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ElectionOver4Hours t1_j4wq5rr wrote

Interesting study but

  1. it's self-reported. How reliable is that? (Answer: literally not at all)

  2. Regular cola is bad. But it's not really; it's the sugar and fructose syrup (if USA). Maybe they should have checked consumption of other similar sweets.

Not a great study, overall. I'd have gone towards sugar consumption as a risk- but then, I guess it wouldn't have made for a catchy title, so fair enough

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dccorona t1_j4x7zae wrote

Yea the focus on cola caught me off guard here. It's not as if the flavoring blend that makes it cola is the culprit here (or at least that sure sounds unlikely), and the last thing you want to do is give people who drink a bunch of mountain dew or sprite or something a false sense of security if the intent is to try and say that people should drink less sugary beverages.

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HomicidalChimpanzee t1_j4xnm0w wrote

Coca-Cola is also absolutely loaded with phosphoric acid. It's got a pH almost as low as white vinegar. They put all that acid in it because they have to in order to keep all that sugar (I think it's 42 grams or something per 8 oz) dissolved in solution. I know that sugar is very bad for people, but that is a whole lot of acid to be drinking, isn't it?

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myusernamehere1 t1_j4xz0yu wrote

Bad for your teeth maybe, but phosphoric acid isnt unhealthy. I mean stomach acid had a pH of 1.5-2.0; and thats due to the presence hydrochloric acid.

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HomicidalChimpanzee t1_j4xzgfu wrote

What I have read is that regular intake of that kind of acidic liquid eventually leaches calcium out of your bones as your body tries to compensate and balance pH. I'm no doctor but I think there's a big difference between the appropriately local low pH of stomach acid and ingesting a pH 3 liquid every day.

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dibalh t1_j4yyiza wrote

You should probably re-check your facts. You can dissolve almost 2g of sugar per mL of water. Phosphoric acid has nothing to do with keeping sugar dissolved. The acid is for keeping CO2 dissolved. Which is also how the body is regulates pH, through CO2 and bicarbonate, not calcium.

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SerialStateLineXer t1_j54ifch wrote

>it's self-reported. How reliable is that? (Answer: literally not at all

Self-reporting tends to introduce noise into the data set. It's far more likely to mask a real effect than to result in spurious statistical significance.

The bigger issue is that they seem to have done a lot of comparisons with no correction for multiple comparisons. This greatly increases the likelihood of a spurious finding. Although they suggest phosphoric acid as a likely factor because of the lack of association between non-cola soda and pancreatic cancer, this may just be a post-hoc rationalization for a potentially spurious finding.

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