Coke is still ~40 grams of sugar per 12oz can. That's insanity and a quick way to give yourself diabeetus.

No matter how bad you think artificial zero calorie sweeteners are, they are nothing compared to the damage that too much sugar does to your body.

I'm gonna poke at this only because some people take the anti-sugar message too far and use it to rationalize away the stuff that's really killing them.

Refined sugar is certainly not good for you, but a 12oz can of Coke - is 140 calories. That's about 6% of the recommended daily caloric intake.

Calories RDI is about 2000-2500 for most people. But most Americans eat more like 3000-3500 and don't exercise.

You can drink a 12 oz can of Coke every day and it's not even a blip on the radar. (A 64 oz tub of it, of course, is a different story.) What people need to do to be healthy is not overeat by 1,000 calories a day while never exercising. That combo will send you to an early grave, the can of Coke in a diet that otherwise hits the right macros, will not.

> You can drink a 12 oz can of Coke every day and it's not even a blip on the radar.

Only that blood sugar levels also affect hunger, psyche etc.

So no, you cannot just sum up calories in that case.

For me, the issue with Coke isn't that one Can can kill you. It's that I never seem to be able to drink only one can.

When I drink Coke, it becomes the primary way I hydrate. So five, six cans a day is not uncommon.

I can't speak for everyone, but I've known plenty of other people who end each workday with 5+ cans of Coke on their desk.

Personally, when I was drinking coke regularly, I was >30% body fat. Now that I've cut Coke completely from my diet, I am ~15%.

Honestly though, I would love for these facts to not be true for me. I miss Coke dearly. It's my favorite drink.

Yes, I would indeed expect that drinking around 700 fewer calories per day would lead to weight loss, because once again, despite endless protestations against the principle, calories in, calories out is the largest predictor of weight gain or loss. It's great to hear!

RDI for added sugar itself is 24-36 grams which a single 12oz can of Coke exceeds. Measuring in Calories, it's recommended to limit daily intake from added sugar to below 100-150 Calorie. [0]

% of Caloric RDI isn't the whole story. A can of Coke is less of a blip on the radar as you suggested.

[0] https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/carbohydrates/a...

12oz is about 355 milliliters or 355 grams of liquid, meaning that 12oz can is more than 11% sugar by mass.

Standard in Sweden (Europe?) is 10.6% sugar. This is printed on the can, in the standard nutrition info table that is on all packaged foods.

I'm surprised this is not common knowledge, but I guess people in general don't read labels.