Soda vs Cement

[GeneW]

Originally Posted by BailOut

What's interesting is that the all natural and organic colas don't do this. If you take away the totally unnecessary and harmful ingredients found in Coke and Pepsi such as high fructose corn syrup, aspartame, phosphoric acid, sodium benzoate, etc. then the caustic reactions that are known to eat metals, teeth and now concrete sealant simple cannot occur.

The organic and/or all natural colas use ingedients such as evaporated cane juice and omit "flavor enhancers" and preservatives. It is a much smarter, healthier way to make a soda.

But the big bottlers aren't interested in your long term health. They care only about how much profit they can show for this quarter, and each time you buy one of their products you help perpetuate this harmful behavior.

Sodium benzoate is a preservative that inhibits the growth of dangerous bacteria and fungi. It's found naturally in some fruits. It's very effective at keeping acidic foods free of dangerous growths.

Purer ingredients tend to reduce spoilage. Pure ingredients are easier to purge of bacteria and fungi during the process of concentration. "Natural" ingredients contain enzymes and reducing sugars that can corrupt stored foods.

Pure Sucrose is a wonder food. If you keep it dry and away from air it stores very well. In contrast Turbinado (dried cane juice) and brown sugars are more fragile and do not store as well. Alas, the price of Sucrose is "supported" by Congress, hence the use of corn based fructose syrups that are well tolerated by many consumers.

Artificial flavorings are aldehydes that are engineered for a certain taste. Considering that "natural flavors" are relatively scarce, fragile and often seasonal artificial flavors reduce the cost and increase availability of some tastes for more people.

Artificial sweetners are subject to reasonable amounts of testing, and can liberate diabetics and others from the scourge of tiny portions and glucose spikes. I have to wonder how much of their negative press is inspired by the Sucrose Lobby, which works hard enough keeping Corn based sweetners at bay?

However it's everyone's right to go to a Health Food store and pay half again more or double for something that does not store as long as the mass produced good and if its not well cared for can become a culture media.

I'm not being hard on you Brian but don't you think there was a reason that so many moons ago the Food Industry wanted longer shelf lives and a wider market?

Gene