h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Coke - a healthy drink?
If you need to get sugar into your system fast liquids are good and coke has loads sugar in there.

Yeah, but so is fruit juice, and it doesn't have the caffeine and it does have vitamins and good stuff.

I'm on a freaky orange juice binge right now. I haven't wanted to drink anything else (well, water and coffee too) for about five days. Maybe I'm vitamin-C deficient.

But when the need is there it's a darn sight easier to worry about find the red can, knowing it will contain the right stuff than try and worry about finding some fruit juice.

Oh I think that the sugar in coke is absorbed faster than that in fruit juice. This is something to know when you need sugar fast.

Even if it is absorbed faster, that isn't necessarily 'healthy'... too many instant sugar highs can put a lot of stress on your system. There are ways to keep yourself energetic that are safer than chugging cola whenever you feel drowsy.

When the system is under even greater stress because there isn't enough sugar in it (go to far down and you fall over unconcious) you need that rapid sugar fix. Most of the time I use glucose tablets I carry all the time if I need it.
I now only drink diet coke to try and not get too many sugar highs (instant or otherwise) without me knowing about it and dealing with it manually.
Sometimes only coke will do.

It's a hard one the old Coke debate. It's important to note that it's not just sugar that is in Coke. It also has a fair old shot of caffeine and the mystery ingredient, phosphoric acid. When your system is under stress, a number of things occur in your body. On of the main manifestations can be elevated activity and acid levels in the stomach. Adding notorious stomach irritants Phosphoric acid and caffeine, can really cause you problems, aswell as a big shot of processed sucrose, which is also well known to irritate the tum tum. Increased levels of stimulant can also put undue stress on the heart. The caffeine in Coke is a strong diuretic and so will put stress on the renal system aswell. Also, during such a time, the citric acid in orange juice will also give the stomach a hard time. So it's a hard one to know. Apple juice has a range of sugars, is easy on the tummy, and has carbohydrates which will elevate the body's levels of seratonin which is calming, with the energy bost. Apple/Blackcurrant juice will have this plus the Vit C. But (and we all already know this) when your body is under stress and you need the energy, your body isn't asking you for sugar or caffeine, it's asking for rest, nutrition and hydration.

Having said that, we all know that the ingredients in coke aren't that good for you, but it's really easy to grab one when you need a quick easy lift.

F-Reek

When the body is under hypoglycemic stress, sugar is what it wants.

Absolutely; and the body can better use the more naturaql sugars in, say apple juice, than in coke. The big shot of processed sugar, with the caffeine isn't really that fantastic for hypoglycemic stress. I've now set diet and training regimes for 4 different non insulin dependant diabetic athletes, who have all been fabulously successful in their pursuits of greater physical endurance, and the secret lies in maintainance of blood sugar and insulin levels, rather than getting stresses out and then opting for a drastic remedy. Such yo-yo effects are harmful in a number of different ways whether you are diabetic or not. In the one insulin dependant athlete that I have worked with, using the same theory (IN CONJUNCTION WITH STRICT MEDICAL SUPERVISION AS WITH THE OTHER FOUR) we achieved not only the same result but managed to significantly reduce the required insulin intake. Creating blood sugar and insulin level 'spikes' should be an emergency measure only.

F-Freek

When did I ever say it was for non emergency use? I can find the big shot of sugar can be what is needed to stay upright. Sometimes you win sometimes you lose in this game and things can change pretty quickly even when sliding along on normal. More frequent hypos are reported in the DCCT as a side effect of intensive insulin therapy in type 1 diabetics so knowing how to deal with them is a requirement in staying healthy. The easiest thing for me to tell people who need to know what to do is go for something like a coke.
Can I just ask how the body can use the more natural sugars (whatever they are) better than those found in coke?

It's for that reason that carefully maintaining the body's bllod sugar levels make things a bit more predictable.

More natural sugars are just that. They leave less chemical residue and give a more regulated release into the system depending on where they lie on the glycemic index. They also don't have the myriad of other added chemicals that occur in coke (or any other soft drinks for that matter) that confuse the body's recovery in such times of stress. The added advantage of naturally occuring sugars in fruit juices is that they are accompanied by electrolytes which help the body to use the sugars, and also helo the body to deal with metabolic stress.

I'm not trying to be deliberately contrary OP, but most commercially available cola drinks contain stuff that is just plain toxic to even a normally functioning body. All I'm suggesting is what might be a better way.

F-Reek

Yup carefully maintaining blood sugar levels is the aim. What your body does for you (and mine did for my body) has now to be supplanted in my case for testing and external insulin injections. For whatever reason this goes wrong on occasion (be it too high or too low). Appropriate response is needed for both.
Perhaps I should go for Lucozade sport or similar as the electrolyte concentrations are supposed to match those in the body and it's glucose which is the bodies own fuel rather than fructose as found in fruit juice. But the easiest thing that people can remember (which may come in handy if I ever need it) is coke. There may be some mild toxins in there but most things in too great quantities are toxic (As a diver you'll know Oxygen is actually a highly toxic gas capable of killing you )

You may not be being contraire but I was in starting this particular thread. I mean most people say nuts are healthy. Not to someone who is severely alergic to them they aren't...

Absolutely, there are horses for courses. And in drastic times, drastic measures are called for.

Your comments remind me of the old Joe Jackson song 'everything gives you cancer'...

I'd hate to think what coke does to me at 2 atmospheres of partial pressure...

Check out the sugar content of Lucozade vs say apple juice (often referred to as carbohydrate on the label). In a lot of cases the electrolyte content in the fruit juice is higher as well as the carb content even that things like Gatorade (an emergency measure that I've used before on similar cases) which is not widely recognised. Fructose is often not the only sugar content in fruits and fruit juices, and that is why the right combo can not only provide fast blood sugar increase, but also lasting. I'm not sure if your email add is on your page, if not I'll just post the list of the sugars in fruits and their place on the Glycemic index. I was about to say that it makes interesting reading burt then I wouyld really sound boring. Maybe I should drink more coke...

F-Reek

How true

Hmmm, coke at 2bar. Not a thing I'd like to try! I'll keep my hypostop for those moments (hope I never have to use it like that either).

There are glycemic index lists online - eg www.glycemicindex.com has a searchable database which is quite good for the more common foods. I won't argue about the interest level in reading lists like that. Sometimes it's like reading the phone book - great cast, poor plot

Other Person-- aha, you're diabetic or something. That makes a difference... Although in that case I'd argue that Coke is more like emergency medicine than a "snack".

No 'or something'
As was said before it's horses for courses.