While out walking in my neighborhood park the other day, I saw a young man around 12 or 13 years of age, carrying in his hand a half-empty bottle of Pepsi. I only noticed it because he was drinking from such an enormous bottle. This was not a twelve ounce or even a twenty ounce bottle. This was a 2 liter, or 67 ounce bottle!
I watched as he slowly walked through the park, stopping to rest once in awhile to drink from that monster Pepsi bottle. Unsurprisingly, the boy was seriously overweight. I couldn’t help thinking, “if he drinks that much Pepsi, I can only imagine what eats”.
The thought of anyone drinking that much Pepsi stayed in my head until I got back home, so I was curious about just what the bottle contained. Nutrition facts are only given for normal serving sizes on Pepsi’s product information page, so I did some calculations and the following gives you some idea of what you get when you finish off 2 liters of Pepsi.
Calories: 871
In a previous article on Resting Metabolic Rate, I explained how to calculate the approximate number of calories a person requires daily to stay at their current weight. For this boy, I calculated that he needs about 2,100 calories daily. With that bottle of Pepsi, he’s getting nearly half of his daily caloric requirements. The concern is that those calories don’t give him any real nutritional value. He’s not getting any of the vitamins or other nutrients he would take in if he got those calories from sources like fruit, vegetables, dairy products, whole grains or lean meat. All he’s doing is pouring empty calories into his system.
Sugar: 227.8 grams
Often a number like “227.8 grams of sugar” doesn’t mean that much to us. It has much more impact when we see it in more familiar terms, like teaspoons of sugar, for instance. Of course grams are used to measure weight and teaspoons are used to measure volume, but it’s estimated that there are around 5 grams of sugar per teaspoon. So this may sound crazy, but he’s actually getting a whopping 45 teaspoons of sugar by drinking 67 ounces of Pepsi. That can’t be good.
Caffeine: 207.7 milligrams
It’s difficult to establish the amount of caffeine in the “average” cup of coffee, because serving sizes and strengths differ so much, but for argument’s sake, let’s say it’s somewhere in the middle, around 100 milligrams. So on top of the calories and the sugar, the boy is also taking in the equivalent of 2 cups of coffee. Caffeine is a diuretic, so even with all the liquid he’s taking in, he’ll end up feeling dehydrated. Moreover, caffeine makes both blood pressure and heart rate increase, and is definitely not recommended for kids.
It seems evident that anyone who consumes this much soda daily is on the path away from good health, moving instead towards obesity and other health issues such as osteoporosis, tooth decay and heart disease, to mention just a few. The link between overindulgence in soft drinks/sugar and various health problems is well-documented in Liquid Candy. This study reveals that teenagers consume on average 24 ounces of soda pop daily, so they’re taking in some 300 calories from that one source alone.
We need to think of what to give them instead. Plain water, flavored water, or milk would be the healthiest options. Some people think fruit juice is a good substitute, but fruit juice has naturally-occurring sugar and may have added sugar as well.
A couple of morals come out of this story for people who are seeking to lose weight. First, you need to choose sensible portions and serving sizes. This should be obvious. Second, you need to wean yourself off soda pop altogether. Even a single can gives you 150 empty calories and 41 grams of sugar (8 teaspoons). Refined sugar will keep you from losing weight and can cause a variety of other health issues when consumed in excess. So the next time you’re thirsty, make a healthy choice and drink a glass of water.