i am drinking sunkist orange soda.
it contains 190 calories and 45mg of sodium. which is based on 2k calorie diet.
you can call 1-866-drink-orange for consumer comments.
mmmm carbonated water.
New York, New York?August 15, 2000. A panel of scientists today firmly rejected the conclusions of a small study purporting to show that the manufacturers of caffeine-containing sodas were manipulating their customers into addictiveness in a manner similar to the tobacco companies' manipulation of nicotine in cigarettes.
The study, published in the current of issue of the Archives of Family Medicine, claimed that taste tests of some 25 "samplers" revealed that consumers could not detect if caffeine was present in soda?and that therefore soda companies were adding caffeine only to addict customers, the same way cigarette companies use nicotine to addict smokers. "The marketing parallels between nicotine and caffeine are pretty stunning," said lead researcher Dr. Ronald Griffiths.
But scientists with the American Council on Science and Health (ACSH) found the conclusions of this study "absurd, meaningless, and insulting."
"This 'study' is not worthy of print in any respectable medical peer review journal," noted Dr. Elizabeth Whelan, President of ACSH.
"ACSH does not have expertise on flavors and taste preferences?so we will not comment on the role of caffeine in determining the taste of soda. We suspect it is a rather subtle portion of the whole 'taste gestalt' of colas.
"But caffeine, as used in moderate soda consumption, is safe?that is, it poses no harm to human health. These researchers are focusing on a purely hypothetical risk. Why don't they study real risks instead?"
"Any comparison of soda companies and cigarette companies?and caffeine and nicotine?are insulting and absurd," noted Dr. Gilbert Ross, ACSH's medical director. "ACSH resents this study's attempt to suggest that the health effects of caffeine-containing soda have any resemblance to the devastating and unique health effects of cigarettes."
"We noted that this study was funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse," commented Dr. Whelan. "This itself is further insult?to see taxpayer monies used to study such non-issues and allow the generation of such flawed data and offensive comparisons of soda and cigarettes, the former being safe, the latter being the number-one cause of premature death in the U.S."
"The bottom line is that sodas?with or without caffeine, and consumers do have a choice?can be part of a balanced, varied diet," she observed. "Of course, no food or beverage should be consumed in excess to the point of excluding basic nutrients. What we need here is common sense?not more hype and scares from the food police."
The American Council on Science and Health is a consortium of more than 350 scientists and physicians dedicated to consumer education on public health issues, such as the environment, nutrition, and pharmaceuticals. ACSH attempts to illuminate the difference between real health risks and hypothetical or trivial health scares