Sugar

[Bazile]

Excuse me if this is a sill question .

I and her indoors was talking this morning about the need to reduce our sugar intake .

A bottle of soft drink contains 76 g of sugar - If you dilute it with water , does the 76 g sugar decreases or does it remain the same ?

[bednobs]

if you dilute it with watwer, then drink the whole diluted amount, it's the same.

[gingejbee]

If you double the volume, you halve the concentration of the sugar. so each mouthful contains half the amount of sugar that it had before dilution.

[vascop]

So the answer to your question is that you don't get rid of any sugar by diluting the drink.
How could you? Think about it.

[Graham-W]

If you take a £10 note and dilute it to 10 * £1 coins do you have less money or does it stay the same?

[Mosaic]

The better approach is to chuck this sugary drink down the plughole and drink only 'zero' or sugar free brands, or water.
I don't like most 'diet' drinks but I find coke zero is very acceptable.

[Wak]

I understand that a lot of "sugar free" drinks contain Aspartame to provide the sweetness taste which I gather is worse for you healthwise than the original sugar.
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2011/08/03/just-how-bad-is-aspartame.aspx

[LazyGun]

The same amount of sugar remains, but its concentration is diluted. If you were to consume all of the revised,diluted volume you would consume all the sugar that was originally there.

Just wanted to add one link, following Waks link to Mercola re the safety of Aspartame. I really would urge anyone not to use Mercola as an authoritative source for anything other than fear-mongering or conspiracy theories. Aspartame is possibly one of the most reviewed and tested food additives ever,and every review, every study points to its safety, unless you are one of the very few poor unfortunates around the globe who suffers from PKU, a very rare heritable condition.

http://www.food.gov.uk/multimedia/pdfs/aspartameopinion.pdf

In fact the EU have recently conducted yet another review in 2013, full results of which are to be published in 2014, but which fully support the findings from its last review in 2002, which was that Aspartame was safe. It's a tiresome "controversy" and it really should be put to bed.

[Bazile]

I myself, like Pepsi Max .

I note that as well as aspartame , the other sweetner used is Acesultame K

LazyGun ( or anyone else ) - What does the research say on Acesultame K ?

[LazyGun]

Acesulfame K is another sweetener, with a similar level of sweetness to aspartame, compared to sucrose ( about 200 times sweeter).

Nowadays, you will often find a blend of 2 sweeteners in fizzy drinks, simply because it would appear through taste and preference tests that the blend of sweeteners can cancel out that "artificial" or bitter aftertaste that some people have reported with sweeteners.

As to safety - There have been many safety tests,mostly animal studies, conducted over the decades since it was first found, and all conclude it is safe with no immediate or long term adverse risks. There has been 1 study where it was claimed that it might be a carcinogen, but that claim did not stand scrutiny.

Bottom line - I have every confidence that such sweeteners are perfectly safe, unless you have PKU (aspartame), or are drinking 100s of cans of fizzy drinks per day :)

http://ec.europa.eu/food/fs/sc/scf/out52_en.pdf

[Mosaic]

Thing is, sweeteners don't make you fat or give you hypos. So it's a case of which would you rather?

[LazyGun]

I find myself drinking coke zero and fanta zero nowadays, when I am in a social situation that does not allow me to drink :)

[Wak]

Lazygun, Here's another one of Mercola's efforts for you to discredit if you wish, particularly the part which says:-
Credible Evidence Validates Corporate Fraud and Manipulation.

As Dr. Mercola says, the majority of the tests in the USA are carried out by the people and companies who make the product and it is their own interest to prove it to be OK.

I think he talks a lot of sense about many things which obviously upsets the manufacturers.

http://products.mercola.com/sweet-misery-DVD/?e_cid=20131206Z2_DNL_YRP_3&utm_source=dnl&utm_medium=email&utm_content=yrp3&utm_campaign=20131206Z2&et_cid=DM34505&et_rid=358633053

[LazyGun]

Its not compelling, Wak. Its just fear-mongering. He presents no credible evidence whatsoever.

You want to believe this stuff,well thats up to you of course- but I would expect most people to want to base their belief on credible,reliable evidence rather than scare-mongering and conspiracy theory - and thats all Mercola is.

[Wak]

I guess we will just have to agree to differ!

[LazyGun]

Agreeing to differ suggests a kind of equivalence in the respective arguments. I do not think that is true here. If you think Mercola is offering you straight, unbiased, reliable health information you would be incorrect.

He deliberately fosters conspiracy theories and scare-mongering and has done for years- and he does this to make money, peddling over-priced "mercola-approved" supplements and services to any of the credulous that are taken in by the act. He is a quack, plain and simple, and in my opinion a dangerous one.

So no, I do not think I can "agree to disagree" :)

[jomifl]

/it is their own interest to prove it to be OK. /
Of course it is but if it is proven to be OK then it is OK.

[sandyRoe]

If you were to dilute the sugary drink with an equal amount of water and drunk the same volume as before you'd clearly be cutting your sugar intake.

[ludwig]

Make your own healthier version. Fizzy mineral water, a bit of orange juice, and then add about ten teaspoons of sugar.

It'll still have less sugar in it that the factory made stuff.

[LazyGun]

Hot off the press; Opinion from the latest European Food Safety Agency. Most thorough review of all the evidence and studies conducted on Aspartame and its risks. Verdict; Safe, except for patients with the rare disorder PKU

http://www.efsa.europa.eu/en/press/news/131210.htm

[Kromovaracun]

Why have I never come to the Science section before?

This place is awesome!