that I'm eating.

For most people who have good oral hygiene and floss a couple of times daily this shouldn't be a problem.

It seems I'm always plugging the nutrition articles at gordoworld.com but they're worth a read:

http://www.byrn.org/gtips.htm

Richard

The first time I drank a can of diet Coke I put it down after drinking less than half a can and never finished it. I felt as if I had a hat on my head that was about 2 sizes too small. I didn't think too much about this until some years later I tried EAS brand Myoplex shakes (which contain Aspartame) and developed a huge headache and the feeling that someone was pressing their fingers into my eyeballs within minutes of drinking it. This lasted for several hours.

Some time ago I did some research on the web, and was astounded to find so many reports of people having a huge variety of adverse reactions to Aspartame. Some people who felt ill for many years immediately felt better when they simply stopped drinking diet soft drinks. I'm also curious why there is so little public awareness of this.

Richard

>The worst thing about any SODA drink is the SODA.
>SODA refers to the phosphate (or is it phosphorous?
>help from a chemist, please?) in the drink.

Colas contain phosphoric acid, which is thought to possibly have a negative impact on calcium uptake. "SODA" as such is harmless. Regardless of etymology, "soda" today refers to a wide variety of carbonated beverages, most of which contain no phosphoric acid whatsoever. Carbonated water will not leech calcium from your bones, and if you're taking calcium supplements every time you down a non-cola soda, you're wasting your money. Probably a waste even if you're drinking cola as well, unless you're really not getting calcium in your diet, in which case you should be taking calcium supplements as a matter of course regardless.

P.S. I think soda was called "soda" because of the sodium carbonate or sodium bicarbonate, a base, which, when mixed with acid, will bubble.

P.P.S. Phosphorus is a necessary part of your diet, and without any you'd be in bad shape. Phosphoric acid is a different story.