This is not just an isolated thing: We have now heard from virtually every French person we know -- including doctors -- that "Coca Cola is good for you." At first we think it's a joke. It's a Coke joke. Then we realize they are being serious. Our friends say, "But our grandfather was a doctor, and he always recommended Coca Cola as medicine for stomach aches!"
This is almost more than my poor organic/fair-trade/slow-food-movement/health-food-crazed San Francisco brain can take. I wonder if I will short-circuit and smoke will come out of my nostrils as my synapses fry.
Just to clarify where I stand, I would like to point out this tidbit, taken from the Coca Cola company's own pages (UK site):
"Any food or drink that contains fermentable carbohydrates (sugars and starches), including calorific sparkling drinks, can play a role in the development of tooth decay. Also, any food or drink that is acidic has the potential to play a role in enamel erosion."
Sure, if you read the fine print, it may not be worse for your teeth than drinking five orange juices a day, but how many people drink five orange juices a day? In any event, it also contributes to obesity and type 2 diabetes. Yeah!
One thing I love about writing is that I never know where research will take me. At the bottom of an askipedia commentary on the general unhealthfulness of Coca Cola, it shows two links for opposing views of the debate. The "pro" cola link takes you directly to the home page of the Coca Cola site. And the "anti" link takes you to "killercoke.org" which is, in fact, talking about the Coca Cola company, despite sounding much more like a reference to South American cocaine wars.
"The Campaign to Stop Killer Coke originated to stop the gruesome cycle of violence against union leaders and organizers in Colombia in efforts to crush their union, SINALTRAINAL. Since then, violence, abuse and exploitation leveled against Coke workers and communities have been uncovered in other countries as well, notably China, El Salvador, Guatemala, India, Mexico and Turkey."
By the way, the short version of Coca Cola in French is "cola", The French word "coke" is very specifically a reference to cocaine.
Here in France, doctors recommend coca cola, pharmacists recommend coca cola, and teachers and parents seem to feed it to their children with rather fewer qualms than I have when I feed my children non-organic spinach. The general population therefore not only consumes large quanitities of it, they consume it with a clear conscience; it is, after all, just what the doctor ordered.
This is almost more than my poor organic/fair-trade/slow-food-movement/health-food-crazed San Francisco brain can take. I wonder if I will short-circuit and smoke will come out of my nostrils as my synapses fry.
Just to clarify where I stand, I would like to point out this tidbit, taken from the Coca Cola company's own pages (UK site):
"Any food or drink that contains fermentable carbohydrates (sugars and starches), including calorific sparkling drinks, can play a role in the development of tooth decay. Also, any food or drink that is acidic has the potential to play a role in enamel erosion."
Sure, if you read the fine print, it may not be worse for your teeth than drinking five orange juices a day, but how many people drink five orange juices a day? In any event, it also contributes to obesity and type 2 diabetes. Yeah!
One thing I love about writing is that I never know where research will take me. At the bottom of an askipedia commentary on the general unhealthfulness of Coca Cola, it shows two links for opposing views of the debate. The "pro" cola link takes you directly to the home page of the Coca Cola site. And the "anti" link takes you to "killercoke.org" which is, in fact, talking about the Coca Cola company, despite sounding much more like a reference to South American cocaine wars.
"The Campaign to Stop Killer Coke originated to stop the gruesome cycle of violence against union leaders and organizers in Colombia in efforts to crush their union, SINALTRAINAL. Since then, violence, abuse and exploitation leveled against Coke workers and communities have been uncovered in other countries as well, notably China, El Salvador, Guatemala, India, Mexico and Turkey."
By the way, the short version of Coca Cola in French is "cola", The French word "coke" is very specifically a reference to cocaine.
Here in France, doctors recommend coca cola, pharmacists recommend coca cola, and teachers and parents seem to feed it to their children with rather fewer qualms than I have when I feed my children non-organic spinach. The general population therefore not only consumes large quanitities of it, they consume it with a clear conscience; it is, after all, just what the doctor ordered.
No comments:
Post a Comment