
Study: Coca-Cola Shaped China's Efforts to Fight Obesity - sndean
https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2019/01/10/683919100/study-coca-cola-shaped-chinas-efforts-to-fight-obesity
======
chrisseaton
> That's bad news for soda giants, who want to grow their market.

Hasn't Coca-Cola been extremely pro-active recently in tackling obesity since
it became clear that sweet drinks were a major problem?

They've almost completely replaced their flagship brand and formula with the
zero sugar variant. They're not even promoting it as an alternative any more -
the 'Zero' on the cans has been getting smaller and smaller and the black
branding has been shrinking as well, and they seem to be getting retailers to
suggest it as the default as well.

I guess they think they're able to grow their market by being healthier and
helping their customers to be healthier.

~~~
tracker1
But, they haven't _removed_ the classic variant. They (Coca-Cola) also have
hundreds of brands that push for the sugar variant of those other sodas. That
doesn't count the use of sucralose which has other issues, as does aspartame
to a lesser degree.

If Coca-Cola tomorrow said ("our bad, we're sorry"), switched to a low/zero
calorie sweetener blend (Stevia, Erythritol, Monk Fruit maybe a little
aspartame) with approximate flavor and completely dropped sugar / HFCS then
I'd believe they give a crap about tackling obesity.

As it stands, refined sugars are the single biggest problem with metabolic
syndrome. Fructose is only metabolized by the liver into fats/triglycerides
which are linked to damaging insulin receptors and elevating insulin
resistance leading to higher insulin levels suppressing other hormones and
leading to weight gain, followed by full on diabetes and related metabolic
problems.

That doesn't mean you can't have some fruit in your diet... juice should never
be more than half a cup a day (which was the old recommendation). And high-
sugar tree fruits should be minimized in favor of berries. "Fruits and
Vegetables" was grouped because a lot of what people consider veggies are
botanically fruit. The sweet fruits should be kept to 2 servings a day tops.

Refined sugar shouldn't be consumed more than once every few weeks. It's
horrible. All the negative effects on the body of alcohol without the negative
reinforcement of a bad headache.

~~~
kokokokoko
Refined sugar seriously isn't poison. Please, I mean that sincerely, stop
obsessing over extreme views of diet and nutrition. It is likely not good for
your mental health.

It is well established in mainstream nutrition the health effects of high
calorie diets. It is also well established that refined sugar is not magically
so much worse than any other way to eat a high calorie diet. Obviously, no one
thinks drinking soda(or eating pizza etc) all day is good for you. And
drinking soda is well agreed to be an easy way to significantly increase to
caloric intake. The difference we tend to be able to measure is based upon
behavioral nutrition. Not the actual direct consumption.

Seriously, I'm not sure why you, and others, feel compelled to yell to the
hills about the secret poisons of sugar. I realize that it is difficult to see
who is on the other side of these forums and it is possible that you may have
a diagnosed mental health issue that causes you to obsess over something like
this. If so I apologize. But if not, please think about why you are so adamant
and upset about something like refined sugar.

Is anyone aware of any studies out there about people who obsess about
nutrition information? Is it possible that people that get so wrapped up in
this are suffering from similar issues in the brain that cause eating
disorders?

I always find if fascinating that diet and nutrition discussions on HN seem to
be a topic that brings out many very impassioned comments like the one I'm
replying to. What is it about diet and nutrition specifically that causes it
to inspire such extreme views and excitement?

~~~
airstrike
First of all, your comment is extremely rude. Why do you discount people's
opinion as mental health issues? Please consider revising your tone, not only
on HN but elsewhere in life, if I may so bluntly say.

To cite one example why people are passionate about the topic:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sugar_Association](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sugar_Association)

> The difference we tend to be able to measure is based upon behavioral
> nutrition. Not the actual direct consumption.

Can you provide a source?

~~~
kokokokoko
We know that things like refined sugar cause dopamine spikes that cause people
to crave them and consume more. We also know that sugary drinks like soda
allow people to consume a large amount of calories quickly. Those are well
established and studied behaviors.

What we also know, is that consuming refined sugar as opposed to any other
source of calories is not very different outside of lack of nutrition etc.
This is long established fact in both human and animal studies for many
decades. Which means if there is a difference, it is likely not very
pronounced.

To willfully ignore hard scientific fact to a point where a person needs to
adamantly declare that sugar is akin to alcohol in the damage it does to the
body, is a sign of something out of the norm in a person.

The second half of my comment was to see if there were studies about people
who have this behavior as I find it interesting. This is one of the topics on
HN which seem to get comments with extreme views and I was simply asking if
people had research on this type of obsession.

What is it specifically about diet and nutrition that causes such a visceral,
irrational, reaction out of a small subset of people? I am genuinely curious.

~~~
tracker1
[https://www.dietdoctor.com/fructose-fatty-liver-sugar-
toxin](https://www.dietdoctor.com/fructose-fatty-liver-sugar-toxin)

[https://www.webmd.com/cholesterol-
management/diabetes](https://www.webmd.com/cholesterol-management/diabetes)

Note: refined sugars are about half fructose. The liver is the only organ that
can metabolize it... With refined sugars your getting a significant multiplier
of what you would in nature. This turns into triglycerides which is heavily
correlated to insulin resistance and diabetes.

------
harshulpandav
Good alternative to any soft drink --

Homemade ginger paste + sparkling water + honey + turmeric (optional) + lemon
+ a little bit of salt

Your taste buds will get a kick in the same way as any other soft drink. And
of course it is healthy!

~~~
SketchySeaBeast
> And of course it is healthy!

Can you say that? I mean, yeah, it's healthier than refined sugar, but you're
still drinking carbonated sugar water, regardless if it's a better sugar.

~~~
harshulpandav
I meant to say -- healthier than soft drinks.

~~~
pbhjpbhj
That is a soft drink. You mean "commercially available [carbonated] soft
drinks". I doubt you can really make that claim without a thorough analysis;
there's a pretty big range of soft drinks available.

------
rangibaby
Unsweetened tea is a popular soft drink in Japan, anyway my point is there are
a lot of the same brands in China except in China they are very sweet

------
SketchySeaBeast
"exercise is medicine" <\- the only thing I really agree with Coca Cola about.

Fun thing they don't mention about Cola beverages - they can lead to chronic
kidney disease, even the sugar free kind.

[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3433753/](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3433753/)

~~~
stochastic_monk
I like soft drinks as sources of carbs. I’m active, so I really need them.
It’s how you use them that’s an issue, rather than intrinsically being bad.
(Outside of the cola issue. Thanks for the pointer.)

~~~
SketchySeaBeast
The cola issue broke my heart - I used to love coke zero. And you're
absolutely right, in moderation literally anything is within the bounds of
health. If you need sugar fast, that'll do the trick!

------
kome
I was wondering why everyone is obsessed with gym and running those days, and
this article provides a good answer.

------
subcosmos
They still have BPA resin lining their cans, which it turns out may be the
actual cause of diabetes.

[https://medium.com/@InfinoMe/diabetes-time-to-resort-to-
plas...](https://medium.com/@InfinoMe/diabetes-time-to-resort-to-plastic-
measures-500cdf1fe528)

~~~
SketchySeaBeast
Isn't that kind of saying that the shot man died of lead poisoning? Like, I
get that BPA's can possibly cause diabetes, but so can liquid sugar.

Also, this analysis seems to indicate there's no link:
[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4058392/](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4058392/)

~~~
subcosmos
There's a number of papers out there that have been strongly influenced by the
chemical industry. They actually hired some of the same lawyers that defended
big tabacco, and have been caught editing Wikipedia articles

Most of us academics are in quite agreement over it's harm, and with the new
genetic data it's even more convincing.

~~~
SketchySeaBeast
> Most of us academics are in quite agreement over it's harm

Could you provide context for your academic credentials? And as I pointed out
before, what damage are we talking about when compared to the literal can of
sugar water the BPA riddled can is holding?

~~~
vixen99
its harm.

~~~
SketchySeaBeast
Yeah, but eating meat is harmful to the colon. Booze is harmful to the liver.
We need a scale.

Also, do we not see these same results in the different consumption methods?
Ie, cans vs bottles vs glass bottles vs tap?

