As I'm collecting some solid references for a thesis on obesity...I was sent this little fact sheet on water...

WOW! What an eye opener, and a great motivation to put down that can of diet cola and pick up your water bottle!!

Thought it was worthy enough to share...

WATER

1. 75% of Americans are chronically dehydrated.

2. In 37% of Americans, the thirst mechanism is so weak that it is often mistaken for hunger.

3. Even MILD dehydration will slow down one's metabolism as much as 3%.

4. One glass of water will shut down midnight hunger pangs for almost 100% of the dieters studied in a University of Washington study.

5. Lack of water, the #1 trigger of daytime fatigue.

6. Preliminary research indicates that 8-10 glasses of water a day could significantly ease back and joint pain for up to 80% of sufferers.

7. A mere 2% drop in body water can trigger fuzzy short-term memory, trouble with basic math, and difficulty focusing on the computer screen or on a printed page.

8. Drinking 5 glasses of water daily decreases the risk of colon cancer by 45%, plus it can slash the risk of breast cancer by 79%, and one is 50% less likely to develop bladder cancer.


And now for the properties of COKE

1. In many states (in the USA) the highway patrol carries two gallons of Coke in the truck to remove blood from the highway after a car accident.

2. You can put a T-bone steak in a bowl of coke and it will be gone in two days.

3. To clean a toilet: Pour a can of Coca-Cola into the toilet bowl and let the "real thing" sit for one hour, then flush clean. The citric acid in Coke removes stains from vitreous China.

4. To remove rust spots from chrome car bumpers: Rub the bumper with a rumpled-up piece of Reynolds Wrap aluminum foil dipped in Coca-Cola.

5. To clean corrosion from car battery terminals: Pour a can of Coca-Cola over the terminals to bubble away the corrosion.

6. To loosen a rusted bolt: Applying a cloth soaked in Coca-Cola to the rusted bolt for several minutes.

7. To bake a moist ham: Empty a can of Coca-Cola into the baking pan, wrap the ham in aluminum foil, and bake. Thirty minutes before the ham is finished, remove the foil, allowing the drippings to mix with the Coke for sumptuous brown gravy.

8. To remove grease from clothes: Empty a can of coke into a load of greasy clothes, add detergent, and run through a regular cycle. The Coca-Cola will help loosen grease stains. It will also clean road haze from your windshield

For Your Info

1. The active ingredient in Coke is phosphoric acid. Its pH is 2.8. It will dissolve a nail in about 4 days. Phosphoric acid also leaches calcium from bones and is a major contributor to the rising increase in osteoporosis.

2. To carry Coca-Cola syrup (the concentrate) the commercial truck must use the Hazardous material place cards reserved for Highly corrosive materials.

3. The distributors of coke have been using it to clean the engines of their trucks for about 20 years!


Lots of food for thought here...

i remember when i was small, having brass door knobs and my mom using coke to polish them, imagine what it does to our organs!!!!!

Wow! The info on water was interesting, BUT the info on Coca-Cola was eye-opening!!! Thank you.

lol, the facts about coke are actually a well known "urban myth". It's not dangerous as such (no the trucks don't have a hazardous chemical warning on them. They have a marking on them, that they are used for food.... , same as milk trucks)

Here is a link:
http://www.snopes.com/cokelore/cokelore.asp

but the info on water was interesting.

oh please! you can not dissolve a nail in coke.. that is so bogus..
I agree that coke has no redeeming nutritional value, but the "facts" above can be said about orange juice, lemonade, etc. etc..

The acid in your stomach is a lot more potent then coke. Just ask any bulimic person what does throwing up doing to their teeth..
This kind of rhetoric reminds me of people criticizing Atkins diet: "It will kill you, fatty meats are bad for you, every one knows that!" etc etc...

Based on my discussions with my doctor relatives, a healthy mucosal lining in the stomach protects it from the acidic damage that Coke (not to mention your stomach acid) can do. Now, it's my personal hunch that the high phosphorus content of any carbonated soft drink forces the body to leach calcium into the bloodstream to regulate the calcium-phosphorus ratio, but I've been shouted down by Coke lovers already in another thread.

I have acid reflux. I never reallt thought about why my teeth were so bad until I read bulimics often have really bad teeth on the backs and along the gums. That's when it hit me. Well d'uh, all that food coming back up and all that acid must be eating away at my teeth.

I agree that coke is BAD BAD BAD for you in large quantities, but those things listed above really ARE urban myths. Do a google search for it and you will find it. Also, I've tried the dissolving of the nail thing. It doesn't work. I've also heard the same thing about putting a tooth in coke to do the same thing. That also doesn't work. It's all scare tactics.

~Angi~

snopes also has an entry about the original water info being posted

Snopes on Drink More Water

Gotta admit...I've used a can of Coke to clean the corrosion off my battery terminals in my car (per a mechanic's suggestion) and it worked.

Whether the "facts" about Coke above are true or not, water is still good for you and probably a lot better for you than Coke.

LOL...yes, I've used coke for battery terminals too...

Well that's what I get for passing on those e-mail quips...but I couldn't care less what coke does or doesn't do...my main point was the motivation for drinking the WATER!! And much of that list I can already attest to as fact...

There is never too much said on this subject...especially when LC'ing.

I don't know about the urban myths, but I'm a nurse and we DO use Coca-cola to unclog feeding tubes on patients when they are blocked. Pepsi doesn't do it, it's something that's specific to Coke. (and yeah, it really really works!)

Hi, I'm a high school science teacher and we've done the tooth in Coke one - it does work, though it takes a while. Oddly we haven't done the nail one - I shall have to try it!

hi JayKay

What about doing the test with different drinks, including the so-called healthy ones. I bet Orange juice does dissolve a tooth as well, the only thing which probably doesn't dissolve it, is milk....

This claim seems a little extraordinary. I do want to believe, reallly I do, but that's a little hard without any references. I've had to learn my lesson the hard way. After all it was not so long ago that I believed that fat was bad for you and that carbs were good.