Re: Your first question: "Is Starbucks selling coffee?"
The study says, "The data is specific to drinks with meals and does not, for example, address the Starbucks phenomenon."
Ah.
I wonder how much of this could be helped with better labels on the drinks. Yes, it's right there on the label in numbers, but most people respond better to graphics.
A little pie chart showing that a can of coke is something like 1/10 of all the calories one should have in a day (and gives you no nutrition otherwise) might do more to let people know how bad soda is. You'd be far better eating a doughnut, that at least gives some nutrition.
"Soda makes you fat, fat makes you sick, sick makes you die."
I want that on a t-shirt.
Plus, Starbucks doesn't sell coffee. They sell milk.
Yeah, that was my first thought: most Starbucks drinks aren't consumed with breakfast (and many of them aren't consumed first thing in the morning).
That said, the "Triple Caramel Mochachino" caffeinated heart-attacks that some people buy at Starbucks are no better than a cola -- in fact, considering those things have as much fat as a cheeseburger, they may actually be worse for the obesity epidemic than 3 cans of cola. At least they could be diet cola...
On another depressing note, it appears that people who spent quite a lot of time and money getting MDs spend other people's time and money learning that high-caloric, high-carbohydrate drinks are linked to type 2 diabetes, which is linked to....obesity! My god! Who would have thought!
I wonder what they really bought with their grant money, and how many constant blood glucose montior systems (not covered by any insurance) it could have paid for.
I hate the world! Time to watch Jake Gyllanhall sing and make it better.
Interestingly, it also points out that women who increased their DIET soda intake gained significantly less weight (3.5 lbs over 4yrs) compared with those who decreased consumption (9.4 lbs).
Take that, anti-aspartame lobby.
I had to go get a (sugarless) soda after reading that, because cold soda really does feel good in the back of my throat in the morning.
Hey, Off Topic...
If they didn't do the studies, the soda makers would run around insisting that "no link has been established" between soda consumption, obesity, and diabetes. It may seem "obvious" to you, as it does to me. But it had to be done.
Soda makes you fat, fat makes you sick, sick makes you die.
well said. i am nodding in between gulps of crisp mountain dew. a (humbled?) hypocrite in full view, i feel so satisfied pushing in the tab of a soda can in a busy newsroom.
good article, nonetheless.
My son and I got out a mail scale and weighed the amount of sugar in an average soda. Try it. It will amaze you how much sugar by volume is in 28 grams. After seeing that, I hardly hassle him at all about how much sugar he puts on his oatmeal, just as long as he isn't drinking sodas.
I gave up coffee in the morning and instead have a diet Rockstar. It has way more caffeine than coffee, and I'm far less likely to spill it on my bumpy bus ride to work. It also has only 10 calories and no sugar.
Mirror@12. What a great idea!
I read one article that called soda nothing other than liquid candy. But I am of the opinion that people can drink and eat their way to being fat and blinding themselves with type 2 diabetees. Just as long as THEIR insurance rates go up and not mine. BTW to all you fatties out there, if guys (or gals) do not want to sleep with you because you are fat, that was our choice not to sleep with a human pig and YOUR choice to be a tub of lard. And the genetic argument has only been a DISPOSITION towards easy weight gain. NEVER has it been used as an excuse for obesity.
A delicious Diet Coke is the best way to start the day. No sugar; no problems.
that "feel of Coke on the back of your throat" ultimately leaches calcium from your bones, too.
Andrew, was someone a chunky kid?
We still love you if you were! :-)
Jeez. I myself am a morning-cola drinker. I generally have one when I get into work. Then I have one in the afternoon, SOMETIMES having one with lunch. Plus a tonne of water.
4 before you go to WORK? Whatever happened to 'moderation in all things'? I'm trying to keep my cola consumption to 2 cans/day, but I sometimes fail and do 3. Over the day.
And you guys with your American (corn-sweetened) pop have it easy, it doesn't have that nice sharp taste to it...
Nope, was never chunky fat or otherwise as a child or adult :)
I'll have to find this... my brother in law told me about this. Apparently there was a man who drank tons of Coke every day for decades, something like a 6- or 12-pack... He apparently died after his colon got blocked up and that was related to all the corn starch in the soda. If I find it I'll post it. But first I'll check at Snopes to make sure it's not an urban legend.
If Americans would only replace their four cans of Coke with an hour of rigorous sex, the obesity epidemic would be a thing of the past.
Rigorous Sex: It's What's For Breakfast.
Don't forget about your teeth -- soda rots your teeth, kids. Coffee just turns them brown.
And Pony@8: it probably isn't the aspartame. It's probably the caffeine in the diet coke that suppresses their appetites and increase metabolism. All other things being equal, that's enough to help you lose weight.
I, for one, care if other people get type 2 diabetes because diabetes is a ticket to an entire list of very bad medical conditions. These conditions cost money to treat and I don't want to pay to treat your perfectly preventable health condition. I don't want to pay in the form of higher insurance premiums, higher taxes and lost productivity from coworkers. (@15, the way the insurance laws in Washington work, all of our rates would go up, not just the sick.)
It matters to everyone that society is getting fat and sick...even if you as an individual are fit and well.
Eat less, move more, stop smoking.
Dan, if you're going to go around spreading Internet conspiracy theories about smoking tobacco causing cancer and drinking cola causing obesity and diabetes, you may as well mention that most big soft drink manufacturers switched years ago from using cane sugar (i.e., "sugar", a.k.a. sucrose) to the cheaper, sweeter-tasting, harder-to-digest, sweetener manufactured from government-subsidized corn: high-fructose corn syrup. HFCS is probably safer than aspartame (a.k.a., Nutrasweet), but people drink it not because of its safety, but because of its effect on soft drink manufacturers' profits.
Just think of the economic devastation that might ensue if the FDA focused on public safety without regard for its effect on the beverage industry!
You can always subvert The Man's evil plans by smuggling old school sucrose coke back from the great white north. Mmmmmm, real sugar.
I don't think that smuggling in Coke from foreign lands would help subvert any big plans, but a similar tactic would be to support your sweetened-carbonated-water habit by doing business with Jones Soda instead of Coca-Cola, Pepsico, et. al. . As of January 1, 2007, Jones Soda switched to using cane sugar.
Tiffany (#13):
Rockstar Energy Drink was created by Russell Goldencloud Weiner, son of Michael "Savage" Weiner and co-founder of the creepy, ultraconservative and tax-exempt Paul Revere Society.
Feel that on the back of your throat?
I love the feel of Weiner on the back of my throat.
I often wonder why we tend to drink caffeine in this way anyway. Aside from the fact that real soda packs on the calories, why do we really need a constant dosing of a stimulant all throughout the day?
We don't need to, we want to. Caffeine is a socially-acceptable and United-States-government-approved drug. People really like the effect of caffeine and are not embarrassed about flaunting their use of it.
Gee, Andrew, what universe do you live in? Does "diabetes" always translate to "disgusting fatties want to rape me"?
Frank Bruno @ 23, I'm aware of the benefits of caffeine without a sugar sidecar. I was referring to the anti-aspartamites' frequent sky-is-falling claim that aspartame causes weigh gain.
"Sex: It's what's for breakfast"
That would be a LOT better for everyone.
I drink all-natural tea that's fairly low in caffeine, contains no calories, sugar, aspartame or other undesirable substances. I haven't had soda in ages. Maybe that's why I'm a size 2. My calcified bones are grateful, at least.
I think that the only reason anyone drinks soda is because it's habit. That's why I brought one every day for lunch until it occurred to me a few years ago that it has no nutritional value and doesn't taste particularly good. I quit drinking it and haven't looked back. If I want something sweet and flavored, I drink all-natural real-fruit fruit juice. It fills the same void as soda. Try it, pop fiends!
I much prefer to wake up to a nice big glass of water myself... always feel very dry in the morning.
OK Peter, is there any evidence that Russell Goldencloud Weiner has the similar views as his father? I listen to Ron Reagan's radio show every day, and his politics are quite different than that of his father.
Tiffany: Russell and his father Michael are co-founders of the Paul Revere Society. Explore that route and I bet you'll find your answer.
After being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes I gave up sugared soft drinks along with a few other things. I'm 90 pounds lighter now and pretty much have my blood sugar levels under control.
Mirror is right. 28 grams of sugar is an awfully large amount.
Per Starbucks I don't patronize them. The coffee's cheaper plus the gals are a lot cuter at the independent stands.
Oh and I hear after fucking up as an NBA franchise owner Howard Schultz wants to get into the alternative newspaper business.
I don't drink much soda anymore, but I do love me a Pepsi from time to time - although the HFCS Pepsi is not that good.
I don't know why the "big soda" people don't launch a real sugar, "classic" soda. They could probably make it a status symbol and charge a lot more. I'd be sucker enough to buy it.
As for Starbucks: yuck. They've dumbed everything down in the last ten years or so. Their mochas are like something you used go find in General Foods International Coffees.
keerist, forget the calories, do these people have any TEETH left??? Citric acid + Phosphoric acid + corn syrup + years = dentures.
Also its well-known among coffee-industry insiders that Starbucks all told sells far more milk than coffee.
Some Jerk at 26 and Phil @ 27:
Or you can go to certain grocery stores (I've heard QFC carries it) around Passover and buy Kosher Coke that doesn't contain HFCS.
Every creature needs to rest. Giraffes, little babies, elephants, dogs, cats, kids, koala bears, grandparents, moms, dads, and hippos in the jungle - they all sleep! Just like eating, sleep is necessary for survival. WBR LeoP
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