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Experts challenge the facts of viral Coke graphic

BuzzFeed Life went on a fact finding mission by contacting experts to check the validity of the claims made by the Coke graphic posted by pharmacist Niraj Naik on his blog The Renegade Pharmacist.

Kimber Stanhope, Ph.D., RD,  says the statement made about the the sweetness of the coke making people want to vomit is not true.

“By far the majority of people have no trouble consuming 10 teaspoons of sugar-sweetened beverage. We have studied 100s of participants in our studies who consumed beverages that contained more than 10 teaspoons of sugar, but no phosphoric acid. Not one ever vomited due to the sweetness, and I don’t remember any of them ever reporting that they felt nauseated due to the sweetness.”

Stanhope also disagrees with the claim that your insulin levels go up, causing your liver to create fat.

Stanhope’s research indicates that it’s not the insulin spike that’s the problem, but rather the fat production that has to do with how the liver metabolizes fructose…and not the increased levels of insulin.

“Insulin spikes following consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages are not the main cause of the fat-making in the liver.”

According to BuzzFeed Naik’s blog post does address the issue of fructose in drinks that are sweetened with sugar, however the infographic focuses incorrectly on insulin.

Michael A. Taffe, Ph.D. was asked to verify the claim that things that happen in your brain when you drink caffeine are the same things that happen when you take heroin.

“Everything about drugs needs to be understood in terms of dose and tolerance,” Taffe says. “This sensationalistic description makes it sound more dramatic than is the experience for the average Coke drinker. It’s way overblown, as such things tend to be...Caffeine doesn’t ‘stimulate production’ directly, it enhances the release of dopamine and may have several other effects, but not direct effects on ‘production"

He explained that the amount of Caffeine a person drinks is crucial and that with excessive consumption,  some may become more tolerant to the effects as apposed to someone who does not consume that much caffeine.

Taffe noted that the infographic was not incorrect regarding the coffee but rather overstated the effects

Click here to read Naik's response to BuzzFeed’s email asking for comment

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