For what it's worth, I believe all the information on dehydration and I've
always thought Coke tasted pretty much like battery acid. But, here's the
Snope's origins of the erroneous info that was posted on Coke:
"Origins: Many of the entries above are just simple household tips
involving Coca-Cola. That you can cook and clean with Coke is relatively
meaningless from a safety standpoint -- you can use a wide array of common
household substances (including water) for the same purposes; that doesn't
necessarily make them dangerous. The fact is that all carbonated soft drinks
contain carbonic acid, which is moderately useful for tasks such as removing
stains and dissolving rust deposits (although plain soda water is much
better for such purposes than Coca-Cola or other soft drinks, as it doesn't
leave a sticky sugar residue behind). Carbonic acid is relatively weak,
however, and people have been drinking carbonated water for many years with
no detrimental effects.
The rest of the claims offered here are, in a word, stupid. Coca-Cola does
contain small amounts of citric acid (from the orange, lemon, and lime oils
in its formula) and phosphoric acid. However, all the insinuations about the
dangers these acids might pose to people who drink Coca-Cola ignore a simple
concept familiar to any first-year chemistry student: concentration.
Coca-Cola contains less citric acid than orange juice does, and the
concentration of phosphoric acid in Coke is far too small (a mere 11 to 13
grams per gallon of syrup, or about 0.20 to 0.30 per cent of the total
formula) to harm anyone, no matter how much Coke he guzzles. The only people
who proffer the ridiculous statements that Coca-Cola will dissolve a steak,
a tooth, or a nail in a matter of days are people who have never actually
tried any of these things, because they just don't happen. (Anyone who
conducts these experiments will find himself at the end of two days with a
whole tooth, a whole nail, and one very soggy t-bone.)
The next time you're stopped by a highway patrolman, try asking him if he's
ever cleaned blood stains off a highway with Coca-Cola. If you're lucky, by
the time he stops laughing he'll have forgotten about the citation he was
going to give you. "
I remember being in 3rd grade with Sister Lucille telling us a story about a
poor little naughty boy who snuck popcorn and Coke and consumed them
together and his stomach exploded! I date all my digestive problems from
that moment on and think un-fondly of Sister Lucille every time I pop a Tums
or a Prilosec.
Laura Sharp
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