All Coca-Cola drinks are mostly water by volume, the heaviest as well as the bulkiest part of their products.
Coca-Cola licenses other organisations across the world to dilute their formulated syrups, and to package their products.
In 2012, the global water consumption in Coca-Cola products exceeded that of Sweden, Denmark and Norway combined, enough to meet the annual cooking, cleaning and drinking water needs of over 2 billion people, over a quarter of the world’s population.*
It should be remembered that water in many parts of the world is scarce and/or isn’t potable. Indeed the cholera epidemic in 1850s London was caused by water contaminated by human sewage which led to fundamental changes in our water and waste systems. It’s likely even here in the UK there is latent prejudice against drinking tap water even though a year’s now safe supply is only £1 per person per year.
All cokes and most Coca-Cola products are carbonated — or ‘fizzy’ to use the British term. Despite fluoridisation of Birmingham’s water supply, there has been recent and dramatic increases in children’s tooth decay here. As well as sugar, fizzy water causes tooth decay and contributes to other health problems; see here.
* For more information about his, see Bartow Elmore’s recently published book Citizen Coke: The making of Coca-Cola capitalism; for this specific factoid, see endnote #1 on pp316-317.
[Featured image is by Lorena.]
One thought on “Coca-Cola ingredient: Carbonated water”