[brusch]

I have a friend with pretty big health problems (gout and other problems). I don't know if it is because of gout or any other disease, but he says he shouldn't drink acidic drinks. He cut Coca Cola and is drinking now Red Bull Cola.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Bull_Cola

I don't like Red Bull Cola and think it is a pretty poor substitute - but he enjoys it.

[azinman2]

What's wrong with water?

[dghughes]

Exactly!

When I was a kid in the 1970s we had pop on Friday nights a 750ml bottle and a large bag of potato chips shared between my family of four.

Now you see people who drink pop for every meal and for a snack between meals and a huge drink at that 750ml or even a liter for one person is normal. People complain about HFCS and acid, weight gain as if their human rights were being violated! Well excuse me for pointing out the elephant in the room people but stop drinking so much pop! It's a dessert like cake or a candy bar it's not a substitute for water.

In my province for many years cans were banned and all pop came in 355ml bottles, sure you could buy a 750ml but it was a big heavy glass bottle. There weren't any big 2 liter bottles and nothing larger than 355ml for single-serve size. Then one day the ban was lifted and cans were allowed but cans were not put in the pop machine 600ml single-serve plastic bottles were. At first people couldn't drink it all and the break room fridge was full of 1/2 filled bottles of pop, then slowly people learned to drink a full 600ml bottle in one sitting.

[aianus]

It fills you up and offers no nutrition, making it harder to eat enough calories in one day.

[redblacktree]

At least in my neck of the woods, people seem to have the opposite problem. (i.e. too many calories in their diet) Water is probably a good choice for them.

[raverbashing]

I think replacing one soft-drink with another similar won't solve many things.

Unless there's a specific component in Coke that increases Uric Acid (the cause of gout)