How The Taste Of Carbonated Sodas Will Trash Your Weight Loss Goals

Written by Greg

What’s your biggest sin, when it comes to weight loss?

For the longest time, mine was carbonated sodas.  According to some of my reading, I’m not alone.  The average American consumes about 760 8-ounce sodas a year, worth about $73 billion dollars annually.  This makes carbonated sodas the largest class of beverages in the U.S., eclipsing even coffee.

Carbonated Sodas

Photo Credit: Aislinn Ritchie

Not only do I enjoy the taste of carbonated sodas, but there are certain foods that make me feel the “need” to drink a soda.  Here are a few:

  • Peanut butter and crackers
  • Chili
  • Chocolate-based snacks (particularly Snickers Bars)

I’ve overcome this odd behavior, for the most part, and drastically cut my consumption of sodas over the last few years.  But its very easy for to slip back into the routine of drinking 2, 3, or more sodas each day.  Since I can’t stand the taste of artificial sweeteners, this still has the potential to be a real problem for maintaining my weight and fitness.

I’ve always wondered about the “why” of this though.  Now, maybe, I have an explanation.

Carbonated Sodas And Your Taste Buds

This idea of dissolving carbon dioxide in water was developed in 1767 by Joseph Priestly (a chemist!) as an idea to help keep sea-going crews healthy.  The idea was to create something to mimic the mineral waters consumed by the wealthy at European health spas.  Although his drink didn’t provide the projected health benefits, it was wildly popular, and remains so to this day.  But, researchers have never understood why these drinks are so popular.  Until now.

It has been speculated that the flavor from carbonated sodas and other drinks is imparted from the “bubbles,” which are caused by carbon dioxide escaping from solution.  To test this, subjects were placed in a pressure chamber and asked to drink carbonated drinks.  The idea here is that, under pressure, the drink will not fizz.  Subjects reported the same sensations as those outside the pressure chamber.

There are four known types of taste receptors.  These are sweet, sour, bitter, and umami.  Using genetically engineered mice, which have taste buds similar to humans, it was discovered that drinking a carbonated drink activated the sour receptors.  So, mice can actually taste carbon dioxide.  Researchers speculate that the ability to detect carbon dioxide may have developed to warn of fermenting foods.  It likely works similar in humans.

I can’t help but think that the unique combination of sweet (from the sugar) and sour is somehow responsible for the sensation that one gets from drinking a carbonated soda.  Most people I know enjoy a sweet/sour contrast in their foods.  The preference for this contrast seems to be more common in kids than in adults, which probably explains why my kids are always clamoring for sodas.  Probably doesn’t bode well over the long term in my battle to teach them good eating habits, either.

As I’ve gotten older, I’ve found it easier to give up carbonated sodas.  I’ve replaced most of my soda consumption with water, lightly sweetened coffee and tea.  But I have to admit that there are still times when I simply crave a Coke.  When the urge hits, it’s very hard to say no.

Do you find the taste of carbonated sodas to be difficult to resist?  What’s your preferred replacement drink?

Resources

Related posts:

  1. How Your Health Can Benefit From Coffee
  2. Why Does Fat Taste Good?
  3. My First Foray Into Fitness And Weight Loss
  4. The Deceptive Calories In An Iced Coffee
  5. Week In Review – Business Dinners And Weight Loss Just Don’t Mix

13 Responses to “How The Taste Of Carbonated Sodas Will Trash Your Weight Loss Goals”

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  1. Jeff B.
    October 26, 2009 at 8:34 pm

    I like soda. I’ll admit it. I can go months without soda without problems, but once I start to take one sip–I can’t stop. I need more throughout the day, and I need more the next day.

    I tend to replace it with water, though.

    If it wasn’t for those baked goods, though, I’d be a beanpole.

    • Greg
      October 26, 2009 at 8:41 pm

      Amen brother! I’m the same way. Once I take a drink, I just keep on with them. Everything else, I can just take a bite. But sodas are my kryptonite… OK maybe that’s an exaggeration!

  2. Gordie Rogers
    October 26, 2009 at 10:10 pm

    It’s the same for me. I find myself having made the switch the Coco Cola Zero, which tastes as good as the original Coke, but it’s still really bad for you. I Have cut down to two a day, but I will have to go further. Thanks.

    • Greg
      October 27, 2009 at 5:07 am

      Wish that worked for me. I had to give up on artificial sweeteners. My wife doesn’t believe it, but I can taste them in anything.

  3. David Taylor
    October 27, 2009 at 10:37 am

    I like the Coke Zero and even diet Mountain Dew just as much as the real stuff anymore.

    Add popcorn and cheeseburgers onto the list of food I have to have soda with.

  4. akthe47
    October 27, 2009 at 3:53 pm

    I thought the appeal for carbonated drinks were the fact that those drinks ‘hurt’ your tongue, causing your brain to release endorphins to relieve the pain. So basically you get the same appeal as spicy foods and running… endorphin high.

    • Greg
      October 27, 2009 at 8:50 pm

      There’s some truth to that. The acidic character does provide that, but usually at the back of the throat. Even in a pressure chamber with carbonated water, where the dissolved carbonic acid can’t come out of solution, the “flavor” of carbon dioxide can be detected.

    • David Taylor
      October 27, 2009 at 9:57 pm

      Yeah, it is the burning sensation that I like. I really don’t like soda that is flat. Not the same if it doesn’t burn when you drink it fast. That is why Coke is the best.

  5. AndrewE
    October 28, 2009 at 1:25 am

    I find I can go for years at a time without it but then all of a sudden I’ll have some and I’m hooked again! Fortunately I’m in a years without it phase!

  6. Patty
    October 28, 2009 at 7:22 pm

    Oh Yes, I can go for days, even weeks at a time without it. But then having that sweet fizzy stuff on the back of my tongue just breaks me and I go nuts for days. I can’t get enough of it!!!

  7. Tamara
    October 29, 2009 at 4:34 pm

    My cousin works for Coke and a couple times a year brings me massive amounts of free diet/sugar free sodas. LOVE that. BAD habit formed though.

    I have really, really really cut back now to maybe a couple a week. And give lots of it away to my friends now too.

    My replacement drink? KOMBUCHA!!! Naturally fizzy, double fermented, LOADS of health benefits. Sweet and Sour and really grows on you. PERFECT and HEALTHY good habit.

    Problem? Expensive! $3-$4 or more for a 20 oz bottle! Solution? Brew your own! I started this summer and it was both easy and fascinating! You have to grow a bacterial scoby culture and follow the double fermentation method, but I have really enjoyed every step (and entertained my co-workers with this little science experiment too.). Here is where I learned it from:

    Grow a scoby: http://www.foodrenegade.com/how-to-grow-a-kombucha-scoby/
    (Took me half the summer to grow a really good one!)

    Brew Kombucha: http://www.foodrenegade.com/how-to-brew-kombucha-double-fermentation-method/

    Try a bottle from the store first to see what you think. My friends are all begging for my scoby babies now so they can start their own!

    And most of all, I know I’m satisfying that sipping soda urge with something similar that is SO GOOD for me! :)